Shark Coalition

COSTA RICA LEADS CALL AT THE UNITED NATIONS TO INCREASE PROTECTION FOR SHARKS

Shark Coalition Logo

(San Jose, Costa Rica – March 9, 2009) – Members of the Shark Coalition, represented by experts of the Humane Society International (HSI), participated in a meeting of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Committee on Fisheries (COFI) last week (March 2-6) in Rome, Italy, where Costa Rica led the call for a global “fins-attached” shark conservation strategy.  Joined by 10 other Latin American countries, Costa Rica formally requested a U.N. workshop to address the barbaric and wasteful practice of shark finning.

Each year, around the world, tens of millions of sharks are hauled up on deck, where their fins and tails are sliced off and the (often still-living) sharks are then thrown back overboard to die a lingering and painful death.  The reason for this shameful waste is the demand for shark fin soup.  The effect has been the devastation of shark populations worldwide. Some shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent in the past 20 years. Some may never recover.

“Costa Rica has got it right”, says Patricia Forkan, president of Humane Society International, which has worked extensively on the issue of shark finning. “The Costa Rican proposal promotes the idea that sharks should be landed with fins partially or wholly attached to the carcasses, a practice that is required by law in Costa Rica and is the most simple and sure way to prevent shark finning.”

The FAO was the first multilateral body to address the problem of shark finning.  However, the agreement that suggests a prohibition on finning is voluntary and open to interpretation, with the result that the FAO has achieved little in the way of shark protection to date.  Sharks are in serious trouble.  Strong finning bans combined with limits or bans on shark fishing must be implemented fully around the world to curb the rapid decline of shark populations.

“Due to the highly migratory nature of sharks, the regulation must be regional and global to be effective”, informed Randall Arauz, Coordinator of the Shark Coalition and President of the Costa Rican organization PRETOMA.  “A U.N. workshop addressing the issue could help promote this policy in the European Union and in Regional Fisheries Management Organizations where shark finning is an issue”, said Arauz with optimism.

Facts:

•    Recent studies in the Northwest Atlantic have shown steep declines in shark populations, particularly among highly migratory species.  Since 1986, hammerheads have declined by 89 percent, thresher sharks by 80 percent, white sharks by 79 percent and tiger sharks by 65 percent.  All recorded shark species in the region, with one exception, have declined by more than 50 percent in the past eight to 15 years.  It is highly likely that similar results will be seen across the world’s oceans.

•    In the Costa Rican Exclusive Economic Zone, shark relative abundance declined 60% from 1991 to 2001.

•    Reported global trade in shark fins increased from 3,011 metric tons in 1980 to 11,732 metric tons in 2000.  Much of the trade is unreported because many fins do not pass through normal landing channels and because most of the fin trade is conducted in cash to avoid tax and duties.

•    Research in Hong Kong found that dried fins sold for as much as $744 per kilogram in 2002.  In 2003 dried shark fins in China retailed for $200 – 300 (per kilogram).

•    Shark fin soup can cost up to $150 per serving in Hong Kong, but there are worrying signs of a new market opening up for lower-quality fins, allowing millions more people to buy products such as shark fin sushi, shark fin cookies, shark fin cat food and canned shark fin soup.

•    Shark fin consists of collagen fiber and has no taste.  Flavor is added to the soup by the addition of chicken or fish stock.

•    Unlike other fish, sharks take many years to mature, they have long gestation periods and they give birth to live young – or they lay eggs – in very small numbers. In some cases of severe overfishing, recovery of the stock, if possible at all, will take decades.  The ”boom and bust“ pattern of shark fisheries has been repeated all over the world wherever sharks have been targeted.

The Shark Coalition is a network of 12 non-governmental organizations of the United States and Latin America, that works to protect global shark populations (www.coaliciontiburones.org).

For more information:

Andy Bystrom
Director de Comunicaciones
Pretoma
andy@pretoma.org
(506) 2241 5227

Miguel Gómez
Coalición Tiburones
miguel@pretoma.org

Welcome to the new face of the Shark Coalition

(San José, Costa Rica. July 2, 2007)

The Government of Costa Rica has thrown down the gauntlet in the international debate on shark conservation. Releasing two statements last week simultaneously at the UN in New York and at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission in Mexico, Costa Rica stated its commitment to a global ban on the practice of shark “finning”, a process whereby millions of sharks have their fins sliced off and are then thrown back overboard.

