Conservation Status
In 1969, Lineaweaver and Backus wrote of the oceanic whitetip: " extraordinarily abundant, perhaps the most abundant large animal, large being over 100 pounds, on the face of the earth". There was little further population study until 2003 when the numbers were estimated to have dropped by as much as 70% in the Northwest and Western Central Atlantic between 1992 and 2000. Another study focusing on the Gulf of Mexico, using a mix of data from US pelagic longline surveys from the mid-1950s and observations from the late-1990s, estimated a decline in numbers in this location of 99.3% over this period. However, changes in fishing practices and data collection methods complicate estimates.
As a result of these findings its status on the IUCN Red List was moved to "Vulnerable" globally (from "Lower Risk/Near Threatened") and "Critically Endangered" in the Northwest and Western Central Atlantic areas.
Under the 1995 UN Agreement on the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (UNFSA), coastal and fishing states are specifically required to adopt measures to conserve listed species, but little progress is visible on the oceanic whitetip.
From early 2013 the shark will receive full protection in New Zealand territorial waters under the Wildlife Act 1953.
Read more about this topic: Oceanic Whitetip Shark
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