A proposal to protect 18 species of sharks and rays has been passed at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), held on Sunday 25 August.
Mako sharks, wedgefish and guitarfishes are three of the newly protected species. These fish have been driven to near extinction after being sourced for their meat and fins for shark fin soup reports BBC.
Unless proof can be given that catching these fish will not impact their long-term survival, they can no longer be traded under the new proposal.
According to the BBC, 102 countries voted in favour of the proposal, and 40 countries including China, Japan, Iceland and New Zealand did not.
Commercial fisheries are responsible for 100 million shark deaths each year, according to a 2013 study published by Science Daily. In the last six years these numbers may have increased.
Sharks are one of the world’s oldest vertebrates and Makos sharks (the world’s fastest shark species) have almost disappeared entirely from the Mediterranean. Numbers are also dwindling in the Atlantic, Northern Pacific and Indian oceans.
According to the BBC, the wedgefish and guitarfish species, known as rhino rays, are the most threatened family of marine fish. There is only one animal from this species that is not listed as critically endangered. Two of these animals have been declared extinct as a result of commercial fisheries. Their dorsal fins and large tails are key ingredients in shark fin soup.
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