Committee I of this summit of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) approved the proposals presented by Panama and fifteen countries and the European Union, to protect the families of requiem sharks ( Carcharhinidae) and hammerhead sharks (Sphynidae).
The debate, which lasted almost three hours, began with the initiative on requiem sharks, presented by Panamanian delegate Shirley Binder. Japan and Peru proposed that the protection exclude some species of this family, which was rejected by the other delegates in separate votes.
Finally, the proposal to protect the requiem sharks was taken to a secret vote, at the request of some twenty countries, and obtained 88 votes in favor, 29 against, and 17 abstentions, more than the two-thirds needed to be approved.
After the vote, several delegates applauded the result, which led the Committee’s president, the British Vincent Fleming, to ask to avoid this type of expression.
The hammerhead shark debate then began, but it took only a few minutes and the proposal was approved by consensus.
The green light given by the Committee is a first step in the crusade to stop shark fin trafficking, a lucrative business that moves some 500 million dollars a year but is unsustainable for the conservation of these species, according to various experts and NGOs. .
The last word on the fate of these sharks must be given by the plenary in the final days of this CITES COP19, which ends on November 25.
“This decision that was made today may be the most important that has been made for the conservation of sharks,” Luke Warwick, director of shark protection at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), told AFP.
The delegates of the European Union and the United States criticized that the delegates had opted for a secret ballot. “Transparency is essential,” said the European delegate.
The entrance Threatened Species Summit Preliminarily Approves Protecting Two Families of Sharks was first published on newspaper TODAY.
