Delegates at a global summit to update international wildlife trade rules have agreed on sweeping new protections for more than 70 shark and ray species. The move marks a significant step toward effectively tightening the legal trade in some of the world’s most threatened marine life. The meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, running through this week, brings together representatives of 185 governments (including the European Union) that are parties to CITES, the global wildlife trade convention. Measures they’ve adopted include ending the commercial trade in some species that had previously been subjected to regulated trade, by moving them from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I. Among the most notable relistings were those for the oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus), whale shark (R

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