Sharks and rays are one of the most endangered groups of animals on the planet.There are more than 1,000 species of sharks and rays living today.Approximately 100 species of sharks and rays are regularly traded for their fins and meat.Since 2013, CITES began to list regularly commercially traded species of sharks and rays under the convention’s appendices, mainly under CITES Appendix II, which is about sustainable trade and utilization.There are 18 species up for listing at CITES Cop 18 (a...

Mako sharks, also known as the ‘cheetahs of the sharks,’ are the fastest of all shark species, but they cannot outswim the threat of overfishing in the world’s oceans, say conservation experts from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and other groups who applaud plans by government delegates to increase protection for makos and other sharks and rays fishes at CITES, convening this week in Switzerland.

he largest study ever conducted of its kind has identified where and how to save coral reef communities in the Indo-Pacific, according to an international group of scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and other conservation NGOs, government agencies, and universities. The study outlines three viable strategies that can be quickly enacted to help save coral reefs that are threatened by climate change and human impacts.  

The release last week of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN's) assessment of giant guitarfish and wedgefish identifies these flattened sharks as the world's most threatened marine fish.

The Government of Bangladesh announced the declaration of the Nijhum Dwip Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the northern Bay of Bengal to safeguard critical spawning grounds for the country’s most valuable fish species and some of the world’s largest populations of endangered dolphins, porpoises, sharks, rays, and marine turtles.

The study’s authors—researchers from the California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), Swansea University, the University of Rhode Island (URI) and other groups—have found that fishing grounds with areas that are closed to fisheries but are periodically harvested are better than fishing grounds with permanent, no-take marine protected areas (MPAs).

The WCS New York Aquarium will celebrate World Oceans Day (Saturday, June 8th) with a “March for the Ocean” on the Coney Island Boardwalk to bring attention to the threat of plastic waste to the world’s marine environments. Participants will join in the fun by decorating wagons, designing “trashion” costumes, and creating signs.

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Malaysia Program (WCS Malaysia) lauds the Sarawak Government for gazetting Luconia Shoals as a marine national park effective 18 October last year and formally published in the Sarawak Gazette on 17 January 2019. Located in the South China Sea over the Sunda Continental Shelf in the Malaysian Exclusive Economic Zone, Luconia Shoals is the largest marine national park in the country at over 1 million hectares.

For the past 20 years, members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) have celebrated our planet with annual Party For The Planet^® events. The New York Aquarium will commemorate the annual Party for the Planet® celebration with two events. On June 1^st there will be a volunteer clean-up of Coney Island Creek, bringing attention to this urban waterway that is now the focus of a revitalization effort. On the following Saturday, June 8th, the aquarium will celebrate World Ocean’s Day with a “March for the Ocean”, a parade on the Coney Island Boardwalk to highlight the challenges posed by plastic waste to the waters of New York and celebrate New York’s commitment to healthier, cleaner waters. 

 

The following statement was released by the Wildlife Conservation Society today in regard to a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES):