Top 20 shark-catching nations accused of failings

ROME (AP) — Two environmental groups have accused the 20 countries that catch the most sharks of failing to fulfill promises to better conserve the animals.

In 1999, more than 100 governments adopted a plan of action at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to try to stem overfishing of sharks since 30 percent of all shark species are threatened or nearly threatened with extinction.

They pledged to develop national action plans, among other things.

Non-governmental groups Traffic and the Pew Environment Group said only 13 of the top 20 shark catching countries had developed national plans, and that it was unclear if such plans had done any good where adopted.

The report was issued Thursday before a meeting next week of the FAO's fisheries committee.