Today, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) published its final determination on whether to list the tope shark (Galeorhinus galeus) under the Endangered Species Act — three years late. The petition proposing this listing was filed in a detailed report by the Center for Biological Diversity and Defend Them All Foundation, who had to sue to force the agency to evaluate it after the legally mandated time frame expired.

Assessors granted Threatened status to only two of six distinct population segments, notably excluding the Northeast Pacific — the only population on a US coast. The listing of the Southern Africa and Southwest Atlantic populations has little regulatory impact, as the foreign listings primarily impact imports and exports, for which fins, the primary product taken from these animals, are already illegal. Meanwhile, the denial of ESA status to West Coast topes gives a green light to fishermen and coastal developers to keep killing topes and polluting their breeding grounds.

Leading experts at the IUCN Shark Specialist Group classify the tope shark as critically endangered globally. These sharks pup only once every three years, gathering in a few known coastal kelp beds, imperiled by climate change. Topes may seem common to those who dive these sites, but historical data indicate 88% of the world’s tope sharks have been lost in just three generations.

This determination continues a decades-long, systematic pattern of rejection of ESA protections to sharks and rays, which have not been given the same chance as other vertebrates at the nation’s strongest wildlife protections.

Fish Defender is a 501(c)3 organization of divers, scientists, and environmentalists dedicated to advocacy for imperiled marine fish species, based in Miami, Florida.