Five shark species win international trade protection

Governments have agreed to restrict international trade in five shark species, in a bid to save them from being wiped out due to demand for their fins.

The 178-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has voted at a meeting in Bangkok to control exports of the oceanic whitetip, the porbeagle and three types of hammerhead shark.

The agreed trade controls have stopped short of a full trade ban.

The move will require countries to regulate trade by issuing export permits to ensure sustainability in the wild, or face possible sanctions from members of CITES, a global treaty that protects about 35,000 species.

The CITES members have also agreed on a similar proposal for the manta ray.

Shark fins drying in the sun cover the roof of a factory building in Hong Kong on January 2, 2013.

Asian nations led by Japan and China - where shark fin soup is considered a delicacy - were unsuccessful in their attempts to block the proposals, which were pushed by countries including Brazil, Colombia and the United States.

The decision to add the species to CITES Appendix 2, which restricts cross-border trade, must still be formally approved by the conference's plenary session later this week.

Members will then have 18 months to introduce the trade controls.

The five shark species would join the great white shark, the whale shark and the basking shark, which already enjoy international trade controls.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, mostly for their fins, and conservationists are warning dozens of species are under threat.

The FAO says 90 per cent of the world's sharks have disappeared over the past 100 years, mostly because of overfishing in countries such as Indonesia.

Source: ABC News, 11 March 2013