NOAA Fisheries has agreed to determine whether tope sharks deserve protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by August 2025 following a lawsuit from conservation legal groups Defend Them All and the Center for Biological Diversity.
“We’re optimistic that long-overdue protections for the tope shark are finally on the horizon,” Defend Them All attorney Lindsey Zehel said in a statement. “As compounding threats to the species continue to intensify, immediate action is necessary to halt the tope shark’s decline and preserve the integrity of our coastal ecosystems.”
The conservation organizations claim the tope shark, which primarily lives in the waters off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington, is at a high risk of extinction due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and the unintentional taking of sharks as bycatch. The International Union for Conservation of Nature categorizes tope sharks as critically endangered, with the population declining nearly 90 percent over the course of 80 years. The Center for Biological Diversity also lists entanglement in Mexico’s gillnets as a high risk for the sharks.
In 2022, Defend them All and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition with NOAA Fisheries seeking ESA protections for the shark, and while NOAA Fisheries acknowledged in April of that year that tope sharks may warrant protection, the agency has not taken action on the petition in the more than two years since. U.S. law required action to be taken by February 2023.
That inaction led to a lawsuit from the two conservation organizations earlier this year.
On 4 December, NOAA Fisheries reached a legal agreement with the groups that requires the agency to issue a determination on tope sharks by 1 August 2025.
“Threats to the tope shark population didn’t let up while federal officials stayed quiet, so I’m pleased that this delay will finally come to an end,” said David Derrick, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Tope sharks are in great danger from fin-hunting and fishing gear entanglements, and they’ll need our help to recover.”
