EU and US impede momentum toward vital mako shark protections

EU and US impede momentum toward vital mako shark protections. Decision on North Atlantic ICCAT ban – championed by Canada, Gabon, Senegal, and the UK – stalled again. Conservationists are deeply unhappy that the European Union and the United States once again served as the main obstacles to agreement on urgently needed mako shark protections during this week’s special Committee negotiations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Canada and seven other Parties proposed a ban on retaining seriously overfished North Atlantic shortfin makos, as scientists have long advised. The EU and US refuse to go along and continue to insist on exceptions for continuing to land the endangered species, despite receiving only opposition in response. The resulting delay in consensus allows unsustainable fishing on this shared population to continue. ICCAT scientists estimate recovery could take five decades, even if fishing were to stop immediately. “The ...