GENEVA—The Pew Charitable Trusts today commended the decision by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to regulate the trade in 18 species of sharks and rays whose populations are depleted.The decision means that trade in shortfin mako—which is the world’s fastest shark—as well as longfin mako, 10 species of wedgefish, and six species of giant guitarfish can continue only if proved to be legal and sustainable. Two-thirds of the 183 CITES Parties at the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18) in Geneva agreed to include the 18 species in Appendix II, increasing to 38 the commercially valuable shark and ray species threatened by international trade that are now regulated under the world’s premier wildlife conservation convention
