|
The
long awaited meeting to discuss conservation measures for
Migratory Sharks under the Convention of Migratory Species
(CMS) was held in
Seychelles
from December 11th to 13th 2007. This meeting of country
representatives and their scientific advisors concluded
that an agreement developed under the CMS would add value
to current global shark conservation and management
efforts, and that the proposed instrument be finalised
at or before the 9th Conference of the Parties to CMS in
December 2008.
This meeting was a direct response to the recommendation
from the last conference of parties to develop some form
of international agreement to conserve and manage sharks
listed on the Appendices of the CMS, currently these are
the basking shark, great white shark and the whale shark.
The proposed instrument will apply to these species and
any others that may in time be added to the Appendices as
being at risk.
Although this meeting was at the same time as the
‘Climate Change meeting’ in
Bali
, there was a high level of participation and many key
countries with respect to both conservation and fisheries
were represented. The meeting was first briefed by Dame
Sarah Fowler, the co-chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist
Group which had prepared an extensive background paper on
the conservation status of migratory sharks and possible
options for international cooperation under the CMS. The
meeting was chaired by Dr. Rolph Payet , the
Seychelles
’ President’s Special Environmental Advisor, who had
been supportive of this course of action and approved
Seychelles
co-sponsorship of both the original proposal and also of
this meeting. The discussions focused on several key
elements including the geographical scope, species
covered, fundamental principles, shark
conservation/management components (including
non-consumptive use) and co-operation with other regional
and international bodies.
 |
|
|
The
Basking shark, one of three species currently
listed on the CMS Appendices. Photo Alan James.
|
A
number of the world’s leading shark researchers were
also present in both technical and advisory capacities;
Dr. John Stevens from CSIRO in Australia had in fact done
his post-doctoral work on the sharks of Aldabra Atoll in
the 1970’s and was pleased to be back in Seychelles
again, if even for only a short period. Great white shark
specialist Ramon Bonfil was also present and joined local
researchers in animated discussions about satellite
tagging techniques. In addition several whale shark
specialists were present whose names may be familiar to
readers of Sagren: Dhiresh Joshi from the Wildlife Trust
of India made an impressive presentation about the
on-going whale shark conservation programme
he leads in
Gujarat
,
India
. Brad Norman of the EcOcean whale shark photo-identity
project was also present and was as usual a font of
information about this global whale shark project. Clinton
Duffy from
New Zealand
was also present to represent probably the southern-most
country that whale sharks are found in.
|
 |
|
Dhiresh
Joshi and Brad Norman at the CMS meeting in
Mahe. Photo Michel Vely |
Besides
the negotiating discussions the evenings of the meeting
also hosted important and instructive events: on the 11th
of December the Save Our Seas Foundation sponsored a gala
dinner for participants which was preceded by a short
presentation on the work of the Foundation which currently
supports 52 conservation initiatives in 30 countries,
including 15 shark related projects. The event was very
well attended and delegates enjoyed the chance to meet
each other and local representatives socially. On the
evening of the 12th there were a series of presentations;
as well as the
Gujarat
presentation by Dhiresh, David Rowat of MCSS made a
presentation on
Seychelles
whale shark population estimates and Danile Jouannet from
Megaptera made a presentation on whale shark research in
Djibouti. Several other technical presentations
were made including one by John Nevill of MCSS on the
Seychelles
shark fishery, in which he was able to present shark
fishing statistics going back more than 100 years.
While the discussions at times seemed perilously close to
becoming deadlocked with respect to the scope of the
conservation agreement in terms of the species it would
cover, this was finally agreed, as was the geographical
scope. The meeting resolved that a draft CMS agreement
incorporating the conclusions reached should be prepared
by the CMS Secretariat in consultation with an inter-sessional
steering group comprising
Australia,
Chile, Costa Rica, EU, New Zealand
and Seychelles
. This would be circulated to all interested parties for
discussion and elaboration at a follow up meeting at the
CMS headquarters in
Bonn
,
Germany
in the first half of 2008, to be finalised
at or before the 9th Conference of the Parties to CMS in
December 2008.
Copies
of the statement on the outcomes of the meeting and of
Sarah Fowler’s background paper can be downloaded from
the CMS
web site .
|
