International shark meet to be held in Kochi on July 24

Eminent researchers from across the globe working on shark trade and representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations will meet here this week to discuss the priorities in monitoring shark and ray fisheries, trade and market chain assessment.

The four-day international panel discussion is being organised at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here from Wednesday.

A CMFRI release said the global event is jointly organized by the institute and the FAO under the collaborative research project of the two entities on sharks and rays non-fin commodities.

The meet, which is a first-of-its-kind event in India, would set up a platform for researchers from across the globe working on shark and ray trade to share their experience in the field, it said.

The panel discussion aims at bringing together scientific community in the spectrum to describe various methodologies being transpired and adopted in research works on sharks and rays, to define their strengths and weaknesses and develop practical but not rigid set of guidance, Director of CMFRI, A Gopalakrishnan said.

The meeting would play a major role in refining strategies to promote sustainable fishing and trade on this vulnerable marine resource group.

A set of common guidelines would be developed for all the shark fishing countries during the discussions.

Representatives from the FAO and experts from various countries such as UK, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Italy, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Somalia, Myanmar and Namibia will attend the meet.

Scientists and researchers from India working on trade and other aspects of elasmobranchs would have a learning experience from this multinational researcher meeting, it added.