Conservationists secure federal deadline on protections for vanishing shark species

(CN) — The Center for Biological Diversity reached a legal agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service Monday, requiring the agency to determine whether a rapidly declining shark species warrants federal protections.

Under the agreement, the service has until Aug. 12 to decide whether to list the smalltail shark as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

If it agrees to list the species, the smalltail shark would be the first species added to the list under President Donald Trump’s current administration.

In November, Trump moved to roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live, reviving a suite of changes to Endangered Species Act regulations during the Republican’s first term that were blocked under former Democratic President Joe Biden.

“Smalltail sharks need swift action to bring them back from the brink of extinction, and I’m hopeful this agreement makes that happen,” Lauren Parker, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement.

“Sharks have roamed our shores for millions of years. It’d be tragic to let smalltail sharks disappear forever from the Gulf of Mexico and their entire habitat because of bureaucratic delays," Parker added.

In its complaint filed in Maryland federal court last year, the center accused the agency of failing to take action on its petition showing that protections are necessary for the species’ survival and recovery.

In May 2023, the service found that the petition presented substantial scientific information indicating the vulnerable sharks could warrant protection, but failed to reach a decision by October 2023 as legally required.

“Until defendants publish the legally required 12-month listing determination and final listing rules, the smalltail shark will face ongoing threats to its existence and continued degradation of its habitat caused by defendants’ failure to provide necessary protection under the ESA,” the center wrote in its lawsuit.

In its petition, the national, nonprofit conservation organization urged the service to list smalltail sharks as threatened or endangered, designate critical habitat and issue protections for species similar in appearance.

Smalltail sharks are a relatively small species of requiem sharks — reaching a maximum length of about 5 feet — and can be found in estuaries and nearshore waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The global smalltail shark population has declined dramatically by more than 80% in the past 27 years, or just three generations. In the area where most of the sharks live, off the coast of Brazil, the population has declined by more than 90%.

Overfishing primarily drives the sharks’ decline, with insufficient or nonexistent regulations in many regions where they are targeted by fishermen or accidentally caught as “bycatch.” Their meat is consumed locally, and their fins are traded globally due to a high global demand for shark fin soup — a luxury delicacy among the wealthy in Southeast Asia.

As a tropical and subtropical species that inhabits shallow, coastal areas, smalltail sharks are also threatened by climate change, habitat degradation and contaminant exposure, as well as a low reproductive rate.

“Smalltail sharks can’t afford to wait for political change to be saved,” Parker said. “Extinction is forever, and we owe it to future generations to do everything we can to keep smalltail sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.”

Sharks, rays and chimeras, or cartilaginous fish, first evolved around 420 million years ago and have survived at least five mass extinctions. Today, nearly two-thirds of these unique deep-sea creatures are threatened with global extinction. One shark species closely related to the smalltail, called “the false smalltail shark” or the “lost shark,” is believed to be extinct — highlighting the smalltail’s susceptibility to extinction.

Follow @Megwiththenews