On a mission for the mako sharks.

Dr. Iris Ziegler attended the meeting in Vale do Lobo from 14 to 21 November on behalf of SHARKPROJECT and advocated for the participating delegations to support the long overdue but highly effective measures proposed by the European Union and the United Kingdom:

The story of the proposal

While we have been calling for effective action against overfishing of this critically endangered shark (IUCN) in the South Atlantic for many years, to little effect, this year the EU has put forward a proposal that could not have been better, even if we had written it.

This U-turn came after the EU’s CITES authorities issued a negative opinion for the shortfin mako shark in the North Atlantic in October, banning member states from importing and exporting shortfin mako sharks from the South Atlantic. Just as they had done for the North Atlantic in 2021, two years after CITES listed the species in Appendix II to regulate international trade in it.

This year’s ICCAT meeting and its outcomes?

But after eight long days of sometimes tedious discussions and a rollercoaster ride of hopes and disappointments, what did ICCAT achieve?

The good news is that in addition to the EU, Brazil, another important fishing nation for shortfin makos in the South Atlantic, supported the proposal in plenary, as did many other participating parties, and it almost looked as if the proposal could be adopted in the first meeting.

But then South Africa spoke out against a fishing ban and demanded to be allowed to catch shortfin makos in the future in recognition of its previous efforts to reduce catches. But if South Africa is allowed to keep the catches, then Namibia has also announced that it wants to do the same … and so on. On a side note, Namibia used to be the second largest mako fishing nation in the South Atlantic after the EU.

As a result, negotiations went back and forth between all parties and the proponents had to find a workable compromise, which they finally succeeded in doing by introducing a cap on historical catches for each fishing nation, with the large fishing nations having to reduce to 40% of previous landings, while the small fishing nations were allowed to maintain 60% of previous levels – in the case of South Africa, the amount even doubled compared to 2021 landings. Unfortunately, the same also applies to some other fishing nations, while at least the large fishing nations actually have to reduce their landings by 60%.

And what’s worse, during the final adoption of the proposal in plenary, South Africa spoke up again, claiming that it did not fully understand part of the proposed measures, in particular the provision that makos that are still alive when retrieved may not be retained under any circumstances and that they may only be retained if an observer or an electronic monitoring system is on board.

Namibia also spoke up and explained that it did not have observers on board every ship and could not accept this either.

These last-minute reservations almost brought the adoption of all the measures to a standstill, and in the end they were only adopted because the USA proposed a weakening whereby this paragraph would not come into force until 2025.

Our Conclusions?

It was truly frustrating to witness how two nations imposed their interests on all others, fully aware that they would succeed—and indeed, they did.

This is certainly not the kind of behavior we would expect from nations that otherwise claim to be coastal states concerned about their marine resources. Clearly, this does not apply to sharks when massive profits can be made from the export of shark fins. Unlike in the EU, there doesn’t even seem to be a market for mako shark meat in these countries. Instead, it appears the sharks are used for fishmeal production.

The concessions enforced by two ICCAT members will lead to an increase in overall mortality, potentially exceeding the maximum level of 2,001 tons recommended by scientists since 2017, despite the fact that allowable landings over the next two years have been reduced by nearly 50% compared to last year’s landings.

Therefore, the measures now adopted by ICCAT are far from a precautionary approach but are significantly better than the status quo, where no measures and virtually no limits existed.

However, without the continuous efforts of the supporters, the involvement of many other stakeholders, and the presence of us NGOs in Portugal, this achievement for mako sharks would not have been possible. While far from perfect, the outcome is much better than we anticipated back in September, when no proposal was even on the horizon.

Thus, I thank the supporters and all of us 😊👍, but especially the SRG and CITES, who made this success possible in the first place.

Hopefully, this will also set a precedent for other RFMOs and the management of other shark species. All requiem sharks, including blue sharks, should soon also be protected from overfishing driven by international trade. This will hopefully trigger sustainable management for these species within ICCAT and other RFMOs.

What’s Next?

For blue sharks, a stock assessment plan for the Atlantic is scheduled for next year. Hopefully, effective management measures will then be introduced, including catch allocations and agreed-upon stock rebuilding plans, which we will certainly push for at next year’s annual meeting.

And for mako sharks?

While the landing limits and allocations per fishing nation reduce the economic incentives to target or welcome mako sharks as bycatch, it’s important to note that this will not decrease overall mortality unless combined with measures to prevent bycatch or at least significantly increase the proportion of live releases. This is especially crucial given that reports of discards remain extremely sparse, and as a result, overall mortality has been significantly underestimated to date.

We therefore call on ALL contracting parties to voluntarily refrain from retaining animals that are still alive when hauled in, in line with the northern commitment, and to work on effective measures to prevent shortfin mako catches in the first place.

A significant reduction in bycatch mortality must be achieved, both in the North and South Atlantic.