Friday, October 16, 2009

Excellent News for Sharks - less so for Tuna.


CITES reports that it has received 40 requests for the 2010 Doha conference.

Among many other animals, plants and related products, I discover that the EU is proposing to list Porbeagles and Spiny Dogfish and the USA, Duskies, Sandbars, Oceanic Whitetips plus three species of Hammerheads, Great, Scalloped and Smooth under CITES II.
Fantastic!

Do I hear but doesn't that mean that they are still going to kill them?
Yes, alas, killing those species will remain legal!

You may want to check out this post, or this one.
Very unfortunately, in the real world, conservation equals compromise and the best goal we can realistically strive for is that global fisheries become sustainable. That may well imply a temporary moratorium until the stocks have recovered - but after that, one will have to be willing to accept that sustainable quotas are being harvested.

Talking of which: no such luck, I fear, for the terminally threatened Northern Bluefin Tuna.
After the Mediterranean states led by Spain and Malta have successfully torpedoed a European proposal for a moratorium, Monaco remains the lone visionary voice in favor of listing them under the draconian Appendix I.

Will the tiny Principality succeed in convincing the required two thirds of the signatories of the treaty and get the trading ban enacted against the wishes of its powerful neighbors?
I honestly doubt it - but hope, as they say, springs eternal and surprises are always possible.

Like this one: Spain, one of the worst exterminators of Sharks (a charge they deny) has announced that it will enact a Ministerial Order banning the global harvesting, transferring, landing or commercializing of Threshers and Scalloped Hammerheads by its fleets.
Marvelous news!

Talk about a serendipitous positive backdrop for the European Shark Week by the Shark Alliance (and notably, our friend The Sharkman)! Timing is truly everything!
Best of luck guys!

Lupo: thank you for the heads-up!

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