November 20, 2024
The annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) held in Cyprus November 11-18 ended with a failure to pass loopholes over shark finning.
This year, the USA, Belize, and Brazil have led a multilateral effort to strengthen ICCAT’s finning ban by requiring that sharks be landed with their fins naturally attached. This policy, practiced in the Pacific, is widely regarded as a best practice for enforcement of killing sharks only for their fins. The loophole which allows sharks to be landed without their corresponding fins allows for more sharks to be captured than reported, and gives unscrupulous fishermen the ability to kill endangered and protected sharks for their fins. The fins- attached policy also helps collect more accurate shark catch data since mixing fins from threatened, endangered or protected species cannot be mixed with the bodies of more common sharks.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic (ICCAT), is the Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) responsible for conserving tuna and related species in the Atlantic and adjacent seas. ICCAT oversees the conservation and management of a variety of Atlantic marine species, including tunas, swordfish, marlin and sharks, and adopts measures to minimize bycatch, including turtles and seabirds associated with these fisheries. It includes 52 contracting parties, with the EU representing the interests of its member states.
After nearly 20 years following the passage of an ICCAT ban to fin shark, movement to close the loophole gathered momentum. This year, the proposal collected a record 42 co-sponsors (nearly 80% of ICCAT Parties). However, Japan and China again blocked the consensus necessary to pass the proposal. In a last ditch effort and breaking from protocol, Belize called for a vote, again to be blocked by Japan and China.
Despite strong scientific advice and overwhelming support from governments and conservationists, Japan and China, both with interests in the shark fin trade, have opposed additional shark protection. This failure to require sharks landed whole makes the ban on shark finning difficult to enforce. The absence of a strong policy threatens Atlantic sharks with overfishing and in many cases increases the risk of extinction of critically endangered sharks such as oceanic whitetip sharks.
The agreement also included an increase in the total allowable catch (TAC) for bigeye tuna and relaxed a moratorium period for Fisheries Aggregation Devices. Citing a lack of evidence that the Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) fishery closure period failed to sufficiently protect bigeye tuna stocks, the moratorium was reduced to 45 days from 72 days. FADs are floating structures that attract fish like tuna, but also unwanted species that are killed as bycatch. Studies in the Pacific suggest that younger fish are caught and the locations of FADs disrupts normal migration patterns.
At the November meeting, ICCAT increased the annual catch quota for Atlantic bigeye tuna to 73,000 metric tons for 2025-2027, an 18% raise from the recent years cap of 62,000 m tons.
One positive measure was the commitment to mandatory biodegradable and non-entangling fish aggregation devices (FADs), a step toward reducing the environmental impact of tuna fishing such as pollution and bycatch. The agreement also emphasized enhanced scientific research to inform future FAD closure policies.
On another positive note, the UK won a two-year effort to ban retention and promote the safe release of manta and devil rays. Proposals from the EU and UK to protect whale sharks and mobula rays received strong support at the 2023 ICCAT meeting, but Japan and China secured a condition that measures would not take effect until ICCAT scientists confirmed the vulnerability of these species. The EU secured similar protections for whale sharks and previewed plans to propose expanding mandatory release to basking and white sharks next year. The UK had insufficient support to host a special meeting focused on curbing incidental mortality of shortfin mako sharks in 2025.
Conservationists from the Shark League urged ICCAT Parties to join the UK in reducing the bycatch of endangered shortfin makos, and for member nations to voluntarily practice landing sharks with fins naturally attached.
It is estimated that over 100 million sharks are killed each year, overfished primarily for their fins to supply the Asian luxury shark fin trade. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that over one third of sharks assessed are threatened with extinction.