November 22, 2010
New Report: 1.3 Million Sharks Caught Without Management
As ICCAT continues this week in Paris, we have a new report out today that ought to get the delegates’ attention. Our report estimates that more than 1.3 million highly migratory sharks were caught in the Atlantic Ocean during 2008 — and without international fisheries management.
Of the 21 sharks species reported to be caught in ICCAT waters in 2008, three quarters are classified as threatened with extinction in parts of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Yet sharks remain all but unmanaged by ICCAT, with the exception of a weak finning ban and a prohibition on retaining bigeye thresher sharks.
And what’s more, Oceana scientists believe that 1.3 million sharks is a gross underestimate. In 2008, 11 out of the 48 countries that participate in ICCAT did not report any shark catches and current shark catch data in ICCAT is generally acknowledged to be inadequate at best. In fact, scientific estimates based on Hong Kong shark fin trade data have shown that real shark catches in the Atlantic may be more than three times higher than what is reported to ICCAT.
Of particular concern in the Atlantic Ocean are porbeagle sharks (critically endangered in the Northeast Atlantic and endangered in the Northwest Atlantic), oceanic whitetips (vulnerable globally) and scalloped hammerheads (endangered in the Northwest Atlantic and Western Central Atlantic).
You can help — tell the US and EU delegates at ICCAT to increase protections for sharks and bluefin tuna.
For more information, read the full report, and learn more about our work at ICCAT.