Landmark shark ban upheld at conservation meeting

By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent, BBC News, Bangkok

Pro-shark fishing nations have narrowly failed to overturn a landmark protection deal struck at the Cites conservation conference in Bangkok.

Japan and China tried to block trade regulations on three critically endangered shark species by re-opening the debate in the final session.

But delegates refused the request by a wafer-thin majority and the shark ban was upheld.

The decision is being seen as a landmark win for animal conservation.

Campaigners say it is a truly historic day for the species, in which science triumphed over politics.

On Monday, the decision to increase protection for oceanic whitetips, porbeagle and hammerhead sharks had only scraped past the two-thirds majorities required by a handful of votes.

Campaigners had been extremely worried that China and Japan, the main opponents of the measures, would be able to muster the one-third support needed to re-open the debate and block the ban.

In a tense session here in the conference centre, they failed by just over 1%.

'Major step'

UK environment minister David Heath, who had just arrived in Bangkok, told BBC News that this was a great day for the Convention.

"I’m absolutely delighted. I think this is a major step forward today. What we saw was member states across the board say 'we are not going to be diverted from our path'," he said.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21781949

Pacific sharks disappearing into soup: study

Pacific stocks of the oceanic whitetip shark, a favourite of fin soup enthusiasts, sank by as much as 17 percent a year between 1995 and 2010 despite catch and finning limits, a study said Wednesday.

And the north Pacific blue shark, also sought after by Asian chefs, showed a worrying population decline of about five percent per year, according to the research published in the journal Conservation Biology.

Using data collected by onboard observers of catches in the western and central Pacific over a 15-year period, the study also revealed a decline in shark size -- a key indicator of overfishing.

"These results... heighten concerns for the sustainability of Pacific shark populations," said a statement.

The drop in whitetip sharks represented a "severe decline" for a species that does not reproduce quickly, study co-author Shelley Clarke told AFP.

"It was also very surprising to see a sharp decline for North Pacific blue fin sharks which are relatively much more productive than the oceanic whitetip sharks".

The research was conducted by the oceanic fisheries programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) -- a regional intergovernmental body.

The findings suggest that bans on finning -- the practice of slicing the fins off a living shark and dumping it back into the water to die -- were not helping to reduce the numbers being killed.

This was "likely due to a combination of poor enforcement and increasing markets for shark meat," said the statement.

The oceanic whitetip, which lives in tropical waters, is the only shark species subject to catch limits in the Pacific.

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pacific-sharks-disappearing-soup-study-163648988.html