NOAA Fisheries has denied a petition seeking to list smalltail sharks under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), concluding that the species is not threatened with extinction.
“We have determined the smalltail shark is not presently in danger of extinction, nor is it likely to become so in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range,” NOAA Fisheries stated in its 12-month finding. “Therefore, the smalltail shark does not meet the definition of a threatened species or an endangered species and does not warrant listing as threatened or endangered.”
Conservation legal firm Center for Biological Diversity first filed a petition for smalltail sharks in 2022, arguing that the population had dropped 80 percent over the previous 27 years. While a 90-day finding initially found that the sharks could warrant legal protections, triggering the requirement for a 12-month finding for a final determination, NOAA Fisheries blew past the deadline for issuing that determination. In March 2025, CBD sued the agency, and in February 2026 NOAA Fisheries settled the lawsuit by agreeing to issue its finding by 12 August 2026.
“Smalltail sharks need swift action to bring them back from the brink of extinction, and I’m hopeful this agreement makes that happen,” CBD attorney Lauren Parker said in a release at the time. “Sharks have roamed our shores for millions of years. It’d be tragic to let smalltail sharks disappear forever from the Gulf of Mexico and their entire habitat because of bureaucratic delays.”
On 28 July, the agency issued its 12-month finding, determining that the sharks do not warrant listing under U.S. law.
In its finding, NOAA Fisheries acknowledged that fishing pressure was the biggest threat to the species.
“We find that overutilization, primarily from artisanal and commercial fishing, is the most significant threat to the smalltail shark, particularly within its core population area off northern Brazil,” the agency stated in its 12-month finding. “While the species is not typically a target for commercial fisheries, it is a frequent component of bycatch in gillnet, longline, and trawl fisheries, where a disproportionate number of juveniles and gravid females are captured. The intensity and unregulated nature of this fishing pressure have likely driven significant population declines, with anecdotal reports and some empirical data suggesting a substantial reduction in catch and distribution over time.”
However, a team of six agency scientists ultimately found that the sharks are not threatened with extinction.
