Sharks and stingrays

*1. Implementation and effectiveness*
*Directed to Parties*
14.101	When considering or developing proposals to include shark species in the CITES Appendices, Parties are encouraged to consider factors affecting implementation and effectiveness, including those identified in Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP14) Annex 6; in particular:
	a)	non-detriment findings for commercially-traded marine species, including situations involving target and bycatch fisheries, and for shared stocks, migratory species and introductions from the sea;
	b)	monitoring and enforcement practicalities, given that sharks are generally traded in parts (meat, fins, cartilage, etc.); and
	c)	the likely effectiveness of listing, particularly when bycatch fisheries or non-fishery anthropogenic issues are involved.
14.102	Parties are encouraged to continue developing manuals and guides for the identification of sharks and shark products in international trade and to make these available to other Parties and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the CITES Secretariat before the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties to CITES.
*Directed to the Secretariat*
14.103	The Secretariat shall distribute a Notification to the Parties on implementation of listings for shark species. It shall focus specifically on obtaining from Parties’ Scientific and Fishery Authorities case studies on the development of non-detriment findings for shark species, and shall collate and summarize these for provision to the international expert workshop on non-detriment findings to be held in Mexico.
*2. Commodity codes*
*Directed to Parties*
14.104	Parties are encouraged to:
	a)	use their commodity codes, where they exist, for traded fish products in order to differentiate between fresh/chilled, frozen and dried, processed and unprocessed, shark meat, oil, skin, cartilage and fin products, imports, exports and re-exports, for both CITES-listed and non-listed species; and
	b)	report progress at the 23rd and 24th meetings of the Animals Committee on implementation of Resolution Conf. 12.6, under RECOMMENDS.
14.105	Parties are encouraged to use the existing species-specific FAO catch data recording fields for the reporting of shark catches and discards, and to work within FAO to amend these, if required, so as to achieve a more accurate picture of shark mortality through fishing.
*Directed to the Secretariat*
14.106	The Secretariat shall distribute a Notification to the Parties requesting them to provide details of their commodity codes for fish products (e.g. fresh/chilled, frozen and dried, processed and unprocessed, meat, oil, skin, cartilage and fins), imports, exports and re-exports, for both CITES-listed and non-listed species, collate the responses and report at the 23rd meeting of the Animals Committee.
*3. Species-specific reviews and recommendations*
*Directed to the Animals Committee*
14.107	The Animals Committee shall continue activities specified under Resolution Conf. 12.6, including refinement of the list of shark species of concern, in collaboration with FAO, taking account of those referenced in Annex 3 to document CoP14 Doc. 59.1, and shall report on these activities at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.
*Directed to Parties*
14.108	Parties landing and exporting products from shark species of concern identified by the Animals Committee are encouraged to:
	a)	improve liaison between their CITES and fisheries authorities;
	b)	ensure that levels of international trade are not detrimental to the status of these species; and
	c)	report at the 24th and 25th meetings of the Animals Committee on the fisheries, environmental and international trade management measures adopted, levels of landings and exports, and the status of these stocks and fisheries.
*4. South American freshwater stingrays*
*Directed to the Secretariat*
14.109	The Secretariat shall liaise with, as a minimum, the key range States¹ of the family Potamotrygonidae (South American freshwater stingrays), relevant Regional Fishery Bodies, FAO and the ornamental fish industry to facilitate the organization of and seek external funding for a regional workshop that will report at the 23rd or 24th meeting of the Animals Committee. This workshop will:
	a)	review the distribution and status of the wild populations of this taxon, the role of captive breeding and international trade records;
	b)	advise on the development of methods for ensuring the sustainable utilisation of and international trade in these species;
	c)	in consultation with all relevant range States, jointly examine crossborder trade that may be facilitating illegal trade; and
	d)	develop a cooperative strategy for monitoring and regulating international trade within South America and to other States, taking into consideration the contribution of captive breeding to in situ conservation.
*Directed to the Animals Committee*
14.110	The Animals Committee shall consider the outputs of the South American freshwater stingray workshop and, in consultation with workshop participants, shall make any necessary species-specific recommendations to range States and to the Conference of the Parties at its 15th meeting on improving the conservation status and regulation of international trade in these taxa.
*5. Capacity-building*
*Directed to Parties*
14.111	When making non-detriment findings for CITES-listed shark species, Scientific Authorities are encouraged to seek advice from relevant scientific, research and management bodies.
14.112	Parties are encouraged, through their delegations to the FAO Committee on Fisheries, to call on FAO to facilitate greater support for countries whose capacity to assess and manage their shark fisheries is limited, and to provide the resources necessary for FAO to undertake this work.
*Directed to the Secretariat*
14.113	The Secretariat, in consultation with the Steering Committee of the international expert workshop on non-detriment findings to be held in Mexico, shall seek to ensure that this workshop considers the development of non-detriment findings for sharks, including transboundary, migratory, straddling and high seas stocks.
14.114	The Secretariat shall liaise with FAO and regional fishery bodies to explore the organization of and seek external funding for a capacity-building workshop on the conservation and management of sharks. This workshop should:
	a)	consider the outputs of the Mexican international expert workshop on non-detriment findings;
	b)	use Galeorhinus galeus as a case study for stock assessment and management measures for internationally-traded transboundary migratory coastal shark stocks, and develop recommendations for improving the monitoring, regulation and management of international trade in this and other shark species;
	c)	consider tools and approaches for the development of assessments and non-detriment findings for shark species and for the monitoring and regulation of international trade in these species;
	d)	consider tools and approaches to determine whether specimens are of legal origin; and
	e)	develop recommendations for consideration at the 23rd or 24th meeting of the Animals Committee.
*6. International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA-Sharks)*
*Directed to Parties*
14.115	Shark fishing and trading entities, particularly the major fishing or trading entities² , are strongly encouraged to identify opportunities to:
	a)	improve, in cooperation with FAO and relevant fishery management bodies, the monitoring and reporting of catch, bycatch, discards, market and international trade data, at the species level where possible;
	b)	establish systems to provide verification of catch information;
	c)	report on their progress at the 23rd and 24th meetings of the Animals Committee; and
	d)	implement the FAO IPOA-Sharks as a matter of priority, where they have not done so.
14.116	Parties that are members of a regional fishery management organization are strongly encouraged to request through FAO and regional fishing management organizations where appropriate that these organizations develop and implement regional shark plans and associated measures to assist in species identification and monitoring, as called for in the IPOA-Sharks, by mid-2009 in order to report at the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties.
*7. Illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing*
*Directed to the Animals Committee*
14.117	The Animals Committee, in consultation with FAO, shall examine and report on linkages between the international trade in shark fins and meat and IUU shark fishing activities, including where possible:
	a)	the main species of sharks taken by IUU fishing; and
	b)	the relative importance of fins compared to meat in international trade arising from IUU fishing.


¹	Brazil, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay (other range States and territories are Argentina, Bolivia, French Guyana, Guyana and Suriname).
²	Based on the FAO 2004 data, the top 20 shark fishing areas and entities, in descending order of catch, are: Indonesia, the European Community, India, Spain, Taiwan (province of China), Mexico, Argentina, the United States of America, Thailand, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia, France, Brazil, Sri Lanka, the Islamic Republic of Iran, New Zealand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Nigeria and Portugal. Only those marked with have currently implemented National Plans of Action for Sharks.