European Union failing threatened mediterranean sharks

Oceana, the international marine conservation organisation, denounces the European Commission for blocking efforts to protect threatened and endangered sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea, under the Barcelona Convention. The protection of ten species of sharks and rays is one of the key issues for discussion at the biennial meeting of the Convention, which begins today in Paris. Non-EU nations within the Convention have already expressed their support for protecting these species.

The potential inclusion of these fish on a list of strictly protected species hinges on the EU’s vote. Yet, despite having had months to do so, the European Commission has not yet adopted a common position on the issue with European Member States. Meanwhile, in 2009, EU Member States together accounted for the highest level of reported shark catches globally (16%), which were caught in European, high seas, and third-country waters.

“After delaying this decision twice already, because they wanted more time for ‘internal discussions’, it is inexcusable that the European Commission could not manage to resolve its bureaucratic issues in time for this critical meeting,” said Ricardo Aguilar, Research Director for Oceana in Europe. “The Commission says “we need to protect sharks” but when it comes to the Mediterranean, their actions indicate the opposite, even going so far as to warn against protecting threatened species at a recent meeting on Mediterranean sharks[i].”

The Mediterranean is the region of greatest risk globally to sharks and rays, with 41% of species considered threatened, compared to 17% globally. Of the ten species under consideration at this week’s meeting, some have undergone severe population declines, including porbeagles, shortfin makos, and hammerheads, whose Mediterranean populations have been reduced by up to 99.9% during the 20^th Century. Others, such as the sandy skate, Maltese skate, and common guitarfish, have vanished from some areas where they were once common. All of the species are threatened by overfishing, despite already being included on a list of species whose capture must be regulated for conservation reasons.

“It is incomprehensible that the European Commission has taken so long to resolve its position on such a clear-cut issue: highly threatened sharks and rays are being fished, and urgently require greater protection,” added Dr. Allison Perry, marine wildlife scientist with Oceana in Europe. “The EU has a responsibility – under both European law and as a signatory to the Barcelona Convention – to take precautionary measures to ensure their conservation. There is still a window of opportunity in Paris, and we trust that EU Member States and the Commission will coordinate a swift decision to grant these species the protection they deserve.”

The 17th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention gathers policymakers from 21 Mediterranean nations and the European Union, to discuss the environmental health of the Mediterranean Sea and to decide matters related to its protection. In addition to shark and ray conservation, important issues to be discussed this week include the protection of marine areas in the open sea, and pollution resulting from offshore drilling.

Fact sheet: Barcelona Convention. The necessity of Annex II protection for threatened sharks & rays

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[i] General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, 12-16 December 2011: “The DG-MARE representative warned that RAC/SPA should not take IUCN advice automatically because too many species of great commercial value would be included in Appendix II.” (page 12; full report here)

http://oceana.org/en/eu/media-reports/press-releases/european-union-failing-threatened-mediterranean-sharks

Many sharks 'facing extinction'

Endangered hammerhead sharks are often caught for their valuable fins



Many species of open ocean shark are under serious threat, according to an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).


The Red list gives the status of 64 types of shark and ray, over 30% of which are threatened with extinction.

The authors, IUCN's Shark Specialist Group, say a main cause is overfishing.

Listed as endangered are two species of hammerhead shark, often subject to "finning" - a practice of removing the fins and throwing away the body.

This is the first time that IUCN Red List criteria, considered the world's most comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of plants and animals, have been used to classify open ocean, or pelagic, sharks and rays.

The list is part of an ongoing international scientific project to monitor the animals.

The authors classified a further 24% of the examined species as Near Threatened.

Sharks are "profoundly vulnerable" to overfishing, they say. This is principally because many species take several years to mature and have relatively few young.

"[But] despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas," said Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and one of the editors of the report.

"[We have] documented serious overfishing of these species, in national and international waters. This demonstrates a clear need for immediate action on a global scale."

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognised the potential threat to sharks over a decade ago, when it launched its "International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks" in 1999.

But the "requested improvements fisheries data from member states... have been painfully slow and simply inadequate", according to this report by the IUCN.

"There have been improvements here and there but overall progress hasn't been as swift as we might like to see," said Jorge Csirke, director of the FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Division.

"Very often the reason is not a lack of will - although that can be a problem - but a lack of know-how and, most critically, a lack of budgetary resources for improving fisheries data collection.

Many pelagic sharks are caught in high seas tuna and swordfish fisheries.

Although some are accidentally caught in nets meant for these other fish, they are increasingly targeted for their meat, teeth and liver oil, and because of high demand, particularly in Asia, for their fins.

Discarded bodies
"The hammerheads are special because they have very high quality fins but quite low quality meat," explained Ms Fordham. "They often fall victim to finning."

She told BBC News that, although finning is widely banned, this ban is not always well enforced.

"The EU finning ban is one of the weakest in the world," she said.

"The best, most sure-fire way to enforce a ban is to prohibit the removal of fins at sea.

"But in the EU, you can remove them, providing the fins you bring ashore weigh less than 5% of the weight of the bodies."

This rule was designed to prevent finning, but it provided "wiggle room", said Ms Fordham.
"The IUCN has estimated that, under these rules, you could fin and discard two to three sharks for every shark you keep, " she explained.

The European Commission agreed that EU policy on finning "contained a number of loopholes".

"That's why in February we proposed to strengthen the finning ban and close these loopholes," the commission said in a statement.

'No fishing'
Species listed as Vulnerable included the smooth hammerhead shark, the porbeagle shark and the common, bigeye and pelagic thresher sharks.

Fisheries have fought to keep their right to fish porbeagle sharks because their meat is so valuable, according to Ms Fordham.

"Yet we've already had recommendations from scientists that there should be no fishing of these sharks."

For certain species - that are considered particularly vulnerable - the authors have recommended their complete protection.

"The big-eyed thresher shark, for example, is very slow growing," explained Ms Fordham.
"Fishermen can very easily identify it, because it has a very big eye. So if they catch it accidentally, they can throw it back.

"These sharks tend to survive well when they're thrown back."

By the end of this year, the Shark Specialist Group will publish a complete report, outlining the status of all 400 species of shark, and closely-related skates and rays.

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8117378.stm