According to Shark Alliance nearly 60 percent of Malta’s shark species threatened with extinction. On this pretext the Shark Alliance marked Global Ocean Policy Day by calling on EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg to strengthen one of the EU’s most important and far-reaching policies for sharks: the ban on “finning”, the slicing of fins and tossing the body at sea.
The Shark Alliance is a coalition of 70 conservation, scientific and diving organisations dedicated to improving EU shark policies, including the ban on finning. It is told that the EU is the lead supplier for the global shark fin trade, which is driven by demand for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup, and the EU finning ban is currently among the weakest in the world.
It is observed that Maltese fishermen mostly hunt species that dominate the Asian shark fin trade, such as thresher, hammerhead and blue sharks. In 2008, scientists reported population declines of 97-99 percent for Mediterranean populations of these species. Sonja Fordham, Shark Alliance Policy Director, said that ten years ago Malta took bold action to protect the great white shark, giant devil ray and basking shark, and it is high time to show such leadership again.
Fordham continued that they encourage Malta to champion protection for all the region’s endangered and critically endangered sharks and prompt implementation of the EU Shark Plan, starting with a stronger finning ban, before it’s too late. Nearly 60% of Malta’s 35 species of sharks are considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as threatened with extinction.
It is said that in 999, Malta became the first EU country in the Mediterranean to protect the great white shark; that year Malta also protected the basking shark and giant devil ray. Malta is still the only EU country to provide national protection for the giant devil ray. At least 35 species of sharks and 27 species of rays are found in the waters off Malta. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed 42 percent of 71 Mediterranean shark and ray species as threatened with extinction.
