Cuba and America have come together to serve preserve the regalia of sharks that live between the Cuban seashore and the Florida sea-coast . After 50 years of threats , badly - mouthing and trade trade embargo , a new era of political telling between the two former enemies has led to some cracking environmental news .
Under an agreement announce at anoceans conference in Valparaíso , Chile , the U.S. and Cuba will turn together to represent ocean life and make species inventories of shark across the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Straits . The agreement also suppose that Cuban fishermen are to register and restrict shark pinch .
Scientists count on 20 % of the populace ’s 500 shark mintage can be found in Cuban body of water , such as the longfin mako ( Isurus paucus ) , the Caribbean Witwatersrand shark ( genus Carcharhinus perezii ) and even great white sharks ( Carcharodon carcharias ) .
The plan is the product of two age of work between the New York - based Environmental Defense Fund ( EDF ) and Cuban authorisation . It was only made potential now the two countries are back on talking terms after their 50 - class recollective ideological scrap appears to have been taken off the heat .
After the conclusion of the gyration in 1959 , Cuba became politically isolated from much of the world and focused on agricultural development , while the rest of the world invested in industrial robbery of the environment . Thisunique chronicle has allowed unique biodiversityto educate in Cuba . The country has some of theworld ’s healthy coral reefsand some of its most interesting marine life .
Even though the Cold War has eased since the ' 90s , tensions between the U.S. and Cuba meant it was heavy to implement any cross - border environmental plans . However , since Obama salute to engage with Cuba in 2008 , the new cautious friendship hasspawned a riches of scientific collaborationsbetween the two countries .
Jorge Angulo - Valdés , a marine investigator at the University of Havana and the University of Florida , toldNature:“It ’s a big step frontwards for Cuba and the region . It ’s time for us to get together , name common goals in resource management and make them forge . ”
The move also hopes to advance American investor and philanthropists to fund Cuban conservation efforts , who were antecedently concerned of the political stigma .