Sharks are threatened due to demand for
shark fin, which is often used in soup.
Image: iStockphoto

A new landmark agreement to counteract the alarming global decline of sharks highlights the need for increased protection in Australia.

The agreement was signed on the 12 February 2010 under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Government representatives meeting in Manila, Philippines, agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding on the conservation of migratory sharks.

Currently four of the species covered by this agreement, the Whale Shark, Basking, Porbeagle and the Great White are protected in Australia, but two others – the Shortfin and Longfin Mako Sharks - were recently denied full protection by Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett after pressure from game fishermen.

The other species listed was the Spiny Dogfish. Under the agreements made these species should benefit from better international protection through reduction of threats, in particular illegal fishing and trade.

The conservation group ECOCEAN was invited as a non-governmental organisation to be part of the international meeting.

“This listing is particularly important for the threatened whale sharks,” notes ECOCEAN’s Brad Norman, “and at a time when greater attention will be focused on Ningaloo – a critical feeding location for this species – and the location recently nominated by the Australian Government for World Heritage Listing”.

Conservation Council Director, Piers Verstegen said, “Sharks have been in our oceans since before the dinosaurs and play a critical role in healthy oceans, but now due to demand for shark fins, they are threatened.  Australia must also act to ensure that our international obligations are met at home by protecting migratory sharks, and by protecting more of our oceans in marine sanctuaries.

“With less than 1 per cent of Western Australia’s waters protected, the critical habitat for migratory sharks remains under threat. Critical feeding habitat for the iconic whale shark is currently protected within Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia, but little other shark habitat is protected.”

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010, 17 per cent of 1,044 shark, ray and chimaera species are threatened. At present, our knowledge of about 47 per cent of shark, ray and chimaera species is too limited to even assess if they are threatened.  It is estimated that up to 90 per cent of large sharks have been removed from the ocean.

Sharks suffer from overexploitation as both target and non target catch. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), up to 900 000 metric tons of sharks have been caught every year for the last two decades. However, taking into account illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and missing data, the catch figure is expected to be at least twice as high.