175 Governments to discuss urgent measures to tackle illegal wildlife trade and protect the livelihoods of the rural poor.
New measures to conserve and manage sustainably the bluefin tuna, elephant populations and a wide range of sharks, corals, reptiles, insects and plants are being proposed by governments attending the world conference of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), held Doha, Qatar, from 13 to 25 March 2010. Importantly, some governments propose to lift CITES regulations on some species, underlining the success of CITES in key areas 35 years after its entry into force.
“The marine theme of this year’s CITES conference is particularly striking”, said CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers. “It confirms a trend that began in 2002. CITES is increasingly seen as a valuable tool to achieve the target of restoring depleted fish stocks by 2015 to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield, as agreed at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development”. It is estimated that some 52 % of marine fish stocks or species groups are fully exploited, 19 % overexploited and 9 % depleted or recovering from depletion.
At the forthcoming conference, proposals will be made to bring eight commercially fished species under the purview of CITES, including Bluefin tuna, scalloped hammerhead shark, great hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, sandbar shark, dusky shark, porbeagle shark, spiny dogfish shark, and the oceanic whitetip shark, which, in spite of its wide range in tropical and subtropical waters, has declined in numbers wherever it has been harvested for its fins.
In total, several million sharks are estimated to be fished annually to supply the demand for fins.
Films to learn more from:
Sharks: Stewards of the Reef,
The End of the Line,
Sharkwater.
