Shortfin Mako Denied Federal Protections

The highly imperiled shortfin mako shark is being denied federal protection by NOAA Fisheries, which will release its 12-month review of the species this week. In the Federal Register, NOAA Fisheries stated that a listing under the federal Endangered Species Act is ‘not warranted.’ In June 2022, Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity threatened to sue the agency for failing to meet its statutory deadline to make this decision. 

The law requires NOAA Fisheries to determine if ESA listing is warranted for the shortfin mako within 12 months of receiving a listing petition on which it has made a positive 90-day finding. Defenders of Wildlife filed the listing petition on January 25, 2021. NOAA Fisheries issued a positive 90-day finding that listing may be warranted on April 15, 2021, meaning a final determination was due no later than January 25, 2022. The finding is nearly a year late.    

“We are disappointed in NOAA’s decision not to provide much-needed federal protections for the shortfin mako,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. “The shortfin mako shark is the world’s fastest-swimming shark, but it can’t outrace the threat of extinction.” 

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The shortfin mako is a highly migratory species whose geographic range extends throughout the world’s tropical and temperate ocean waters. The shortfin mako shark faces a barrage of threats, especially overfishing from targeted catch and bycatch. The species’ highly valued fins and meat incentivize this overexploitation. Overfishing has resulted in steep population declines in the North and South Atlantic Ocean and slightly more moderate declines in the North Pacific and Indian Oceans. In the North Atlantic, scientists estimate that, even if fishing ceased today, it would take 50 years for the population to recover. The threat of overfishing is compounded by ocean pollution, climate change, and other risk factors driving the species toward extinction.

“The federal government has ignored the shortfin mako shark’s steep population decline in the North Atlantic, and scientists expect that the shark’s numbers will get even worse in the next decade,” said Catherine Kilduff, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The shortfin mako has low reproduction rates, and will have a tough time recovering without help. This decision was made on a wing and a prayer that future international fishing limits will save the shortfin mako from extinction, which is far from a sure thing.”

In 2019, the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified the shortfin mako as “endangered” on its Red List of Threatened Species. Also in 2019, makos were included in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to monitor and limit trade. In 2021, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), an intergovernmental organization responsible for managing tuna populations, announced a two-year ban on retaining, shipping, or landing North Atlantic shortfin mako sharks, preventing fishers from retaining and selling these sharks even when they are unintentionally caught.  

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned in 2021 for listing shortfin mako under Mexico’s Standard NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, the nation’s list of species at risk. The Mexican fishing industry catches thousands of both species every year. No decision has been made.

As an apex predator, the shortfin mako is an integral part of the marine food web, regulating the many species below it. Its steep decline will likely cause oceanic ecosystems to suffer. As a long-lived, slow-reproducing species, the shortfin mako cannot quickly rebound from the substantial population losses it has already experienced.

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Defenders of Wildlife is celebrating 75 years of protecting all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With a nationwide network of nearly 2.2 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit defenders.org/newsroom and follow us on Twitter @Defenders.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.