Joint NGO Media Release

Contacts:
Greenpeace Ocean Campaigner, Mike Hagler
WWF Communications Manager, Jen Riches
WWF Executive Director, Chris Howe
Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate, Kirstie Knowles

New Zealand and Japan oppose conservation of threatened sharks at CITES

The New Zealand Government is coming under fire from conservation groups for helping to block European Union proposals that would see two threatened shark species gain greater protection.

CITES (Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is a global summit on trade in wildlife currently meeting in The Hague in the Netherlands. New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter is among the delegates.

Proposals to require the careful monitoring of the international trade in porbeagle and spiny dogfish sharks won the majority of member country support, but were defeated by a blocking minority, including New Zealand and Japan. Porbeagle and spiny dogfish sharks are on the verge of collapse in parts of their range, yet international trade in their fins and meat is not adequately monitored and controlled.

Conservation organisations Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, ECO and WWF say the failure to put porbeagles and spiny dogfish on CITES Appendix 2 demonstrates the continued resistance of some fishing countries to the idea of extending CITES protection to fisheries. "This is a shameful triumph of fishing politics over conservation," Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner Mike Hagler says.

In the preliminary vote earlier this week New Zealand voted with the minority against adding these shark species to CITES Appendix 2, joining with Japan, Norway, Canada and other nations whose fishing industries target these shark species and trade in their meat and high value fins.

"Many countries have banned the cruel practice of shark finning, but New Zealand is not one of them. It is time New Zealand took its responsibilities for shark conservation seriously. Sharks are at the top of the food chain, and removing them has serious knock-on effects for the rest of the marine ecosystem," WWF-New Zealand's executive director Chris Howe says.

"In the same way that we expect other countries to support New Zealand in protecting threatened whale species, New Zealand should be prepared to support the EU in protecting threatened shark species," Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. Appendix II listing does not prevent the trade in a species but requires monitoring and management of species listed and would be a further block on the illegal, unregulated and unreported trade in sharks.
2. Basking sharks and great white sharks are species already listed by CITES.
3. New Zealand has no National Plan of Action on sharks as it is committed to have under the FAO International Plan of Action on Sharks, and has not taken measures to prevent the finning of sharks at sea.
4. The World Conservation Union - IUCN specialists groups have reviewed the merits of the proposals and support the listings.

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