Good news, ocean world!
While we have been bothered by different news showing how people abuse our beloved bodies of water, here's something we can celebrate with the beleaguered sharks: a cross-border conservation pact has just been signed by 126 countries. What's in it? A promise.
At the global Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals(CMS), they all agreed for the first time to extend extra protection to sharks and several other migratory species--no matter what country they're in. One of the top in list? No other than the world's largest fish, the whale sharks! That means they're added to appendix I, which obliges countries to protect them domestically from killing or capture, and to safeguard their habitats.
Why is this important? Whale sharks are among the vulnerable species; their population has been falling. The move entails utter protection of them even on offshore “hotspots” to which they migrate (i.e. Madagascar, Mozambique, Peru and Tanzania).
Moreover, other sharks are listed on appendix II, wherein countries within a species’ migratory range has to collaborate on ways to protect them. Particularly, blue sharks have this new status now. “They’re the most highly fished sharks in the world, with 20 million caught around the world each year, but they’re also the most migratory, so they’re vulnerable to fisheries everywhere,” says Matt Collis of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “This puts pressure on countries to commit to international protection.”
Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Benin and Brazil even joined this shark memorandum of understanding! Collis says the inclusion of Brazil is particularly significant, as it can largely affect the protection of many species of shark.
I hope this goes on and on until such time that they get to finally be safe.
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