Endangered shark species granted CITES protection

Endangered animals are constantly being tracked down by poachers — just one of the main reasons behind endangered species, but thanks to a two-thirds majority vote, three species of sharks have been added to the list of species getting better protection from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

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It’s said that an estimated 100 million sharks are killed by commercial fishing practices each year, and the blame is said to be on the making of shark-fin soup in China. The Oceanic Whitetip, Hammerhead, and the Portbeagle have been added to the protection list, and all three are highly valued for their fins.

178 nations voted on the species protection today, and countries like the United States, Brazil, and Columbia voted for the protection, while China and Japan vote against, due to the popularity of shark fin soup. It turns out that shark advocates have been attempting to get CITES to protect these species since 1994.

However, it’s important to note that the added protection doesn’t necessarily ban the killing of these endangered sharks, but it simply regulates the practice. Countries will have to issue licences in order to import and export, and if a country is seeing too many exporting and importing transactions, they could be hit with various sanctions.

[via BBC News]

Photo via Flickr


Endangered shark species granted CITES protection is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Google asked to remove ads that promote elephant and whale products

Environmentalists and advocates alike are up in arms over Google‘s recent advertisements promoting products made from endangered elephants and whales. The Environmental Investigation Agency has written to Google CEO Larry Page asking the company to remove around 11,500 advertisements dealing with the promotion of these products on Google’s Japan Shopping site.

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The EIA says that Google “has laudable policies that prohibit the promotion of endangered wildlife products including whale, dolphin and elephant ivory,” but the agency says that these policies “are not being enforced and that’s devastating for whales and elephants.” The EIA is unsurprisingly shocked by this discovery.

However, Google says that advertisements for these types of products are not allowed on their various sites, and a Google spokesperson said that as soon as they detect ads that violate the company’s advertising policies, they are removed immediately, but it seems the EIA and other activists aren’t satisfied just yet.

Most of the elephant ivory ads showing up on Google are for “hanko” Japanese name seals, which are high in demand. Other products being advertised on the Google Japan Shopping site include products made from various kinds of whale species. It turns out that poaching claims the lives of as many as 30,000 African elephants every year. At this point, Google hasn’t mentioned what they’ll do with the ads, but our guess is that they’re working to remove them as quickly as possible.

[via GlobalPost]

Image via Flickr


Google asked to remove ads that promote elephant and whale products is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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