By Martha Moss - 5th February 2009
Once stocks have collapsed it may take many decades for them to recover - if indeed they can recover at all
Joe Borg
Brussels has unveiled proposals to help protect shark species, including plans to tighten the EU ban on "finning".
Setting out the EU plan of action for the conservation of sharks on Thursday, fisheries commissioner Joe Borg cited figures which show that as many as one third of the shark species found in EU waters are under threat due to overfishing.
"This is bad news," said Borg. "Sharks and their close cousins, such as skates and rays, are more vulnerable to overfishing than many other fish, because their reproductive cycle is so long. Once stocks have collapsed it may take many decades for them to recover - if indeed they can recover at all."
"That is why the European commission has decided to adopt a plan of action that can help protect these vulnerable predators, and ensure that in so far as they are being fished, they are fished sustainably."
Under current regulations, finning - when fins are cut off sharks often for use in food - is illegal in EU waters when the carcass is discarded at sea.
The commission wants the council to adopt the plans and MEPs to present parliament's position later this year, with the objective to have the measures in place by 2012 or 2013.
The measures to protect sharks and related species, such as skates and rays would be based on a "precautionary approach" and would involve reducing catches as a matter of urgency, Borg said.
He called for an improvement in scientific knowledge and a greater emphasis on catch reporting, data collection and analysis.
"If we want to be coherent in our good intentions, we need to do our best to make sure that all shark fisheries are sustainable, not just those in which we ourselves are directly involved," he said.
The commissioner stressed the need for "real coherence" between EU policy on sharks and the positions in international bodies and fisheries management organisations.
"Proper measures to protect the most vulnerable species of sharks must be put in place, and must be properly controlled and enforced," he said.
The EU fleet takes in some 100,000 tonnes of sharks and related species, and demand for shark products has seen fisheries grow rapidly since the mid-1980s.
Borg said, "Many people associate sharks with going to the cinema, more than with beaches or restaurants. But the latest information we have confirms that human beings are now a far bigger threat to sharks than sharks ever were to us."
Asked whether the plan would be implemented during the current economic crisis, the commissioner said fishers were "always facing one crisis or another". "The impact of the fuel crisis was much more visible for fishers than the economic crisis," he said.
And he insisted that the political will is there for member states to tackle the issue "because there is the realisation that we are dealing with a very vulnerable species".
British EPP-ED deputy Struan Stevenson said the plan was a step in the right direction but should have done more to protect critically endangered species.
"Unfortunately, films like Jaws have created a stigma surrounding sharks that often prevents them gaining the attention and sympathy they deserve," he said.
"They are a vital component of maintaining a balanced ecosystem in our oceans. The shark action plan is a positive step forward for shark conservation but EU ministers now must back up this rhetoric and take dramatic action to save some shark species from extinction."
Warning that the proposals would "come to nothing" unless national governments ban the fishing of some of the most endangered species, he said that fisheries ministers had "bowed to French demands" to allow the fishing of porbeagle and spurdog at the December meeting.
"Our oceans' ecosystems will collapse without sharks," Stevenson said.
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