Notification to the Parties

CONCERNING:

Conservation and management of sharks

1. At its 12th meeting, the Conference of the Parties adopted Decision 12.49, which directs the Secretariat to encourage CITES authorities of Parties to obtain information from their national fisheries departments on the implementation of the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA-Sharks), prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and to report on progress at future meetings of the Animals Committee.

2. A similar encouragement for Parties to obtain information from their fisheries departments on the implementation of IPOA-Sharks, and to report directly on progress to the CITES Secretariat and at future meetings of the Animals Committee, is contained in Resolution Conf. 12.6 on the Conservation and management of sharks.

3. Documents AC18 Doc. 19.2, CoP12 Doc. 41.1 and CoP12 Doc. 41.2, available from the CITES website, and the report of the 25th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries available from the FAO website (http://www.fao.org), provide further information on this subject.

4. The Management Authorities of the Parties are hereby invited to seek information from their fisheries departments on the implementation of IPOA-Sharks, particularly with regard to the establishment of National Plans of Action, and to submit this information to the Secretariat by 30 September 2003.

5. The Secretariat is aware that certain Parties have provided or are planning to provide to FAO the information indicated in paragraph 4. To avoid dual reporting, the Secretariat encourages these Parties to copy such information to the Secretariat, rather than producing a separate report.