Conservation group Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has sued NOAA Fisheries over the agency’s failure to make a determination on Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for smalltail sharks.
“Smalltail sharks are spiraling toward extinction and need protection right now, not more delays,” CBD Attorney Lauren Parker said in a statement.
Smalltail sharks live in the Western Atlantic Ocean, with the population stretching from Brazil through the Gulf of Mexico. The sharks are targeted by fishers for their fins and meat, but they’re also caught accidentally as bycatch. According to CBD, the population has dropped 80 percent over the last 27 years.
CBD filed a petition seeking to have the species listed under the ESA in 2022, and a 90-day finding issued in 2023 found that smalltail sharks could warrant legal protection. However, the agency has not issued a decision, blowing past an October 2023 mandated deadline.
Now, CBD has filed suit against NOAA Fisheries, hoping a court will force the agency to take action despite the Trump administration’s cuts to environmental-related agencies.
“Trump’s reckless cuts to the agencies responsible for conservation and for helping the international community could have real consequences for animals on the brink like smalltail sharks,” Parker said.
Since coming into office in January 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed to shrink the federal workforce with mass layoffs and curtail government spending on climate change programs. CBD has sued the federal government to force Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency teams to comply with transparency laws and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn more about who was laid off.
“Smalltail sharks can’t afford to wait for political change to be saved,” Parker added. “Extinction is forever, and we owe it to future generations to do everything we can to keep smalltail sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.”
