CITES: USA Backs Protecting Sharks And Rays
Thursday, March 14, 2013 - 12:01
in Biology & Nature
CITES today overruled objections from countries like Japan, China and India and listed five species of highly traded sharks under the CITES Appendices, along with both manta rays and one species of sawfish. Japan, India and Gambia challenged the Committee's desire to list the oceanic whitetip shark, while Grenada and China objected to listing three hammerhead species. Proponents of the various listing proposals include the USA, the EU, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Egypt, Honduras and Mexico. The shark and ray proposals received more than the two-thirds majority of votes necessary for adoption while the sawfish listing succeeded by consensus. read more