Dubai: Four days of exchanging ideas, data and presentation on the best means of conserving sharks in Arabia have produced a wish list by some of the finest academic and fisheries minds across the region, say organisers of Shark Conservation in Arabia Workshop.

Ralf Sonntag, country director Germany for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said there is an enormous collective will throughout the Gulf region to better protect sharks from growing fin harvesting by the fishing industry.

That will manifested itself on Thursday at the closing of the four-day workshop in Dubai as more than 70 delegates delivered an informal set of recommendations designed to help carve out future cooperative efforts to protect shark stocks.

“This is a good start,” Sonntag told Gulf News on Thursday on the sidelines of the conference. “It’s the start of a dialogue in order to improve the situation. We have some very constructive discussions.”

One of the chief recommendations stemming from this week’s conference was a call for Arabian governments for “strict legislation for import and re-export.”

The UAE is currently the fifth largest importer in the world of shark fins for use in soups to Hong Kong and according to 2010 numbers, shipped 498 metric tonnes to the Far East shark-fin hub. The majority of the shipments are imported fins into the UAE which are then re-exported to Hong Kong.

Another recommendation called for better enforcement of shark fishing throughout the Arabian Peninsula to ensure that the spectre of decimated shark populations in other parts of the world will not repeat itself here.

More than 30 species of shark live in the Gulf and despite heavy pressure, scientists this week agreed that most shark populations remain stable at present and are being protected by measures such as those in the UAE that limit shark fishing to eight months a year complemented by no-finning laws.

“One big conclusion is that there is a lack of enforcement in the region,” Sonntag said.

He pointed out that despite best efforts to protect sharks there are still sales of shark fins happening.

On a visit to the Dubai Fish Market, for example, on Wednesday, Sonntag said he saw a large Whale Shark fin for sale which is prohibited by the Ministry of Environment Water regulations.

“Under national legislation, they are protected. Obviously, I think there is some way to go,” said Sonntag, noting that the fin he saw would have likely come from a whale shark at least four metres in length.

Sonntag said a key recommendation from the forum called for Arabian governments to build capacity into its fisheries governance operations to hire more enumerators and custom officers to beef up patrols and oversight.

Delegates noted that they would also like to see stronger education of the fishing industry in the region as well as stepped-up research efforts to collect more survey data on shark stocks.