The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has reviewed the implementation of the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks’, as shark populations decrease around the world.
The FAO says that the conservation and management of sharks is suffering due to the lack of accurate data on catch, effort, discards and trade, as well as limited information on the biological parameters of several species and their identification.
The review focuses on the top 26 shark fishing countries, areas and territories, which have been determined as those reporting at least 1% of global shark catches from 2000 to 2009.
The review also looks at shark action plans and measures from the European Union and ten regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs). It reveals that 18 of the top 26 shark fishing countries have adopted a national plan of action (NPOA) and that an additional five of these countries are in the process of adopting or developing such a plan.
Adopted management measures for sharks include shark fin measures, closed areas and season and by catch and discard regulations; protected species, total allowable catches and quotas and special reporting requirements.
The countries under review are: Indonesia, India, Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico; the United States of America, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan, France, Thailand; Brazil, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Portugal, Nigeria, Iran; the United Kingdom, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Peru, Australia, Yemen, Senegal and Venezuela.
Mercator Media Ltd 2013