Today all four shark proposals were debated. Unfortunately, only one was approved. The proposals to protect hammerhead sharks, oceanic whitetips and the spurdog were rejected. The good news is that the proposal to protect the porbeagle was agreed! This is a large, migratory and warm blooded shark. It´s meat is heavily consumed in Europe. The CITES listing (in Appendix II) means that the species traded will only come from sustianable and healthy populatons.
Tomorrow proposals for protection of 8 shark species will be discussed. We are very excited cause it seems that there is a will to reach an agreement. Some fishing countries, like Spain, seem to be in favour of these proposals and everyone, including countries envolved in shark fisheries and trade, aknowledge that there is a problem.
Anne Schroeer Talks about Upcoming Shark Decisions.
This morning, Sunday, we were back to work. The EU finally organized a coordination meeting wiht the NGOs, thanks pushing by our colleague from the office in Brussels! We didn´t get much information out of it. Bluefin didn´t get discussed at all, sharks were all good since the EU supports all proposals, and the same for corals.
Friday 19 March
Despite the European proposal for the protection of bluefin tuna's defeat, not everything is lost yet. There is still a little possibility to which we'll hold tight. Today is a day for praying so there'll be no meetings. We'll take this opportunity to go out for a walk and clear up our minds. There got to be a solution.
CITES Update about Bluefin Tuna by María José Cornax
Breaking news out of Doha: a trade ban on bluefin tuna (Appendix I listing) has been defeated. Although there were repeated calls from delegates from the E.U., U.S. and Monaco to allow time for parties to meet and arrive at a compromise position, a Libya delegate forced a preemptory vote on the E.U. proposal, which resulted in a 43 to 72 vote, with 14 abstaining. Monaco’s proposal obtained 20 to 68 and 30 abstaining.
The decision could spell the beginning of the end for the tigers of the sea.
