Download or read book Report of the First meeting of the WECAFC/OSPESCA/CRFM/CITES/CFMC working group on shark conservation and management, Bridgetown, Barbados, 17-19 October 2017 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2018-11-12 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The First meeting of the WECAFC/OSPESCA/CRFM/CITES/CFMC Working Group on shark conservation and management was held in Barbados on 17-19 October 2017. The meeting was attended by 30 shark fisheries experts from 15 WECAFC member countries and partner agencies. The meeting recognized the decline in various shark and ray stocks in the Caribbean region, as well as the need to conserve the threatened species among them. The meeting stressed the importance of harmonizing conservation and management measures with various international and regional conventions for the protection of these often-migratory species, as well as with measures by regional fisheries management bodies in the Atlantic. The fisheries experts recommended amongst others that the countries in the region should prohibit the removal of shark fins at sea and require that all sharks be landed with their fins naturally attached through the point of first landing of the sharks. The experts recommended the prohibition of targeted fisheries for iconic species, such as whale sharks, sawfishes and manta rays. The experts worked on a regional shark stocks and fisheries status assessment and a Regional Plan of Action for the conservation and management of sharks and rays in the WECAFC area.