WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Feds Refuse to Protect Sharks

Northwest Atlantic Population of Dusky Shark Will Not Get Endangered Species Act Protections
Contact: Taylor Jones (720) 443-2615

Washington, DC— The National Marine Fisheries Service (Service) today refused to list the dusky shark under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in response to a petition by WildEarth Guardians. Despite an estimated 85% decline in the Northwest Atlantic population of dusky sharks due to intense exploitation, the sharks will not be given the strong legal protections of the ESA.

“The National Marine Fisheries Service is failing our sharks,” said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “The Service consistently refuses to list sharks despite clear threats to shark species worldwide; what have they got against our ocean’s top carnivores?”

Due to continuing and increasing threats to shark species worldwide, Guardians petitioned for ESA protections for six different species of sharks since 2010. This is the fifth of those shark species rejected by the Service; only two subpopulations of the scalloped hammerhead have gained ESA protections. WildEarth Guardians also submitted a petition to list 81 marine species and subpopulations under the ESA in July of 2013 which included 22 sharks; one of those species (Harrisson’s dogfish) was proposed for listing today, while 13 received negative findings and 8 decisions are now five months overdue.

Slow-maturing dusky sharks can grow to nearly 4 meters long. Guardians submitted a petition to list dusky sharks worldwide in November of 2012. Initially, the Fisheries Service decided that only the Northwest Atlantic population might be eligible for listing, but declined to move forward with listing today. Beginning in the 1970s, demand for shark meat, cartilage, and fins drove intensive fishing in the Northwest Atlantic. The population was decimated and dusky shark fishing was prohibited in 2000.

Protection under the ESA is an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99 percent of plants and animals protected by the law exist today. The law is especially important as a defense against the current extinction crisis; species are disappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate of extinction due to human activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct if not for ESA protections. Listing species with global distribution can both protect the species domestically, and help focus U.S. resources toward enforcement of international regulation and recovery of the species.

Marine species are in particular need of increased legal protections; an estimated 50-80 percent of all life on earth is found in the oceans, and more than half of marine species may be at risk of extinction by 2100 without significant conservation efforts. Despite this grave situation, the U.S. has largely failed to protect marine species under the ESA; of the 2,198 species protected under the Act, only 125 (~5 percent) are marine species.