Five Countries to reject new international regulation on shark trade
Several CITES members will ignore new trade restrictions for sharks and manta rays
Helmut Nickel, Shark Year Magazine,15. June 2013
At this year’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties meeting in Bangkok (March 2013), the majority of member states voted in support of listing five species of sharks and two species of Manta rays under Appendix II of the Convention. We reported on the outcome of this meeting here.
These shark and manta listings will enter into force on 14th September 2014.
But any member State of CITES has the possibility to make an unilateral statement ( called ‘Reservations’ ) that it will not be bound by the provisions of the Convention relating to trade in a particular species listed in the Appendices.
Now Shark Year Magazine has learned that five member countries have already submitted reservations concerning the new CITES Appendix II listing of several elasmobranch species, as you can see listed below.
Please note that these reservations haven’t been officially confirmed by CITES yet. So the information provided in this article may be subject to change.
List of Reservations concerning the forthcoming Appendix II listinigs of five shark and two manta species :
Reservations by
Guyana :
Porbeagle shark ( Lamna nasus ) – Appendix II
Oceanic whitetip shark ( Carcharhinus longimanus ) – Appendix II
Scalloped hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna lewini ) – Appendix II
Smooth hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna zygaena ) – Appendix II
Great hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna mokarran ) – Appendix II
Manta Rays ( both species ) – Appendix II
Reservations by
Japan :
Porbeagle shark ( Lamna nasus ) – Appendix II
Oceanic whitetip shark ( Carcharhinus longimanus ) – Appendix II
Scalloped hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna lewini ) – Appendix II
Smooth hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna zygaena ) – Appendix II
Great hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna mokarran ) – Appendix II
Reservations by
Yemen :
Scalloped hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna lewini ) – Appendix II
Smooth hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna zygaena ) – Appendix II
Great hammerhead shark ( Sphyrna mokarran ) – Appendix II
Reservations by
Denmark ( on behalf of Greenland ) :
Porbeagle shark ( Lamna nasus ) – Appendix II
Reservations by
Iceland :
Porbeagle shark ( Lamna nasus ) – Appendix II
What about China ?
It seems that China will accept the CITES Appendix II listings of these species and has not entered any reservations. Although they still have concerns regarding the implementation of the new listings.
If this news turns out to be true, China’s behaviour is very surprising. Because just a short time ago, China entered reservations concerning the less stricter Appendix III listing of the porbeagle and scalloped hammerhead shark. Please see our related article here.
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As we’re all well aware, it is China that creates the largest market for sharks so it’s highly unlikely, nigh on unthinkable, that they’ve simply had a change of heart.
My albeit cynical reaction is that China may be hoping that the initial ‘Reservationists’ take the flack, and that they can register later on without receiving so much attention.
I have every faith that if that is the case, it’s a ploy that will fail miserably.
Countries cannot take reservations once the deadline passes. However, they can be removed at any time.