
Nephrops norvegicus
November 29, 2021
Bluefest
December 1, 2021What a week for mako sharks, Isurus oxyrinchus and Isurus paucus!!
We started off with an historic full retention ban on their fishing decided at last week’s ICCAT conference.
Then we learned that a Plan of Action for Shark & Ray Conservation was approved by the Portuguese Parliament (newspiece in Portuguese only, sorry).
And now comes this amazing Factsheet on Mako Sharks conservation, just released by Associação Natureza | WWF Portugal and Oceano Azul Foundation.
And the best part is, we played a small part in every single one of these extraordinary moments! It wasn’t easy to balance moving fish, with teaching, family life and conservation work, but we managed to nag the h#ll out of all stakeholders and persuade them that any and all mako shark conservation measures should include both species, Isurus oxyrinchus and Isurus paucus, or we all know what would happen… If conservation efforts only affected shortfin makos (I. oxyrinchus), all of a sudden all commercial fisheries landings would “misteriously” become longfin makos (I. paucus), which is exactly what we’ve seen with deep-sea sharks, more than one decade ago, when only a few species were protected, instead of all of them.
Congratulations are in order to all those involved in these momentous occasions and now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and make sure these measures are properly enforced.