The Shark League has welcomed Mexico’s long-awaited move to adopt national regulations protecting several threatened Atlantic shark species, fulfilling commitments made between 2009 and 2021 under the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). As a major shark fishing and trading nation, Mexico has faced growing pressure from governments and conservation groups to comply with international shark protection agreements.
“Although long overdue, Mexico’s new shark protections have the potential to significantly bolster international conservation efforts for some of the Atlantic’s most imperiled species,” said Sonja Fordham, President of Shark Advocates International. “In addition to reducing fishing pressure, the new bans can serve to inspire other countries to follow suit and live up to their various, urgent treaty obligations for sharks.”
According to Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, longline fisheries targeting tuna but incidentally catching sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the ICCAT Convention Area can no longer retain, store, transship, or land species such as bigeye threshers, oceanic whitetip sharks, shortfin makos, hammerheads (except bonnetheads), and silky sharks. If caught, these species must be released immediately and in a condition that maximizes their chances of survival.
“Most of the shark species subject to Mexico’s new retention bans — including the Critically Endangered oceanic whitetip and the exceptionally vulnerable bigeye thresher — were granted protections by ICCAT well over a decade ago,” said Ali Hood, Director of Conservation for the Shark Trust. “We simply must pick up the pace and raise the priority for implementing these vital safeguards.”
ICCAT’s Compliance Committee evaluates whether member countries are upholding shark protection measures through annual reporting. Mexico has often been criticized for failing to provide adequate data or implement national regulations aligned with ICCAT’s conservation standards. A previous Shark League gap analysis also identified Mexico as one of the countries most in need of compliance improvement.
“Because effective international conservation of migratory species depends on follow-up actions at the national level, we will continue to highlight gaps in countries’ compliance with ICCAT shark measures,” said Shannon Arnold, Associate Director for Ecology Action Centre. “We’re pleased to see Mexico finally following through on its shark obligations, and we hope to soon hear about more progress from other ICCAT countries that are still lagging behind.”
The Shark League — a coalition including Shark Advocates International, the Shark Trust, the Ecology Action Centre, and PADI AWARE — works to ensure science-based shark conservation across the Atlantic and Mediterranean, with support from the Shark Conservation Fund.
ICCAT, comprising 53 member nations, is responsible for the conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. Its Compliance Committee is expected to give special attention to countries’ adherence to shark protection measures during its upcoming meeting on November 15–16, ahead of the ICCAT annual meeting in Seville, Spain.
In 2023, Mexico’s hammerhead shark trade was among a handful of country-species combinations flagged for special review under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) first-ever Review of Significant Trade for sharks.
