CITES

Sharks are in peril and the ability to buy and sell their fins and meat internationally is a big driver of shark over-exploitation. And regulation is sorely lacking for almost all trade in sharks which are sought for fins, meat, oil, teeth and cartilage.

Oceanic whitetip sharks and hawksbill turtles appear to have little in common, but sadly they share a similar fate - both are highly valued for just one of their body parts, while the rest of the animal is usually discarded.

Hawksbill turtle shells are used for jewellery and souvenirs, while the oceanic whitetip's long, curved fins are highly prized for shark fin soup. In both cases the flesh is less valuable and often discarded, though whitetip shark meat is consumed in some regions.  

Fishing nations of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) today agreed to protect oceanic whitetip sharks based on a U.S. proposal, while an Australian proposal to ban intentional setting of purse seine nets on whale sharks (to catch associated aggregations of tuna) was stalled by Japan.

Project AWARE is pounding the pavement to make the ocean safer for some of the most overexploited sharks. We have less than a year to secure international trade protections for sharks at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CITES CoP16) to be held in March 2013, Thailand.