Scalloped Hammerhead

Photo By: Barry Peters via Wikimedia Commons

The United States will support proposals to restrict the unsustainable levels of international trade on manta rays and five shark species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), at a March conference in Bangkok, Thailand, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe announced recently.

Populations of the five shark species – porbeagle, scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, and oceanic whitetip – are declining because of demand for fins for food products such as soup and medicine, while manta rays are being overharvested to meet demand for their gill plates.

> Related: 11 Endangered Sea Creatures

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