BANGKOK, 12 March 2013 The 16th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), convening in Bangkok, resolved to allow controlled trade in great white sharks and all 3 species of hammerhead sharks.
The meeting’s decision to move the shark species into CITES’s Appendix 2 meant trading in the species is allowed, but control measures must be established to guard against overtrading, which could lead to extinction of the species.
The meeting has yet to reach a verdict on a proposal to move Manta rays into Appendix 2.
Wimon Chantharothai, the director-general of the Department of Fisheries, said he did not object to the moving of the shark species and the Manta ray into Appendix 2. He added he would have to determine whether the change would affect Thailand’s fisheries and export sectors.
Representatives from Love Wildlife, a non-profit foundation registered in Thailand and in the United States, submitted signatures it had gathered in support of the listing of the shark species and Manta ray in Appendix 2. The group viewed that strict control on trading of the species must be implemented because hammerheads and Mantas were animals with significance for the Thai diving industry. According to them, the number of these animals has declined in recent years, and tourism would be affected if these species are not conserved.
