HOPE GROWS FOR ENDANGERED SHARK

Years of overfishing have cast a shadow over the future of the endangered shortfin mako shark, with numbers nosediving by 79% over the past 70 years in the North Atlantic Ocean. So it’s great to report that, after years of advocacy by WWF and others, 52 tuna-fishing nations and the EU have finally agreed to support recovery efforts in the North Atlantic . This is the first ever shark or ray recovery programme to be adopted by a regional fisheries management organization. Measures agreed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) include requiring tuna fleets for the next two years to release all shortfin mako sharks they catch, and not to trade any that have died. We believe these measures can help the shortfin mako shark recover and are now urging ICCAT to immediately introduce and enforce the programme. We are also calling on regional tuna fisheries management organizations in other parts of the world to introduce similar measures to address the catastrophic decline of many shark and ray species.