Fishing Countries Urged to Protect Endangered Sharks, Tuna and Swordfish
Oceana recently called on the 48 fishing member countries of the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) to protect sharks as well as tuna and swordfish.
The ICCAT, an "inter-governmental fishery organization responsible for the conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and its adjacent seas," is meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.
Oceana urged ICCAT to adopt protective measures to ensure the safety of endangered sharks. These protective measures included:
1. Safeguarding species like porbeagle sharks, silky sharks, bluefin and shortfin mako sharks
2. Requiring catch data to be reported
3. Requiring sharks to be caught with whole or partial fins
"Most shark species in the Atlantic are highly vulnerable because of their exceptionally low reproductive rates, yet lack any form of international protection. As key species are targeted for their valuable fins, we risk emptying the oceans of a vital top predator and greatly changing the oceans as we know them today," said Elizabeth Griffin Wilson, the senior manager of marine wildlife at Oceana.
Sharks, tuna and swordfish are highly migratory species which travel great distances across different oceans.
Over the past years, most of the swordfish that have been caught are juvenile fishes. Since this greatly affects their reproductive rate, swordfish need to be protected with properly enforced limitations on catching and landing sizes.
"Chronic illegal fishing and lack of management in the Mediterranean is transforming the basin into an empty sea... Without immediate action, Mediterranean swordfish and other important ICCAT species will soon face the same situation that continues to plague bluefin tuna," said Maria Jose Cornax, the fisheries campaign manager for Oceana Europe.
As such, one of the measures taken by ICCAT is to use an electronic system to record bluefin catches, according to the BBC.
Other species affected as bycatches of overfishing include sea turtles, sea birds and other marine mammals.
"It is time to stop putting short-term financial interests before the long-term health of our oceans," Wilson told the Associated Press.
If fish species are not allowed to recover in time, the oceans of the world may no longer have any fish by 2050, as the United Nations reported in 2010.