CMS Gives Long-Awaited Protected Status to Six Shark Species
Sunday, November 9, 2014 saw the awarding of protection to a handful of shark species according to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Although the CMS treaty has been in existence since 1979 and provides protection for sharks, whales, rays and other migratory marine species, the new measures certainly signal a significant turning point for these animals. The species which are now protected include three threshers (genus alopias), the silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), and both the great (Sphyrna mokarran) and scalloped (Sphyrna lewini) hammerhead sharks. It was during the eleventh Conference of the Parties to the CMS treaty (CoP11), which met in Quito, Ecuador with the purpose of discussing worldwide measures to bolster the conservation status of migratory animals, that the decision to protect these shark species was finally made.