EU Action Plan for sharks - more action is necessary!
Posted, February 05, 2009 @ 12:00
Brussels, 5th February 2009 - The EU's sharks action plan, adopted today by the European Commission, is an important step in the right direction for the conservation and management of these vulnerable species, Struan Stevenson MEP, Conservative fisheries spokesman in the European Parliament, said.
The long-awaited Action Plan modifies and enforces protection of sharks in both EU and international waters, while outlining a number of measures to improve our knowledge of sharks and their role in the ecosystem.
A high number of shark species are threatened with extinction due to their slow growth, late maturity and small litters. They have also become increasingly over-fished as a result of technological improvements in fishing and processing, as well as growing consumer demand for shark products since the 1980s. Sharks are fished for their fins, as well as meat, skin and cartilage. Some species such as tope, also referred to as the soup-fin shark, are fished for sport. According to the IUCN, a third of all sharks in the north-eastern Atlantic alone are threatened with extinction.
EU Ministers have already agreed to prohibit all fishing of four critically endangered shark and ray species, including angel sharks, common skates, undulate rays and white skates, during the Council meeting of 19th December 2008.
Nevertheless, a number of critically endangered species in the North East Atlantic, such as spurdog and porbeagle sharks, are still not included in these protection plans. Spain and France are involved in heavy porbeagle fishing, selling the meat to Asia where it is used in the popular shark fin soup. Spurdog meat, on the other hand, is sold in a number of European markets under enigmatic names such as "rock salmon", while its by-products are used in cosmetics. Unfortunately, instead of banning all fishing for these species, EU Ministers agreed to reduce the total allowable catch (TACs) for this year's catch by 25% for the porbeagle and 50% for the spurdog.
Mr Stevenson has argued that the EU should follow scientific advice and introduce zero TACs for the endangered shark species, which have been overfished for too long, as well as introducing rigorous controls on shark finning. At the end of 2006, Conservative MEPs led a campaign against attempts to relax EU rules on shark finning - where the fisherman cuts off the fins and throws the rest of the (often still alive) shark back in the water.
Mr Stevenson said:
"Unfortunately, films like Jaws have created a stigma surrounding sharks that often prevents them gaining the attention and sympathy they deserve. They are a vital component of maintaining a balanced ecosystem in our oceans.
"The Shark action plan is a positive step forward for shark conservation but EU ministers now must back up this rhetoric and take dramatic action to save some shark species from extinction.
"All the positive proposals put forward in the commission's action plan will come to nothing unless national governments agree to ban the fishing of some of the most endangered species. At their meeting last December, our fisheries ministers once again bowed to French demands to allow the continued fishing of porbeagle and spurdog, some of the most seriously over-fished species of shark.
"Our oceans' ecosystems will collapse without sharks."