Randall Arauz on CITES Loopholes
It is well known that in spite of all of the work concerned people are investing, decade after decade, in an effort to save sharks from extinction, they are being depleted faster and faster, with fisheries around the world in a frenzy to profit from the value of their fins. Randall Arauz has more experience in fighting for sharks than anyone I know, so I asked him why CITES listings have not been working. Because getting sharks listed on CITES is the only way of protecting sharks that we currently have. This is what he told me: “There is a reason why Appendix II listings DO NOT WORK. CITES is a Wildlife Conservation Convention, and as such, its domestic implementation is held by the Ministries of Environment, which have Wildlife and Biodiversity Conservation Laws for the implementation of such conventions. This is true for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). “However, at least in