WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, August 4, 2011
DU law students seek protection for predator during "Shark Week"

University of Denver Environmental Law Clinic says fearsome hunters are defenseless
Contact: Jay Tutchton (303) 993-6744

Other contact: Prof. Mike Harris, Director, University of Denver Environmental Law Clinic * (720) 841-0400

DENVER— In the midst of television’s popular “Shark Week,” it’s hard to imagine nature’s most fearsome predators are, in fact, defenseless against human beings. But the University of Denver (DU) Sturm College of Law Environmental Law Clinic filed a federal lawsuit today to protect the powerful porbeagle shark because it cannot protect itself from overfishing that has pushed the species to the brink of extinction and left it in desperate need of federal protection.

The suit, filed by the student law clinic on behalf of WildEarth Guardians, asks a federal court in Washington, D.C., to overturn a ruling by the Department of Commerce that denied WildEarth Guardians’ 2010 bid to list the species as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The suit names Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank in her official capacity. Commerce officials rejected WildEarth Guardians’ petition with a negative “90-day finding” in July, 2010.

“We are delighted to enlist the law students of the DU Clinic in an act of professional courtesy: legal sharks protecting real sharks,” says WildEarth Guardians’ General Counsel Jay Tutchton.

The porbeagle shark is a relative to the great white shark. The species is known to be highly intelligent, even seen engaging in playful behavior, and researchers say the shark plays an important environmental role, ensuring natural balance in its ecosystem. The porbeagle has a slow reproductive rate and is not rebounding from overfishing.

“By refusing to consider the petition to protect the porbeagle shark, the government has again arbitrarily refused to follow the law when it comes to species prized by the commercial fishing industry,” says DU Environmental Law Clinic director and lead attorney Michael Harris. “But the ESA is not merely intended to only protect cute, fuzzy species with no commercial value; the law should protect all species in order to maintain diverse and healthy ecosystems."

The species is found in the North Atlantic, including waters off New England and the Mid-Atlantic and Northern Europe. The species is also found in the far southern Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Studies show stocks have dropped 90 percent off New England and Canada since heavy fishing began in 1961.

The Shark Conservation Society in the United Kingdom supports WildEarth Guardian’s petition to list the porbeagle shark throughout its range. The Society stated that “scientific evidence confirms serious stock depletions on both sides of the north Atlantic, and the European Union have reacted to this by giving the Porbeagle a zero TAC (Total Allowable Catch) rating.”