News

New Review Finds the Consumption of Wild Meat of Aquatic Megafauna Protected Under CMS to be Widespread Throughout the Tropics

Published on 21 March was a review of the literature and overview of the contemporary use of aquatic megafauna (cetaceans, sirenians, chelonians, and crocodylians) in the global tropics and subtropics, for 37 species listed on the Appendices of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).

22 March 2022

MARECO Becomes a Cooperating Partner to the Sharks MOU

Marine Research and Conservation Foundation (MARECO) signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks (Sharks MOU) on 26 August 2021 as a Cooperating Partner. We are pleased to welcome our latest partner MARECO, dedicated to the conservation of threatened marine megafauna and their habitats.

31 August 2021

Putting the Spotlight on Mediterranean Angelsharks

Today, more than 20 collaborating partners including the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) have launched the Mediterranean Angel Sharks: Regional Action Plan. It provides a framework for conservation action for Angelsharks in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is a hotspot of extinction risk for chondricthyans (sharks, skates, rays and chimaeras), making it a priority region for conservation action. Of the 73 species of Mediterranean chondrichthyans assessed by IUCN, 50 per cent of rays and 54 per cent of sharks face an elevated risk of extinction, with Angelsharks an example of one of the families where all species present in the region are threatened.

04 December 2019

Sharks MOS3 Kicking off in Monaco

Invited by the Principality of Monaco, Signatories to the CMS Sharks MOU come together for the third time to agree conservation measures for migratory species of sharks and rays. In the beautiful, historical setting of the Museum for Oceanography of Monaco, M. Robert Calcagno, the director of the Museum, set the scene by emphasizing the urgent need for action to halt the ongoing decline of shark and ray populations.

11 December 2018

Connectivity Conservation: a Key Element of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

CMS and its Family set the course for developing their contributions to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework which is expected to provide a "New Deal for Nature" for the entire international community. Two years away from its adoption, the post-2020 framework presents the opportunity to raise the visibility of migratory wildlife and promote its conservation. Last week, the CMS Standing Committee (Bonn, 23-24 October 2018) endorsed the establishment of a Working Group (WG) on the development of CMS Family contributions to the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

02 November 2018

CMS Becomes Member of UN-Oceans

CMS has become a member of UN-Oceans as BBNJ meetings start at UN Headquarters in New York this week. The new membership became official just before the start of the First Session of the Intergovernmental Conference on an International Legally Binding Instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ).

06 September 2018

Side Event on Solutions to Bycatch and Entanglement in Ghost Gear held at FAO COFI33

On 12 July, during the 33rd Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI33), held in Rome, management solutions for ghost gear, also known as abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), and bycatch were discussed in a side event. FAO Member States Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji, Palau, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Panama served as hosts for the event organized in collaboration with FAO, the International Whaling Commission (IWC), World Animal Protection, WWF and CMS.

20 July 2018

Experts Provide Scientific Guidance to Member States of Sharks MOU

The 2nd Meeting of the Advisory Committee (AC) and the 2nd Workshop of the Conservation Working Group (CWG) were held jointly 20-24 November 2017 in Bonaire in the Southern Caribbean.

01 December 2017

Côte d’Ivoire Signs Sharks and Raptors MOUs

At a second special ceremony held yesterday in the margins of the UNFCCC COP23 in Bonn, Minister Anne Désirée Ouloto of Côte d’Ivoire signed the Memoranda of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks and on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia (Raptors MOU). Côte d’Ivoire thus becomes the 48th Signatory to the Sharks MOU and the 59th Signatory to the Raptors MOU.

17 November 2017