The Spanish Fisheries Confederation (CEPESCA) will ask the European Commission (EC) to put forth international conservation and management measures for a variety of species of shark, among them, the thresher and the hammerhead. It is hoped that the measures are proposed in the next annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which will be held in Recife, Brazil, from 6 to 15 November.
Last September, Spain prohibited the capture of thresher sharks and scalloped hammerhead sharks – in an effort to protect both vulnerable species.
According to the norm, Spanish fishing ships are not be able to catch, transfer, land or commercialise these sharks in any of the fishing-grounds they target.
“In written documents sent as much to the Spanish Administration as to EC Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, CEPESCA insists on the need for the European Commission to chair the ICCAT session on the necessary initiatives for the protection of the most vulnerable species of sharks and in the setting of the most adequate management measures for the establishment of responsible and sustainable fishing,” the Confederation indicated in a statement.
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