PORTLAND, Maine - Federal regulators say they are reviewing the status of the porbeagle shark to determine if listing the species under the Endangered Species Act is warranted.
The National Marine Fisheries Service says it is taking responding to a recent court order and new information about the sharks. The service says it will compile information for use in a status report about the sharks. It will then be independently peer reviewed. A decision on whether to list the sharks should be made by December.
Porbeagle sharks are popular as meat and with game fishermen. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists them as vulnerable. They are found in the North Atlantic Ocean, Southern Hemisphere and Mediterranean. Regulators say they are threatened by the shark fin trade and by-catch from other fisheries.