Delegates from 80 countries, including the world's biggest fishing nations, will attend. Measures to reduce accidental catches of seabirds by longline fisheries and the management of fishing capacity will also be discussed. The meeting is expected to approve a voluntary International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks. Worldwide, commercial exploitation of sharks has risen sharply over the last 20 years. Most of this is in accidental bycatch.
Sharks are food for the rich and the poor.
Their meat is a cheap source of protein for millions of subsistence fisherfolk. Often the fins are cut off and the carcasses thrown back in the water. Shark skin, teeth, cartilage and liver oil are also used and traded. Many shark species grow slowly, mature late, and are not highly fertile. This means that they are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation as it takes many years for numbers to build up again.