Conservation Triage is never pretty especially when species are being pushed to the back of the conservation line by commercial fishing interests.Thus was the series of meetings in Paris last week, ICCAT, and a decision not to address Bluefin tuna catch reductions while at the same time adding some protections for sharks.
The shark protections, while hailed by many as a conservation win, mean for the most part sharks caught at sea will be dumped at sea, out of sight and out of mind to both consumers and conservation groups. The sharks are still being taken by very technically savvy fishing fleets, but fins will no longer arrive in Hong Kong to be added to bowls of soup.
For the bowls of soup conservation crowd - this is good news.
Like we said Conservation Triage is never pretty.
There are a few good news points to this years ICCAT, protections for Oceanic whitetips and Hammerheads.
Depending on who you speak with, or what blogs you read, the results of ICCAT, when viewed through the lens of Doha are substantial. Or when viewed through the lens of rapid species depletion at the hands of multi-national fishing fleets with no set international quota systems that can be verified, mixed.
For a fine 15 minutes of eye opening thought we have rounded up some of the after action Blue Blogs and press releases for your review, as always, great analysis:
Da Shark Fiji - Paris Realpolitik!
RTSea Blog - ICCAT & Sharks: a mixed bag of results from meeting
Sonja Fordham - Unprecedented Shark Conservation Action Taken
Ya Like Dags? - Highs and Lows from the ICCAT
Sea Notes - Black Friday for Bluefin
Southern Fried Science - Sharks get new protections at ICCAT
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