Great white shark to be protected
Trade in the ocean's most feared predator, the great white shark of Jaws fame, would be controlled under a proposal endorsed at an international conference this week.
Conservationists hailed the move as an important step towards protecting the animal, a living torpedo with teeth that has killed surfers and swimmers but has suffered greatly at the hands of humans.
"This will contribute significantly to great white shark conservation," said Nicola Beynon of Humane Society International, which had campaigned for the proposal.
"Now we have an opportunity to ensure trade in great white body parts is regulated sustainably."
The decision was made at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) held in Thailand this week.
It places the great white on CITES Appendix II, which regulates strictly but does not outright ban trade, at the behest of Australia and Madagascar.
It does not, for example, ban sport fishing, but countries that wish to export great white body parts must convince CITES that such trade is not detrimental to the species, which will require further study of its little-known numbers.
The joint proposal argued that a listing "for the white shark would help ensure that exploitation of this globally threatened species is regulated and monitored and that international trade is not detrimental to its survival".
White sharks are targeted commercially and by recreational fishermen for their valuable jaws and teeth. Their fins, like those of other sharks, are in high demand for soup.
Firm numbers are not known but scientists say available data suggest the population is in decline.
Australia estimates there are fewer than 10,000 white sharks in its waters. South Australia, where parts of the original Jaws movie was shot, has recorded a 94% drop in great white numbers in the decade from 1980.
The shark is also found off the coasts of California and South Africa.
In South Africa, it is famed for its explosive and acrobatic attacks on seals.
The great white is only the third shark to be afforded such protection by CITES, joining the far larger but gentle basking and whale sharks.
The Swiss-based World Conservation Union's Red List, a wildlife guideline widely used by scientists and conservationists, classifies 82 sharks and rays as threatened. Another 10 are expected to be added soon.
Wrasse gets help
The conference also adopted a proposal to regulate trade in the humphead wrasse, a giant Indo-Pacific fish threatened by harvesting for both the live aquarium industry and exploitation as food.
Some countries are opposed to CITES regulations on fisheries on the grounds that they are not easy to enforce or because they are seen as a threat to commercial interests.
But scientists say the world's fisheries, many of which are severely depleted, need all the help they can get.
"We've come to realise that marine animals are no less threatened than terrestrial ones," said Yvonne Sadovy, chairwoman of the World Conservation Union's specialist group for grouper and wrasse.
As expected, the conference accepted a U.S. proposal to loosen trade restrictions on the bald eagle, a gesture that recognised its numbers had soared back from the brink of extinction in America's lower 48 states.
Madagascar's spider tortoise and its leaf-tailed gecko also got added protection.
All topics on the agenda must go back through the plenary later this week but that process is almost always a rubber-stamping formality.