At the UN meeting on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, Costa Rica made an unprecedented call for all sharks to be landed with their fins attached to their bodies, stressing not only the sheer waste of a much-valued and dwindling resource, but also the barbarity of finning. The statement was publicly supported by Venezuela and received tacit support from a number of other Latin American countries. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) also supported the Costa Rican statement.

Some countries have banned shark finning and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations have adopted recommendations against shark finning. However, in most cases, the removal of fins at sea is still permitted, provided that, when they are landed, the fins weigh below a certain proportion of the weight of the carcasses. In practice, say conservationists, there is a wide margin for cheating, depending on the weight ratios used. Furthermore, the system is impractical, considering that thousands of sharks can be landed simultaneously. Costa Rica is proposing that landing all sharks with their fins attached naturally is the only effective way to prevent shark finning.

The Shark Coalition, a group of NGOs from seven Latin American countries, applauded Costa Rica for its far-sightedness in taking this step. “Costa Rica was the first country in the world to require all sharks to be landed with the fins attached naturally” said Randall Arauz of PRETOMA, a member of the Shark Coalition. “El Salvador, Colombia and Panama have followed suit, demonstrating that this region takes shark conservation very seriously”, informed Arauz. Jorge Ramirez of the Mexican group Iemanya Oceanica, and also a member of the Shark Coalition, added “We hope the international community will realize that a global fins-attached policy is the only one that’s going to work”.

One hundred and ten shark species are currently considered to be under serious threat, and more species are being added to the list as they are assessed. Global shark populations have diminished by as much as 90% over the past 50 years. While there are various reasons for these declines, the ever-increasing demand for shark fin soup in east Asia, which imports thousands of tonnes of fins a year, is considered to be the most serious threat. A rapidly-growing middle class with disposable income in China has meant that, where unwanted catches of sharks used to be released back into the sea by large commercial fishing boats, the value of the fins is now so high that they are routinely taken for the international fin trade, while the low-value carcass is thrown back, to save space on board.

“The international debate on shark finning has focused on arguments about how much a shark’s fins weigh in relation to the rest of its body”, said Susie Watts of Humane Society International, another member of the Shark Coalition, “but meanwhile, sharks are still getting finned in huge quantities, and I’d be prepared to bet that most catches aren’t being weighed anyway. This call from Costa Rica, if heeded, will simplify the whole process. If the shark has its fins attached, it’s allowed. Simple as that”.

Costa Rica plans to take its case to the UN General Assembly later this year. “We hope that the UN will see the logic of this initiative”, says Arauz. “When we talk about the disappearance of sharks, we’re talking about the balance of global ocean ecosystems, about food security in poorer countries and about millions of dollars of lost revenue from the diving industry. A lot is riding on this”.

For more information:

Randall Arauz, PRETOMA. (Spanish and English)
Tel (506) 241 5227, FAX (506) 236 6017, email: rarauz@racsa.co.cr

Susie Watts, HSI (English) Tel: (44) 1865 391 740 Cell: 07707 457 193

Jorge Ramírez, Iemanya Océanica. (Spanish and English) Email: jorge@iemanya.org

The Shark Coalition: www.coaliciontiburones.org
PRETOMA: www.tortugasmarinas.org
HSI: www.stopfinning.org
Iemanya Oceanica www.iemanya.org/

EDITORS’ NOTES

Shark declines:

89% decline in hammerhead sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
80% decline in thresher sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
79% decline in great white sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
65% decline in tiger sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1986
60% decline in blue sharks in the NW Atlantic since 1988
99% decline in oceanic white tip sharks in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1950s
90% decline in oceanic silky sharks in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1950s
60% decline in relative abundance of all sharks in Costa Rican waters since 1991

In the Northwest Atlantic, all recorded shark species, with the exception of the mako shark, have declined by more than 50% since 1988.

The shark fin trade

Thousands of metric tonnes of shark fin are imported into Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and mainland China each year. Imports into Hong Kong and mainland China (the world’s largest importers) from 1988 – 2002 are as follows (in metric tonnes):

HK Mainland

1998 6919 4236
1999 7643 4062
2000 9799 4646
2001 9461 3128
2002 9846 3555

The combined 2002 imports of 13,401 metric tonnes represent many millions of sharks.

Shark Finning

According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) tens of millions of sharks are finned every year.

