The mako is frequently caught unintentionally by fishermen, who all too often bring it ashore anyway to sell its meat. If this practice is not banned, the fastest shark in the world is destined to disappear.
It is nicknamed "shortfin" because it is partly thanks to the small size of its pectoral fins — which help reduce drag — that it can reach a speed of 70 kilometres per hour. We are talking about the mako, also known as the shortfin mako shark: it is the fastest shark in the world.
Unfortunately, we are rapidly driving it to extinction. Listed as a vulnerable species on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (Iucn), it is severely threatened by overfishing.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat), made up of 52 countries, is also responsible for protecting sharks from bycatch — the risk of being unintentionally caught during fishing operations targeting other fish species. When this happens, mako sharks are all too often brought ashore anyway so their meat and fins can be sold: in 2018, the number of reported catches between January and July had already doubled the recommended annual threshold. European Union members are responsible for 65 per cent of the kills, particularly Portugal and Spain, but Italy is not innocent either: we are major consumers of mako.
"It is deeply discouraging to see Iccat striving to improve scientific understanding and monitoring of the mako fishery, while at the same time there are those who shirk their responsibilities," said Sonja Fordham, president of Shark advocates international.
It is a particularly vulnerable species because females reach sexual maturity at eighteen years of age, meaning they can easily be caught before they have the chance to mate. The NGO Pew charitable trusts has revealed that the North Atlantic population has only a 54 per cent chance of recovering by 2040 — and only if not a single specimen is caught in the meantime.
The alarm has also been raised by the Wwf, which accused Iccat of having left the meeting in Croatia held in November without having adopted any measures to stop the illegal trade in bluefin tuna or the cruel practice of finning — the removal of sharks' fins before throwing them back into the sea. The appeal is therefore directed above all at the European Commission, urging it to swiftly propose a ban on fishing for the world's fastest shark and to beat extinction to the finish line.
