Shark Stewards Led Support at CITES to List 3 Families of sharks and Rays

An upcoming vote at the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) at CoP19 November among over 180 nations could protect endangered sharks from the shark fin trade. Please you add your name to this letter urging world leaders to end the shark fin trade driving the decline of many species of sharks.

The huge demand for fins and lack of sufficient management of commercial fisheries has devastated shark populations. Today, nearly two-thirds of requiem sharks – one of the ocean’s largest and most important shark families – have been fished to the edge of extinction.

But we have an unprecedented opportunity to save requiem sharks from global extermination. This November, world governments will hold their annual Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) and vote on whether to add requiem sharks to the list of protected species, and by doing so, regulate the majority of the global shark fin trade.

Only a quarter of the global fin trade is currently regulated. 

Every year, approximately 100 million sharks are killed in commercial fisheries. 

The proposed listing would be a critical first step to help safeguard a future for these species amid the ongoing global collapse of shark populations.

By uniting to support this global letter, we can send a clear and powerful message to world leaders: We will not stand by and allow sharks to be erased from the ocean. 

We’ll deliver the letter to key delegates ahead of the CITES conference, and give leaders the necessary public support to vote in favor of protecting sharks.