The Big Bite of CITES Last week, the CITES Parties considered
including four shark species in Appendix II of CITES: the
oceanic whitetip shark, scalloped, great, and smooth hammerhead
sharks, and the porbeagle. The Parties had a heated debate on
the appropriateness of CITES to protect sharks but also the
wasteful nature of shark finning. Senegal, for example, stated
that, after the shark is finned, “the rest of the shark is
thrown back to the sea – what a waste!” Senegal mentioned that
the fin only accounts for two percent of the meat of the shark,
and pointed out that the rest of the shark could be used to
combat malnutrition throughout Africa. Egypt, a co-sponsor of
the porbeagle proposal, said that “[i]f we continue business as
usual, shark will not exist anymore.” China and Namibia, two
opponents to these proposals, maintained that fins are difficult
to identify, particularly since fins from different species are
shipped together. Pew Environment Group, however, noted that it
has published an identificati