Shark Fin Soup

A delicacy for the aristocracy for thousands of years, shark fin soup was seen as elitist and frowned-upon by the Chinese Government during the Cultural Revolution. In the mid-1980s this attitude was relaxed and fin trade statistics for the period show a steep upward trend in imports. Demand has remained high ever since.

Serving shark fin soup is said to honour one’s guests and no New Year celebration, wedding or banquet is considered complete without it. Ironically, processed shark fins have no flavour at all: chicken or fish stock has to be added to flavour the dish.

Ecosystem effects

Predictive modelling has shown that the disappearance of sharks could have devastating consequences for ocean ecosystems. Because sharks are “apex” predators, positioned at the top of the food chain, the balance of species below them in the chain is highly likely to be severely disrupted, often to the detriment of commercially-valuable species. Tuna, for example, could disappear from areas where sharks have been fished out. Research carried out in the North-west Atlantic and published in March 2007 shows that in the coastal north-west Atlantic, the abundance of all eleven large shark species that prey on other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) has fallen over the past 35 years. The abundance of twelve of these prey species has subsequently increased, with the effect that populations of the cownose ray have been enhanced. This has resulted in increased predation of scallops of such magnitude that a century-old scallop fishery had to be closed.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.

San Jose, Costa Rica, December 8th 2006
At the conclusion of a workshop, twelve shark experts from seven countries in South and Central America today called for increased global protection for sharks
The workshop, convened by Costa Rican NGO Marine Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA), and sponsored by the Humane Society International, was attended by participants from El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Costs Rica, Colombia and Ecuador. The workshop called for an immediate end to shark “finning”, a widespread and cruel practice where sharks are hauled up on deck, have their fins sliced off – often while still alive – and are then thrown back into the water. The fins are sent to east Asia, to make shark fin soup, a symbol of wealth and prestige among eastern Asian communities. Experts estimate that tens of millions of sharks are finned around the world every year.
Twenty percent of shark species are now considered to be endangered, while dozens more species are yet to be assessed. Experts believe that many more of these species will be added to the endangered list, unless urgent measures are taken.
“As the Asian economy booms, especially in China, we are going to see an even more rapid depletion of sharks in the entire South and Central American region, where east Asian fishing boats number in the thousands”, says Randall Arauz of PRETOMA. “Our governments must work together to ensure that finning is outlawed throughout the region”.
Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador and Brazil are the only countries in the region that have banned finning in their waters. “But we must ensure that these bans are properly enforced, and that finning bans spread throughout south and central America”, says Carlos Hasbun of FUNZEL, El Salvador.
Satellite tagging has revealed that sharks are highly migratory species that can travel many thousands of kilometers in the space of a few months.
“Sharks can cross and re-cross international boundaries on a daily basis –what happens to sharks in one country’s waters affects shark populations throughout the region. Regional co-operation is the only thing that makes sense”, says Patricia Forkan of the Humane Society International.
In a statement signed by all the participants, the Shark Coalition called on their governments to work together to protect the region’s shark populations, and to make greater efforts to persuade the global community to prohibit shark finning throughout the world’s oceans. They also called on the governments of shark fin-consuming countries to educate their citizens to seek environmentally friendly alternatives.
“Sharks play a key role in the balance of marine ecosystems”, says Forkan. “But millions are literally being thrown away for the sake of an elitist symbol of wealth. This is totally unsustainable and it needs to stop”.

More than half of the world’s ocean-going sharks are at risk of extinction, a new analysis concludes.

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Press Release

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Press Release

At the end of June, Coalition members Randall Arauz of PRETOMA, Jorge Ramirez of Iemanya and Susie Watts of HSI traveled to New York to attend a meeting of the UN Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS). The purpose of their trip was to test the waters in terms of delegates’ reactions to the idea of a global policy of landing all sharks with their fins attached to their bodies.

Jorge Ramirez in the UNICPOLOS meeting

Our Coalition team took with them some DVDs about shark finning, shark postcards carrying the "fins-attached" message and the Coalition statement on shark finning (see "shark finning" section). These were handed out to delegates and were well-received. A number of delegates expressed their support for the idea and others asked for more information.

The Costa Rican delegation made a strong intervention on the issue and urged delegates to discuss the matter seriously at the next meeting – in October/November this year – of the UN General Assembly. Their statement was endorsed by Venezuela and the IUCN, and a number of central American delegations expressed their support privately to Costa Rica.

The Coalition will continue to lend its full support to Costa Rica and its allies at key international meetings, including the UN General Assembly.