United Arab Emirates National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks.

This National Plan of Action for Sharks (NPOA) is a nationwide sectoral document aiming at providing a response mechanism to conserve UAE’s biodiversity and ensure the long-term survival of sharks and rays to achieve the Vision of sharks effectively conserved and managed to enable their long-term sustainable use. The document has identified four main goals (1) to improve the knowledge of sharks species and fisheries and their role in the ecosystem, linked to the following strategic objectives (i) develop and improve the collection of fishery dependent data; (ii) improve the understanding of the status of sharks’ populations; (iii) understand and reduce the direct and indirect anthropogenic causes of declining shark population; (2) to ensure effective policy, legislation, and enforcement mechanisms and develop a national, regional, and international framework for cooperation, with the following strategic objectives (i) improve existing legislation to enable the sustainability of sharks and their habitats through policy review; (ii) effectively enforce existing laws through enacting robust implementation mechanisms; (iii) initiate and build national, regional, and international collaboration; (3) enable effective conservation through capacity building; and (4) undertake education and programs to improve awareness of the general public aiming at raising awareness for shark conservation through educational programs. Each strategic objective is attributed to a priority level that falls between high, medium, or low.