The proposal: To list the whale shark (
Rhincodon
typus) on Appendix II. (Submitted by India and the
Philippines.)
HSUS Position: Support
The largest shark (up 20 meters in length) is quite
vulnerable. These gentle giants of the sea are disappearing at
the hands of the fishing industry. The international market
(Taipei is considered the largest consumer of whale shark meat)
is fed by whale shark fisheries in Maldives, China, Chinese
Taipei, India, Pakistan, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and
Senegal. Often these fisheries are managed without any thought
to sustaining the species.
The effect of these fisheries has been dramatic. Depending
on the region, whale shark populations have reportedly
decreased by 30% to 80% per decade, and 20-30% annually.
Because the species is slow to mature and do not produce many
offspring, once a population is depleted, it rarely recovers,
even after decades.
Some countries (India, Honduras, the Maldives, the
Philippines, Thailand, and Australia) have laws protecting the
whale shark, but they are difficult to enforce without
international cooperation. For instance, surveys among
commercial fishermen suggest that over half of the whale shark
meat consumed in Taipei is imported illegally. Listing the
species on Appendix II would result in better protection in
Taipei, since internal trade in species listed on CITES
Appendix II is prohibited under local law until a management
plan is in place.
Other international treaties acknowledge the necessity of
protecting the whale shark: Whale sharks are listed in Appendix
II of the Bonn Convention for the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals, and the species is also included in
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Agreement
on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks.
Inclusion in CITES Appendix II would also facilitate the
implementation of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's
International Plan of Action for the Conservation and
Management of Sharks (IPOA-Sharks).
