Sharks and rays (Elasmobranchii spp.)

Decision directed to Secretariat

Subject to external funding, the Secretariat shall: 
a) continue to provide capacity-building assistance for implementing Appendix-II shark and ray listings to Parties, especially developing countries and small island developing states, upon request; 
b) liaise with relevant Regional Fishery Bodies (RFB) including Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and Arrangements (RFMO/As) to identify opportunities for capacity-building with the same organizations, possibly in the form of attending meetings (where the RFB permits such attendance) or by directly liaising with the Secretariat of the organization to provide this information to its membership and/or the provision of training; 
c) collaborate closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to verify that information about Parties’ shark management measures is correctly reflected in the shark measures database developed by FAO (http://www.fao.org/ipoa-sharks/database-of-measures/en/) and if not, support FAO in correcting the information; 
d) seek to collaborate with Parties and organizations to establish a repository to hold imagery under a Creative Commons license of wet and dried unprocessed shark, parts and derivatives (particularly, but not exclusively, those from CITES-listed species) along with related species level taxonomic information to facilitate refinement of automated species identification development through a range of novel technologies; and 
e) investigate mismatches and possible errors (e.g. differences in transactions reported by exporter/importer countries under the same permit; weights; species; etc.) in the CITES Trade Database and make corrections, where possible; 
f) communicate with Parties that do not appear to be reporting exports of sharks and rays despite available information showing otherwise (i.e., trade only reported by importing countries) to determine the reason for underreporting and provide necessary support to encourage reporting; 
g) explore opportunities for information exchange between fisheries researchers, fisheries authorities and CITES Management, Scientific and Enforcement Authorities, as appropriate, to facilitate efficient transport of biological samples for scientific and diagnostic purposes taking into consideration the discussions that occurred under Decision 19.160 and the responses to the Notification called for in Decision 20.208, paragraph a) iii); and 
h) bring the results of activities in this present Decision to the attention of the Animals Committee or Standing Committee, as appropriate.