of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) recommended additional conservation actions for the porbeagle, CITES rejected proposals to list the species in 2008 and again in 2010. In March 2013, the porbeagle was listed on Appendix II of CITES, allowing for increased regulation in the international trade of this species. In March 2015, The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) responded to a court order to compile information as to whether the shark will be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Southern Hemisphere The only regulation of porbeagle catches in the Southern Hemisphere is New Zealand's total allowable catch of 249 tons per year, instituted in 2004. In June 2018 the New Zealand Department of Conservation classified the porbeagle as "Not Threatened" with the qualifier "Threatened Overseas" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System. Eastern North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea In the eastern North Atlantic, porbeagle fishing has been illegal in waters of the European Union since 2011. From 1985 and until the EU ban, the Faroe Islands and Norway (which are not members of the EU) were allowed annual quotas of 200 tons and 125 tons, respectively, from European Community waters. Although these quotas were lower than the originals set in 1982 (500 tons for Norway and 300 tons for the Faroe Islands), they were still consistently higher than the yearly total porbeagle catch in the region, thus had no practical effect. The species is included on the red list of Norway and it has been protected in their national waters since 2012. Any porbeagle caught in EU or Norwegian waters by accident must be released. In the Mediterranean Sea, the porbeagle is on the verge of extinction, with a population decline over 99.99% since the mid-20th century. Its range has contracted to the waters around the Italian Peninsula, where a nursery area may exist. Only a few dozen specimens have been recorded in the past few decades, from scientific surveys, swordfish fishery bycatch, and sport fishers. In 1995, it was included in Annex III ("species whose exploitation is regulated") of the Barcelona Convention Protocol on protected areas and biodiversity in the Mediterranean, which has not been ratified. In 1997, it was listed on Appendix III of the Bern Convention (the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats). However, these listings have yet to result in the implementation of new management plans, despite the