Our Strategy

The core of WCS’s global shark work from 2020 to 2030 will focus on overcoming this management gap. We will demonstrate that comprehensive policy reforms and their implementation at a country-wide level—which are informed by robust research on shark populations and fisheries and implemented through locally-relevant practical approaches—can reduce overfishing of some of the world’s most threatened species and eventually lead to population recovery.

We will deliver this vision via the 10x10 initiative: Comprehensive, science-based, well-implemented shark management reforms in 10 key geographies across the globe over the next 10 years (10x10, from 2020 to 2030). Successful delivery of this initiative will establish measurable conservation impact by halting population declines, preventing extinctions, and moving shark populations towards recovery.

To achieve this, we will take an integrated approach, delivered through a holistic program of work that focuses on management reforms in three priority areas in each country or region:

• Protecting species
• Managing fisheries
• Controlling trade

Each of the above will be delivered through building strong capacity and institutions, and informed by robust ecological and socio-economic research. The document below provides background on why and where we work on sharks, and identifies how we can build on our work to date to deliver the fundamental global change these species need.

Where We Will Work