A NEW landmark agreement to counteract the alarming global decline of sharks was concluded on 12 February 2010 under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) administered Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

Government representatives meeting in Manila, Philippines, agreed on the text of a Memorandum of Understanding on the conservation of migratory sharks.

A new agreement to halt global decline of shark populations may help save majestic creatures like the Whale Shark / Image: Courtesy Brad Norman, ECOCEAN

The iconic whale shark, currently protected within Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP), Western Australia, is a species that will benefit from better international protection by fishing nations through reduction of threats, in particular illegal fishing and trade, through enforcement of existing laws.

The conservation group ECOCEAN was invited as a non-governmental organisation to be part of the international meeting where delegates agreed to include all seven shark species in the CMS appendices under this agreement: the Whale Shark and the Great White, Basking, Porbeagle, Spiny Dogfish, Shortfin and Longfin Mako Sharks.

ECOCEAN is a not-for-profit, non-government organisation with offices in Australia and the U.S, committed to the protection and restoration of the world’s oceans through the development of research software, applied research, advocacy, education and direct conservation activities for the protection of sharks.

The goal of the CMS agreement is the restoration and long term viability of populations of migratory sharks covered by the instrument. A conservation and management plan was thoroughly discussed as a first step towards international cooperation on the protection of sharks. By signing this agreement, countries have expressed their willingness to conserve the endangered shark species covered therein.

“This listing is particularly important for the threatened whale sharks and at a time when greater attention will be focused on Ningaloo – a critical feeding location for this species – and the location recently nominated by the Australian Government for World Heritage Listing,” says ECOCEAN’s Brad Norman.

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010, 17 percent of 1,044 shark, ray and chimaera species are threatened. At present, our knowledge of about 47 percent of shark, ray and chimaera species is too limited to even assess if they are threatened.

Sharks suffer from overexploitation as both target and non-target catch. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), up to 900,000 metric tons of shark has been caught every year for the last two decades. However, taking into account illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and missing data, the catch figure is expected to be at least twice as high.

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), also known as the Bonn Convention, works for the conservation of a wide array of endangered migratory animals worldwide through the negotiation and implementation of agreements and species action plans. With currently 113 member countries, many of them in Africa, CMS is a fast-growing convention with special importance due to its expertise in the field of migratory species.

Further Information: Brad Norman, ECOCEAN +61 414 953 627 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , www.whaleshark.org

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