Breaking News English

There international agreement on the protection of 18 threatened species of sharks and rays. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) on Sunday to greater protection for the marine creatures from actions such as commercial fishing and hunting. Many of the threatened species are for their meat and fins. Some of the species protected are the world's fastest shark (the mako shark), wedgefishes and guitarfishes. Luke Warwick of the Wildlife Conservation Society : "Sharks are vulnerable wildlife....Momentum clearly building to that these species, which have around for 400 million years, to be around for future generations."

CITES an international treaty in 1973 to protect endangered animals and plants. It has been by 182 different states, plus the European Union. There was not widespread agreement at the weekend's meeting. The focus of the meeting on protecting sharks. The number of sharks killed each year by commercial fishing estimated at 100 million. One conservation group said this figure could as high as 273 million. Forty countries that the mako shark was in danger. They that there was not enough evidence to show that the mako was as a result of fishing. The global shark fin market is to be over $1.2 billion.