IUCN Declares Whitetip Sharks Critically Endangered; 95% Population Collapse In Central, W. Pacific

This week, the oceanic whitetip shark was reclassified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), citing “steep population declines” in all oceans. That represents two big steps toward extinction from the shark’s previous classification as “vulnerable,” which it had held since 2006. However, that wasn’t enough to convince countries that fish for tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean to step up protections for the species in that region, where scientists predict the sharks will disappear if current management practices don’t change.

Many scientists and conservation advocates were hopeful that the 16th meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), held from December 5 to 11 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, would commit to new steps to boost the region’s population of whitetips (Carcharhinus longimanus). The multilateral body manages fisheries in the vast region, including the large and lucrative tuna fishery that accidentally kills tens of thousands of whitetips each year.

At the meeting, delegates finalized and adopted a new conservation and management measure for sharks, which may help other species. But the measure doesn’t offer any new protections for whitetips, and their particular plight in the region didn’t make it onto the agenda.

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Oceanic whitetips were once among the most common pelagic shark species in the tropics. As apex predators, they play a crucial regulatory role in marine ecosystems, maintaining balance and diversity in the species below them in the food web. Sharks are also culturally important for many Pacific peoples, often seen as manifestations of ancestors, deities or guides for ocean-goers. But a recent stock assessment commissioned by the WCPFC revealed that the oceanic whitetip population in the western and central Pacific Ocean has declined by about 95%. The assessment concluded that if new measures aren’t taken to protect the sharks, the population will become regionally extinct.

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https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/whitetip-sharks-declared-critically-endangered-but-gain-no-protections-in-pacific/