Mixed Results for Sharks at Atlantic Tuna Commission Meeting

Fishing nations at this year’s International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) meeting have adopted protections for silky sharks, but failed to take action to protect porbeagle sharks and to strengthen the ICCAT ban on shark finning.

In a press release following the meeting held in Istanbul, SOSF-funded Shark Advocates International reports that:

For the second time, an EU proposal to protect porbeagle sharks failed due to opposition from Canada, the only Party with a targeted fishery for the species. Belize, Brazil, and the US were unsuccessful in their third attempt to strengthen the ICCAT finning ban by replacing the current fin to carcass weight ratio limit with a prohibition on removing fins at sea. China, Japan, and South Africa spoke in opposition to the measure.