Whitetip sharks are threatened. The U.S. is considering new rules to protect them

Found in the clear blue depths of our planet’s subtropical waters, the oceanic whitetip shark is easy to distinguish from the other ancient shark species swimming through our seas by its white tipped fins.  

But the whitetip’s fins are not just distinctive: they make these sharks a target.

Shark fin traders prize the shark’s large and unique fins. This soaring demand for shark fins has led to rampant fishing for this long-lived shark species.  Since the mid 1990s, the population has decreased between 80 and 95 percent in the Pacific Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lists whitetip sharks as a threatened species. 

But it’s not too late to keep the species from disappearing. New rules could see the U.S. better protect these unique and important sharks, before it’s too late.

Oceanic whitetip shark 101

Oceanic whitetip sharks can grow to a length of 11 feet and are strong swimmers, capable of deep sea dives. They occupy areas past the world’s continental shelves, swimming near the surface to take advantage of warmer waters. While they can live to be 25 years old, reproductive females do not mature until they are between 6 and 9. Female oceanic whitetips will carry their babies between 10 and 12 months, a remarkably long reproductive process. 

With a brief life yet a late and long reproductive cycle, the whitetip population will take a long time to recover to their historical levels, as it takes a long time for baby sharks to grow up and have babies of their own. But between ongoing threats from bycatch and shark finning, these sharks’ survival is far from a given. 

What is shark finning? 

One of the biggest threats facing whitetips is shark finning. Shark finning involves capturing the sharks with large nets, slashing off their fins, and dropping their bodies into the ocean where they suffer and die, either drowning because they can’t swim to pass water through their gills, or from the blood loss. Their fins are then sold into the shark fin market. 

There has been a long-standing effort to end shark finning, and the U.S. has already taken action to ban explicit shark finning in U.S. waters: In 2000, Congress passed the Shark Finning Prohibition Act and followed it up with the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, passed in 2022. U.S. fisheries targeting sharks are also no longer allowed to seek out and target whitetips.

Next generation protections for whitetip sharks

However, these laws still left open some loopholes that could lead to harvest of whitetip sharks for their fins: while fishermen explicitly looking to catch sharks can’t keep whitetips, fishermen looking to catch other fish who inadvertently catch whitetips may still be able to legally keep the whitetips they catch. This could lead some fishermen to fish in ways that are more likely to lead to whitetip bycatch, so they can sell their fins abroad.  

Thankfully, NOAA has recognized the threat posed by these loopholes and is considering new rules that would extend stronger protections to the threatened whitetip shark by making it illegal for all fisheries to retain whitetip sharks if they catch them, and strengthen rules against trading the sharks internationally. If implemented, these rules could set a new global standard that could allow the species to begin its road to recovery. That’s why more than 10,000 Environment America members urged NOAA to finalize the rule. 

While many fear the sharks that roam our seas, these ancient animals are critical parts of ocean ecosystems. As apex predators, they maintain balance in ecosystems from coral reefs to the deep ocean. They may not be as cuddly as a sea otter or as majestic as a whale, but whitetip sharks have their own awesome role to play in the kaleidoscope of ocean life. 

Let’s ensure they swim in our seas for millennia to come.