SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan―Endangered whale sharks and critically endangered gulper sharks have a better chance of escaping extinction thanks to global trade controls agreed today at the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species .
Whale sharks have been pushed into a precipitous global population decline of 92% by overfishing, illegal trade in fins and meat, vessel strikes and the increasing impacts of climate change. They have now received the highest level of protection possible, Appendix I, prohibiting international commercial trade.
Gulper sharks, heavily exploited for their extremely high concentrations of liver oil, are also facing declines of up to 80% in some parts of their range. They are killed for their oil which is marketed as ‘squalene’ and used in cosmetics and vaccines. Listing the species under Appendix II will introduce strong trade regulations for the first time with the aim of slowing the rampant slaughter.
Lawrence Chlebeck, marine program manager at Humane World for Animals Australia, said: “Whale sharks and gulper sharks are both victims of a veracious trade, for their fins and meat, and for their liver oil respectively, for which they are killed in astonishingly high numbers. The CITES protections afforded these species today throws these sharks a vital lifeline, without which it’s hard to see how their populations will recover. Whale sharks are one of the most charismatic of our ocean giants, while gulper sharks—tiny by comparison—live at such depths that there is much about these small sharks that remains a mystery. We are hugely relieved that nations around the world did not miss this opportunity to prohibit trade in these amazing sharks, or we could very well have risked losing them forever.”
Humane World for Animals is committed to the conservation of sharks and rays threatened by extinction from reckless, unregulated exploitation. We have long campaigned for the protection of whale sharks, actively securing the votes necessary to list the species on Appendix II at CoP12 in 2002. At the time, whale sharks were the first sharks to be listed on CITES appendices. It was Humane World for Animals that brought the plight of sharks to the fore at CITES and we proudly continue that legacy.
Other issues on the CITES agenda include attempts to eliminate trade restrictions on some giraffe populations despite wild population declines of up to 40%; proposals seeking to expand commercial trade in live elephants and their parts, reopening international commercial ivory markets; proposals to reopen commercial trade in stockpiles of white and black rhino horn from Namibia; as well as positive proposals to protect critically endangered vultures and the Galápagos land iguanas at high risk of extinction, and several species of gecko, sloth, rattlesnake and tarantula exploited for the pet trade.
Shark facts:
- Proposal 31 to increase trade protections for whale sharks was proposed by Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Comoros, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Gabon, Maldives, Panama, Philippines, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Togo.
- Proposal 34 to add gulper sharks to the Appendices for the first time was proposed by Brazil, Comoros, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, European Union, Lebanon, Nigeria, Panama, Senegal, Syrian Arab Republic and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- Whale shark populations have been steadily decreasing for 75 years. Monitoring as of March 2025 identified only 15,740 individual whale sharks globally. The species was first listed on CITES Appendix II in 2002, but this has not been sufficient to stop population declines.
- Whale shark fins and meat have continuously and recently been found on display at markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan despite not meeting the criteria for legal trade.
- Whale sharks are an important species for ecotourism, providing sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities in locations where whale sharks aggregate such as the Philippines, the Maldives, Mexico, Ningaloo Australia and others.
- CITES offers three levels of protection for species affected by international trade:
- Appendix I is for species threatened with extinction because of trade, and more or less prevents commercial international trade except in exceptional circumstances.
- Appendix II allows trade under special conditions and is for species which may become threatened with extinction unless trade is subject to strict regulation. Appendix II controls include permit requirements and a science-based determination that the export will not negatively affect a species’ long-term survival in the wild (called a non-detriment finding).
- Appendix III is for species protected in at least one country, which has requested help from other CITES Parties to control trade in those species.
ENDS