The UN body overseeing global trade in threatened species Tuesday rejected a bid to regulate cross-border commerce in the shark most highly prized by Asian gourmets of sharkfin soup. The 175-nation Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha, shot down the US proposal by a very narrow margin, falling short of the two-thirds majority by a handful of votes.
Only decades ago, the scalloped hammerhead was among the most common of the semi-coastal sharks. But by-catch and intensive fishing for fins has slashed populations by about 80 percent globally, and by up to 90 percent in the Indian and Pacific oceans, experts say.
Between 1.5 and 2.3 million specimens are extracted from the seas every year, most of them tossed back into the water after their precious fins have been removed. Shark fin is a prestige food consumed mainly by Chinese communities around the globe. China spoke against the proposal in plenary session, saying that even their well-trained fisheries officials had been unable to distinguish between fins once they were cut off.
"Our experience has shown that control of these species at the borders would not be enforceable," a Chinese delegate said. Japan led opposition to the measure, arguing that management of shark populations should be left to regional fisheries groups, not CITES.
Conservationists counter that fishing for sharks is currently unregulated. They also point out that sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing because most species take many years to mature and have relatively few young. "The reproductive strategy of sharks worked perfectly for nearly 400 million years. The problem is that they are no longer the top predator in the ocean. We are," said Matt Rand, a shark expert at the Washington-based Pew Environment Group.
Initially, four other "look-alike" species were also to be covered in the US proposal to prevent the scalloped hammerhead from being harvested by mistake. But the US withdrew two of the species - the dusky and sandbar sharks - whose fins resemble the hammerhead's, retaining only the smooth and great hammerheads.
To enhance chances that the measure would pass, the US also allowed for an 18 month transition period so that implementation measures could be put in place for the so-called Appendix II listing under CITES. Appendix II requires countries to monitor and report all exports, and to demonstrate that fishing is done in a sustainable manner.
The listing was supported by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, as well as the secretariat of CITES, which makes recommendations on all measures. Three other sparks species - oceanic white tip, porbeagle and spiny dogfish - are set to come up for Appendix II listing votes later Tuesday.
In a vote on bluefin tuna last week, the CITES meeting voted down an proposal for Appendix I status, which imposes a total ban on cross-border trade. The meeting ends Thursday. All told, a third of the world's 64 species of pelagic, or open water, sharks face extinction, according to report issued last June by the IUCN's Shark Specialist Group.
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