Nations agree on rules to protect sharks

Governments at a wildlife trade conference have adopted greater protections for more than 70 species of sharks and rays amid concerns that overfishing is driving some to the brink of extinction.

- BY MICHAEL CASEY

FLORA TOMLINSON-PILLEY Associated Press

A PERSON swims near a whale shark off St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The measures, approved Friday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in Uzbekistan, bans the trade in oceanic whitetip sharks, manta and devil rays, and whale sharks. It would strengthen regulations for gulper sharks, smooth-hound sharks and tope sharks, which means they can be traded, but there must be proof that the sources are legal, sustainable and traceable.

Governments also agreed to enact annual export quotas of zero for several species of guitarfish and wedgefish, meaning the legal international trade will mostly be halted.