“Pelagic shark populations have fallen by more than 70% in the last fifty years”

Lharks have inhabited the ocean for hundreds of millions of years. They have fascinated and frightened mankind for millennia. Today, these animals are threatened with extinction by commercial fishing, which kills up to one hundred million sharks each year.

Demand for their fins and meat is driving a worrying decline in shark populations around the world. Result: more than 50% of shark species are now classified as threatened or near threatened with extinction, and populations of pelagic sharks (living in the high seas) have fallen by more than 70% in the last fifty years!

Yet, while attention focuses on Asian markets where most shark products are sold, another major player in this maritime tragedy has largely slipped under the radar. This is the European Union (EU).

Alarm signal

A report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) reveals that in 2020 almost half of the shark fins imported into the Hong Kong region, Singapore and Taiwan came from EU member states. This study should serve as a wake-up call and encourage the European Union to recognize the real extent of its contribution to the global decline of sharks. It is time for it to take action to remedy this collapse.

To achieve this, it needs to improve monitoring of its own shark fishing and trade. In addition, it should advocate for sustainable trade limits through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), in order to ensure a better future for sharks.

Governments around the world have begun to recognize that Cites listings are helping to halt the decline of shark species. Unfortunately, these regulations only cover a quarter of the global shark trade, and many endangered species remain freely available in trade. Although the EU has supported international efforts to implement existing Cites listings to date, this is not enough.

On the occasion of the 19^e meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP19) of Cites, to be held in November at Panamathe EU and its Member States can choose to support the proposal made by the host country to include several endangered shark species in Appendix II of Cites, which would make it possible to control their trade.

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