Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee was established at the First Meeting of Signatories, September 2012. The tasks of the Committee include:

Providing expert advice and making recommendations including suggestions on new initiatives and on the implementation of the MoU to the Secretariat and the Signatories
Analyzing scientific assessments and making recommendations on the conservation status of shark populations listed in Annex I
Preparing a report on its activities for each advisory session of the Meeting of Signatories
Recommending to the Secretariat the convening of an urgent session of the Meeting of Signatories in view of emergencies which may arise

The members of the Committee are appointed as representatives of the Regions by the Signatories from each Region. Annex II sets out the Regions and the number of representatives for each Region (Africa: 2; Asia: 2; North America: 1; Europe: 2; Oceania: 1; South, Central America & the Caribbean: 2).

Appointed Advisory Committee members (last updated April 2023):

Region	AC member
Africa	Dr. KIDÉ Saïkou Oumar Chargé de Recherches Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Océanographiques et des Pêches Laboratoire Biologie et Écologie des Organismes Aquatiques sokidefr[a]yahoo.fr
Africa	SAID, Mohamed Omar, Ph.D. Principal Scientist Marine and Coastal Research Center Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Kenya msaid26474[a]me.com
Asia	Rima Jabado, Ph.D. Founder Elasmo Project Deputy Chair IUCN Species Survival Commission Chair IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group Scientific Councilor for Fish, Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) Rimajabado[a]gmail.com
Asia	MOONYEEN NIDA R. ALAVA Technical Advisor, Save Sharks Network Philippines Sharks and Fisheries Specialist, Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines mnralava[a]gmail.com
Europe	Dr. Jim Ellis Fisheries Biologist, CEFAS Lowestoft Laboratory, United Kingdom Jim.ellis[a]cefas.gov.uk
Europe	Dr. Matthias Schaber Fisheries Biologist / Research Unit Leader Operational Observation Systems Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries, Germany matthias.schaber[a]thuenen.de
North America	John Carlson, Ph.D. Research Fish Biologist NOAA Fisheries Service-Southeast Fisheries Science Center, USA john.carlson[a]noaa.gov
Oceania	Lesley Gidding-Reeve Director, Marine and Freshwater Species Biodiversity Conservation Division Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Australia Lesley.Gidding-Reeve[a]dcceew.gov.au
South and Central-America & the Caribbean	Carlos Julio Polo-Silva. Ph.D. Marine Science and Limnology Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México carlosj.polos[a]utadeo.edu.co
	Mario Espinoza, Ph.D. Profesor / Investigador Escuela de Biología – CIMAR Universidad de Costa Rica mario.espinoza_m[a]ucr.ac.cr