Senegal’s proposal, which was before the 26th Regular Meeting of the Commission (held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain from November 18 to 25), would have prohibited “retaining onboard, transhipping, or landing part or whole of a North Atlantic shortfin mako carcass caught in any of the fisheries managed by ICCAT.”  The proposal also included strict quotas for the South Atlantic shortfin mako shark.  Senegal’s proposal came in the wake of a recommendation by the ICCAT Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) that a non-retention policy, without any exceptions, be adopted for North Atlantic shortfin mako.

Considered to be the world’s fastest shark, the shortfin mako is particularly susceptible to overfishing, as it produces few young and matures later than other shark species.  A 2017 study found that the North Atlantic mako population only had a one-in-two chance of recovering from overfishing if catches were cut to zero and additional measures adopted. In recognition of the critical conservation state of the shortfin mako, the parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), voted in favor of trade protections for this vulnerable species at the 18th Conference of the Parties, held in Geneva last August.

Senegal’s proposal was supported by 16 ICCAT parties, including the African coastal States of The Gambia, Gabon, and Liberia. These countries have partnered with Sea Shepherd to conduct joint at-sea patrols, resulting in the arrests of dozens of fishing vessels for illegal fishing and other fisheries crimes including the arrest of European fishing vessels for shark finning and the unlawful fishing of vulnerable deep sea shark species for the production of shark liver oil. 

Standing in the way of the proposal were the European Union (EU) and the United States – with each offering competing proposals that were riddled with exceptions and set catch quotas that were not in line with scientific advice. As a consequence, a considerably weaker version of the non-retention policy was adopted by the ICCAT parties. The EU’s opposition to Senegal’s proposal is particularly troubling given that EU fishing vessels are responsible for the vast majority of shortfin mako catches.

Sea Shepherd thanks The Gambia, Gabon, and Liberia, as well as the other 13 supporters of Senegal’s proposal, for taking a strong conservation stance at the ICCAT meeting. With up to 31,000 sharks killed every hour by humans, shark populations have plummeted by 90% in the past century and one quarter of shark species are now at serious risk of extinction. The supporters of Senegal’s proposal recognized the critical need to protect sharks and, thus, the importance for enacting greater protections for the highly exploited short fin mako shark.

Click here for more information about Sea Shepherd's campaigns to fight illegal fishing in African coastal states.