Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Friday, July 29, 2016
Angelsharks Protected Under the Endangered Species Act

Three Species of Imperiled Sharks Are Endangered by Commercial Fishing
Contact: Taylor Jones, (720) 443-2615, tjones@wildearthguardians.org

Washington,DC—Today, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced it is protectingthree species of angelshark under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), listingthem as “endangered” in response to a petition filed by WildEarth Guardians in2013.

“ReceivingEndangered Species Act protections is great news for these angelsharks,” saidTaylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Sharks ofall kinds are a key part of ocean ecosystems and are increasingly threatened byhuman activities, so we’re thrilled to see more of them protected.”

Thethree species of angelshark — the common angelshark (Squatina squatina), sawback angelshark (Squatina aculeata) and smoothback angelshark (Squatina oculata) — have severely declined because of commercialfishing, particularly bottom-trawling. Angelsharks are now rarely seen orabsent in most areas where one or more species were once common, including theIberian coast, Tunisia, Balearic Islands, Aegean Sea, North Sea, Baltic Sea,Black Sea, the English Channel, and large areas of the Mediterranean.

TheFisheries Service concluded that angelsharks are vulnerable to fishing becausethey are long-lived and reproduce slowly. Removing large, mature angelsharksfrom the wild can be a huge setback for the population. The Fisheries Servicealso found existing populations of all three species are most likely small andfragmented, making it harder for them to rebound and repopulate empty habitat.Most of the commercial fisheries impacting the angelsharks are still active.The Fisheries Service listed all three species as “endangered,” the mostimperiled ranking, which grants the species the highest level of protectionsavailable under federal law. Despite clear threats to sharks from humanexploitation and finning (the practice of removing commercially valuable sharkfins and throwing the rest of the shark back into the ocean), the only otherlisted shark species is the scalloped hammerhead.

“Ouroceans are suffering because of relentless human exploitation, and sharks are amongthe hardest-hit species,” said Jones. “This listing is an important step towardensuring the health of our ocean ecosystems.”

WildEarthGuardians submitted a petition to list 81 marine species and subpopulations,including the angelsharks, under the ESA in July of 2013 due to significantthreats to our oceans. More than half of all marine species may be at risk ofextinction by 2100 without significant conservation efforts. Despite this gravesituation, the U.S. largely fails to protect marine species under the ESA. Of the over 2,000 species protected under theAct, only about six percent are marine species.

Recognizingthe decline of ocean health, on July 22, 2010, President Obama issued anExecutive Order requiring agencies, including the Fisheries Service, to“protect, maintain, and restore the health and biological diversity of ocean… ecosystems,”and to “use the best available science and knowledge to inform decisionsaffecting the ocean.” The angelshark listing is a step in the right directiontowards living up to that mandate.

Protectionunder the ESA is an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99percent of plants and animals protected by the law exist today. The law isespecially important as a defense against the current extinction crisis;species are disappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate ofextinction due to human activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species wouldhave gone extinct by 2006 if not for ESA protections. Listingspecies with global distributions can protect them from trade and help focusU.S. resources toward enforcement of international regulations and recovery ofthe species.

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Photo of common angelshark Squatina squatina by Philippe Guillaume. Available under a CreativeCommons license.