SILVER SPRING, Md.— The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration today for its failure to decide whether to protect smalltail sharks under the Endangered Species Act. The sharks live in nearshore waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to the northern Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA Fisheries announced in May 2023 that smalltail sharks could warrant protection, but it still has not issued a decision despite a legal obligation to decide by October 2023. The agency’s initial finding responded to an October 2022 Center petition to list the smalltail shark, designate critical habitat, and issue a protective regulation for species similar in appearance.

“Smalltail sharks are spiraling toward extinction and need protection right now, not more delays,” said Lauren Parker, an attorney at the Center. “Trump’s reckless cuts to the agencies responsible for conservation and for helping the international community could have real consequences for animals on the brink like smalltail sharks.”

The global smalltail shark population has declined by more than 80% in the past 27 years, or just three generations. In the area where most of the sharks live, off the coast of Brazil, the population has declined by more than 90%.

Overfishing primarily drives the sharks’ decline, with insufficient or nonexistent regulations in many regions: they’re both targeted by fishermen and caught accidentally as “bycatch.” Their meat is consumed locally, and their fins are traded globally. As a tropical and subtropical species that inhabits shallow, coastal areas, smalltail sharks are also threatened by climate change, habitat degradation, and contaminant exposure.

Sharks, rays and chimeras first evolved around 420 million years ago and have survived at least five mass extinctions. Yet today more than one-third are threatened with global extinction. One shark species believed to be extinct is closely related to smalltail sharks — the “lost shark,” also called “the false smalltail shark” — highlighting the smalltail’s susceptibility to extinction.

“Smalltail sharks can’t afford to wait for political change to be saved,” said Parker. “Extinction is forever, and we owe it to future generations to do everything we can to keep smalltail sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.”