Latest Oceanic whitetip shark Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online According to research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Animal Biotelemetry, satellite tagging has helped map the secret migration of white sharks. Researchers using satellite tagging found that pregnant female sharks travel between a mating area at Guadalupe Island and a nursery in Baja California, which puts them and their young at risk from commercial fishing. White sharks live most of their life in the open ocean,...

CITES plenary today accepted Committee recommendations to list five species of highly traded sharks under the CITES Appendices, along with those for the listing of both manta rays and one species of sawfish. Japan, backed by Gambia and India, unsuccessfully challenged the Committee decision to list the oceanic whitetip shark, while Grenada and China failed in an attempt to reopen debate on listing three hammerhead species. Colombia, Senegal, Mexico and others took the floor to defend...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online As their name indicates, oceanic whitetip sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus ) are best known as inhabitants of the open seas. However, a new report by an US-led team of marine biologists has found that the deadly apex predators regularly migrate to waters around the Bahamas. Because the sharks were also found prowling for hundreds of miles in the waters around the Atlantic island nation, the biologists say their study could have...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Josh Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement today in response to French Polynesia announcing comprehensive and permanent shark protections. The announcement was made on Dec. 6 during the annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting in Manila, Philippines. "We applaud the government of French Polynesia for its bold decision to establish the world's...

NOUMEA, New Caledonia, Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Research published today in the journal Conservation Biology presents the most comprehensive assessment of the status of Pacific shark populations to date. The paper, authored by Dr. Shelley Clarke and a team from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in New Caledonia, shows significant declines in catch rates for blue, mako, and oceanic whitetip sharks, as well as declining average sizes of oceanic whitetip and...

WASHINGTON, DC, October 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At least 37 countries, including the United States and Mexico, have proposed protections for ten shark and ray species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The U.S. will join Colombia in leading an effort to secure trade measures for the oceanic whitetip shark. In cooperation with at least five other countries and the European Union, Mexico is pursuing protections for three species of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Seven species of vulnerable sharks and manta rays have now been submitted by 35 countries for consideration for protection next year under an international treaty concerned with regulating wildlife trade. Governments met the deadline today and formally submitted their proposals for the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in March 2013. The recommendations include...

TUMON, Guam, March 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fishing nations of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) today agreed to protect oceanic whitetip sharks based on a U.S. proposal, while an Australian proposal to ban intentional setting of purse seine nets on whale sharks (to catch associated aggregations of tuna) was stalled by Japan. "We are pleased that the WCPFC has heeded scientific advice and taken action to conserve seriously overfished oceanic...

Pew says ending finning a good step, but does not save sharks WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Matt Rand, director of global shark conservation for the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement today in response to an announcement by the Taiwan Fisheries Agency that it will impose a ban next year on shark finning--the practice of slicing off the animal's fins on-board and then throwing away the body at sea--and mandate that sharks are landed with their fins...

Pew calls for more action to protect depleted species WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ten months after releasing a landmark report revealing the planet's top 20 shark-fishing catchers, the Pew Environment Group is expressing concern about new images and video taken in Taiwan that detail the expansive and unregulated nature of shark fishing globally. The depictions show fins and body parts of biologically vulnerable shark species, such as scalloped hammerhead and...