AR-News: (SA) More shark spp added to IUCN endangered list...

[Barry Kent MacKay]

Thursday, July 01, 2004
By Ed Stoddard, Reuters


JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — More shark and ray species are to be classified
as endangered on a global watch list in another sign that the planet's
oceans are in trouble, a leading scientist said on Wednesday. 

Overfishing and a soaring demand for shark fin are the prime culprits behind
the threats facing the creatures.

"The situation in many other cases is more serious than we realized....
Shark populations are in decline globally," said Dr. Rachel Cavanagh,
Program Officer for the Shark Specialist Group with the IUCN (World
Conservation Union).

Cavanagh said the additions would be made after a meeting earlier this month
of shark experts in Florida.

"At least 10 more shark and ray species will be added to the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species," she said from her UK office.

The Swiss-based IUCN's Red List — a respected wildlife barometer widely used
by scientists and conservationists — currently classifies 82 sharks and rays
as threatened. The classifications are vulnerable, endangered, or critically
endangered. Animals in these categories are considered to be threatened with
extinction. Cavanagh said one of the ocean's most feared predators, the
powerful great white shark, was itself under grave threat.

"The great white shark, already considered as vulnerable globally, may turn
out to be more threatened than previously assumed and will be classified as
threatened," she said.

Great whites are mostly found off the coasts of South Africa, California,
and Australia.

"Overfishing and a lack of management are the biggest threats to sharks. The
trade in fins has rocketed over the past two decades with no controls,"
Cavanagh said.

Estimates put the number of sharks netted for the lucrative fin trade at
millions annually though no hard figures exist. Fishers often hack off the
valuable fins, prized in soups in Asia, and discard the rest of the bloodied
animal.

New species to be "red listed" include the oceanic whitetip shark of the
Gulf of Mexico and New England's thorny skate.

The plight of the sharks is another example of the sorry state of the
world's seas. Nearly 75 percent of the world's oceans are considered
overfished or fished to the limit.

But Cavanagh said there was some good news.

"Some species are rebuilding off North America such as black-tipped sharks
due to stringent management," she said.


_____________________

Barry Kent MacKay 
Canadian Representative
Animal Protection Institute 
www.api4animals.org