More about Sharks & Rays — Shark Research Institute

Compelling Science

At another well-attended side event, this one hosted by the Government of Senegal, the country along with Mexico and shark scientist Sarah Fowler presented sobering data about the state of the shark & ray species under consideration for Appendix II listing: Proposal 42, mako sharks (long and shortfin), Proposal 43, guitarfish (blackchin, sharpnose and giant) and Proposal 44, wedgefish (family of).

You can see snippets of the presentations in the pictures here but the headline is very clear: these animals are in peril and in desperate need of CITES protections now; so much so that the following statement was made about makos, “Even if we stopped completely taking mako sharks today, the species would only have a 60% chance to recover to Maximum Sustainable Yield levels IN 50 YEARS.” (Due to their later age of reproductive maturity and that they are very heavily fished/finned.)

It’s encouraging to see countries—voting parties to the Convention—speaking out with science-based information in support of conservation.

Votes on these three proposals, along with many, many other species, are coming soon. Stay tuned.