“CITES Parties voted by the slimmest of margins to protect porbeagle sharks, but rejected all other shark proposals at this meeting,” said Dr Ralf Sonntag, Director IFAW Germany. “An Appendix II listing would have given sharks a fighting chance against the devastation that shark finning is causing around the world.”

“Sharks have been sold out today. Short-term profits have won again at CITES.”

With more than 100 million sharks caught each year, some species are estimated to have declined by as much as 80 per cent in the past decade.

“Fighting to save these elephants paid off today with Parties taking note of the science demonstrating that Tanzanian elephants are still in peril,” said Jason Bell-Leask, Director IFAW Southern Africa.

“Poaching of elephants and ivory seizures are escalating not decreasing – this decision is a victory for common sense.”

Iain Douglas-Hamilton of Save the Elephants, Conservation biologist, Dr Sam Wasser and elephant research specialist Dr Joyce Poole of ElephantVoices and the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, presented data on the precarious state of elephant populations in Zambia and Tanzania and the urgent need for ongoing protection of elephants.

Conservationists however, breathed a sigh of relief that Parties reaffirmed a decision from the previous CITES meeting that countries should not breed tigers for the trade of their parts and derivatives.

“We narrowly avoided making the Year of the Tiger into the Year of the dead tiger,” said Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia Regional Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “Illegal trade of tiger parts and products from farming operations are already stimulating demand for dead tigers which fuels poaching of wild tigers.”

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org) is calling for urgent action to protect elephants. It urges the European Union and all CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Parties to stop supporting one-off ivory sales, legal ivory trade and elephant down-listing proposals.