Hammerhead sharks are winners of wildlife trade meeting

See more in our gallery: "Meet six winners and losers from wildlife trade meeting"

IT LOOKS like it will be good news for sharks but bad news for polar bears at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

As New Scientist went to press, delegates at the meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, had voted to increase protection for five shark species. Three were types of hammerhead. All final decisions will be made on Thursday.

"This is a landmark moment showing that the world's governments support sustainable fisheries and are concerned about the reckless over-exploitation of sharks for commercial use," says Heather Sohl, chief species advisor for the WWF.

Sohl says overfishing driven by the luxury goods market is the main contributor to the near collapse of these shark populations, which will now be protected by legislature regulating, but not banning, their international trade.

At the other end of the spectrum, a US proposal to ban the export of polar bears and their parts was contested by 42 nations in an effort led by Canada's Inuit population, who cited their economic reliance on the sale of the bears' pelts.

The meeting was also the final goodbye for the laughing owl, Tasmanian tiger and crescent nailtail wallaby, among others, as they were removed from the CITES database following their extinction over the last century. "This is a matter of book-keeping rather than a result of a sudden wave of extinctions," says Richard Thomas of TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Hammerheads protected"

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/2986c7d5/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg217290A830B20A0A0Ehammerhead0Esharks0Eare0Ewinners0Eof0Ewildlife0Etrade0Emeeting0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

Tony Farmer West Nile virus symptoms snooki amy schumer amy schumer Prince Harry Vegas pictures Avril Lavigne