April 19, 2017 – Marine experts and conservationists from the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), TRAFFIC, the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), regional governments, and other groups have produced a status report and roadmap for protecting sharks and rays in the southwest Indian Ocean, one of the last remaining strongholds for these ancient creatures in the world’s oceans.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (October 4, 2016) – Conservationists are delighted that CITES Parties have officially listed devil rays, thresher sharks, and the silky shark under CITES Appendix II. The listing proposals were supported by more than the two-thirds majority required for adoption in Committee on Monday, and finalized today in Plenary. 

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (October 3, 2016) – In a highly anticipated Committee session today, proposals to list devil rays, thresher sharks, and the silky shark under CITES were supported by more than the two-thirds of voting Parties required for adoption.  

Montauk, a 50-pound, 4-foot female white shark, and Hudson, a 67-pound, 5-foot male white shark, are the first two white sharks tagged by the shark-tagging partnership in New York waters. The tags on these young-of-the-year sharks will allow scientists to track their movements up and down the coast for the next several years.

June 8, 2016 – Scientists working for Murdoch University, the Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, and other groups have good news about fishing closures established in Indonesia’s shark sanctuary: It’s good for sharks and other fish, all of which are more abundant within zones with fishing restrictions.The bad news: People who rely on shark fishing for their livelihoods have few other options but to fish in unprotected areas when fishing closures are put in place.

MAY 3, 2016 -- The world will gather for the first time since March 2013 for the CITES Conference of the Parties. The 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP17) will take place Sept. 24-Oct. 5, 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa.  The agenda was released on May 2nd.

San José, Costa Rica (February 15, 2016) – A group of experts from international conservation organizations is announcing a new strategy for combating the decline of sharks and closely related rays, while warning that the rays are even more threatened and less protected than the higher profile sharks.

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Jan. 13, 2016 – WCS’s (Wildlife Conservation Society) New York Aquarium released today a photographic look back on Ocean Wonders: Sharks! construction in 2015.  Ocean Wonders: Sharks! will be a 57,000-square-foot building featuring sharks, rays, sea turtles, and thousands of schooling fish. It will hold more than 500,000 gallons of water in fully immersive and interactive exhibits, forging connections between people and wildlife while highlighting the need for conservation of delicate marine ecosystems.

The Government of Madagascar has created the country’s first marine sanctuary for sharks as part of a new law to safeguard the country’s marine resources and the communities that rely on them.

Twenty-one species listed under Convention on Migratory Species Quito, Ecuador. November 9, 2014. Conservationists are rejoicing at the listing of 21 species of sharks and rays under the Appendices of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), made official today in the final plenary session of the Conference of Parties (CoP). With these listings, member countries agreed to grant strict protection to the reef manta, the nine devil rays, and the five sawfishes, and committed to work internation...