Sharks of the Atlantic: new report cites dismal international conservation efforts

Over the past several years, we have been seeing progress made in conserving sharks through the establishment of shark sanctuaries or protected zones that have included entire island nations. The latest measure has been taken by the U.S. state of Florida which initiated a prohibition on the catching of tiger sharks and three species of hammerhead sharks inside Florida state waters. Additionally, we have seen legislation aimed at shark fin bans which, at best, puts pressure on the shark finning industry and, at the very least, forces them to fold up their tents and move elsewhere.

As positive as these steps are, they are regional efforts, globally-speaking, and many sharks species, particularly those considered the most endangered, are known to travel great distances whether traveling along migratory routes or randomly covering a lot of ocean territory and, in so doing, they move in and out of protected areas frequently.

Since these sharks will move in open international waters, it therefore becomes the responsibility of multinational fishery management organizations to ensure that sharks are being properly managed and, in many cases, prohibited from commercial shark fishing.

This could not be any more truer than in the Atlantic Ocean. A just-released report from Oceana cites as much as 75% of the migratory sharks in the Atlantic are classified as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) but less than 1 percent are protected by the organization that is most responsible for protecting these sharks.

The ICCAT, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, is that responsible organization. According to Oceana, "The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the primary international maritime treaty, establishes that fishing nations must cooperate to ensure the conservation of highly migratory species both within and beyond their exclusive economic zones, through appropriate international organizations."

"Because highly migratory species require international cooperation for effective management, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) have been established to manage fisheries for these species with the goal of long-term sustainability. In the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is the most relevant and appropriate international organization to manage highly migratory species, including sharks."

Unfortunately, ICCAT's scorecard has not been a particularly winning one. Heavily influenced by commercial fishing interests, the organization has set catch limits for tuna that are consistently way below levels recommended by their own scientific advisers, and only a few species of sharks have been afforded any degree of protection.

The ICCAT has been holding its 22nd Regular Meeting of the Commission this past week in Istanbul, Turkey and Oceana is there to present the 48 member nations with the facts and to make recommendations as to actions ICCAT should be taking regarding Atlantic Ocean sharks.

Just how many sharks are being taken? Well, trying to answer that question is also part of the problem because as many as half of ICCAT's member nations did not report any shark catches in 2009 - there's no data. Based on what figures are available, combined with scientific and anecdotal observations, the current state of affairs is not good. But until there is reliable data from all member nations, the full extant of the problem can not be appreciated - which is just fine with the commercial fishing industry representatives whispering in the ears of ICCAT delegates.

In its 10-page report, Vulnerable Sharks in the Atlantic Ocean: The Need for International Management, Oceana puts forth the following recommendations to the ICCAT:

1. Prohibit retention of endangered or particularly vulnerable shark species, especially porbeagle and silky sharks.
2. Establish science-based precautionary catch limits for blue and shortfin mako sharks.
3. Require reporting of catch data as a prerequisite for landing a particular shark species.
4. Improve the ICCAT finning measure by requiring that sharks be landed with their fins wholly or partially attached in a natural manner.

I have reported on the ICCAT's dismal record in the past regarding tuna catch limits and so if the organization's history is any indication, Oceana has probably had it's hands full this past week. But it's a fight worth taking on so, as the meeting in Turkey comes to a close this weekend, let's hope that some decisive progress has been made.

Perhaps someday, with regional protections in place, a growing public awareness and clamor as to the problem, and catch levels reaching limits that are economically unsupportable, the ICCAT will live up to its environmental responsibilities. The sharks are betting their lives on it.

Download Oceana's report: Vulnerable Sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.
Read about the status of Atlantic sharks at Ocean's website.

The Sargasso Sea: a famed Atlantic Ocean region is a gyre at risk

The Sargasso Sea - an area in the North Atlantic that is unique in several ways. It is a sea without shores, defined by aquatic borders made up of four open ocean currents: on the west by the Gulf Stream, to the north by the North Atlantic Current, on the east by the Canary Current, and on the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current. Collectively, this forms the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre - a rotating pool of water some 700 miles wide and 2,000 miles long.

The other unique feature of the Sargasso Sea is its namesake. Within this large body of water resides Sargassum seaweed. Sargassum is a floating seaweed and as such provides an oceanic haven for a variety of sea creatures from juvenile fish, to predators to coral larvae. Over the centuries, vast mats of Sargassum were seen and documented by sailors. But there has been a steady decline in the acreage of this vital seaweed, which serves as a barometer of the ocean's health.

Mission Blue, the new research and expedition arm of Dr. Sylvia Earle's Deep Search Foundation, has designated the Sargasso Sea as one of the organization's Hope Spots - an ocean area that deserves attention and study because of what it says about the state of the planet's oceans.

Mission Blue recently visited the Sargasso Sea, near it's Bermuda epicenter, and from the organization's blog came these comments from Dr. Earle, "No large mats of Sargassum but we snorkled around some small patches and had a great at sea rendezvous with the Bermuda Aquarium team who had a big tub of water on board their small boat and were able to show us a cross section of Sargassum's floating zoo -- some of the endemic crabs, shrimp and a miniature Sargassum fish as well as a little puffer, tiny jacks and other little critters."

Being a gyre, the Sargasso Sea is open to many of the same conditions that have grabbed attention in the Pacific Ocean with its Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Plastics, both in large floating pieces and in the degraded micro-particles, threaten the health of the Sargasso Sea and all of its inhabitants. Micro-particles of plastic form a deadly and sometimes toxic stew in the water which threatens everything from seabirds, turtles, pelagic fish (which are also at risk from swallowing larger pieces of plastic) all the way down to larval creatures that ingest the particles.

Disrupting the floating marine ecosystem and Sargassum seaweed that makes up the Sargasso Sea, through climate changes in surface temperature and pollution from plastics, puts this shoreless sea at risk of becoming a lifeless zone. Often written about in history as a thriving breeding ground and mysterious vast ocean forest floating across the surface of the water, the Sargasso Sea needs protection, lest it becomes just a footnote in our memories.

Visit the Mission Blue web site to learn more about the Sargasso Sea.