Britain said Wednesday it is pressing other governments to agree measures to ensure the survival of the rare basking shark and the rarely seen Henderson petrel.
LONDON — Britain said Wednesday it is pressing other governments to agree measures to ensure the survival of the rare basking shark and the rarely seen Henderson petrel.
Both are listed as endangered on the World Conservation Union's schedule of species most at risk of extinction.
Britain's Biodiversity Minister Jim Knight said he wants states in whose territorial waters basking sharks live or breed to cooperate to protect the species, whose meat and fins are considered a delicacy in some countries.
"We are incredibly lucky to have the basking shark as a regular visitor to our shores and it is appalling that an unsustainable demand for its meat and fins could be a real threat to its future," Knight said. "The basking shark is an amazing creature and I am determined that we do everything in our power to protect it."
The large, plankton-eating basking shark is the largest shark found in British waters, where it is often spotted in the summer months, mainly off the coast of southwest England, the Isle of Wight and the west of Scotland. The fins of a single shark can fetch up to 20,000 pounds (US$36,000; euro30,000) on the international market.
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Since 2002, the basking shark has been listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, which allows concerned governments to monitor and regulate international trade in such creatures.
Most of the world's Henderson petrels -- a seabird -- breed on the tiny, uninhabited Henderson Island, a British territory in the southern Pacific Ocean.
The Henderson petrel's decline is believed to be caused mainly by predation by rats, but they have also been affected by drops in fish stocks due to overfishing.
Source: Associated Press
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