🦈NOAA Initiates 5-Year Reviews for Endangered Elasmobranch Species
NMFS announces the initiation of 5-year reviews of six foreign elasmobranch species: Argentine angelshark (Squatina argentina), spiny angelshark (S. guggenheim), narrownose smoothhound shark (Mustelus schmitti), striped smoothhound shark (M. fasciatus), common guitarfish (Rhinobatos rhinobatos), and blackchin guitarfish (R. cemciculus). The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires us to conduct a review of listed species at least once every 5 years to determine whether a species should be removed from the list (i.e., delisted), reclassified from an endangered species to a threatened species (i.e., downlisted), or reclassified from a threatened species to an endangered species (i.e., uplisted). The determination must be based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of the review. Therefore, we request relevant data (e.g., biology, threats, and conservation efforts) that have become available since the previous reviews of these species.
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