This is, unfortunately, not an easy question to answer. Each country has their own federal laws, and each state can have additional regulations to protect certain species. In the United States, we have an Endangered Species Act, but it only covers a handful of shark species. This is because NOAA, the US government regulatory agency, believes the US shark stocks are fine and do not need to be listed. Listing is a very slow and complicated process to get a species added. Once a shark swims beyond National boarders, there are additional complications with protections. There is little to no protection in the open seas. International agreements exist, such as CITES (Convention on the Trade of Endangered Species). Agreements like CITES do not guarantee protected species, but rather demands that species are only traded if they were caught, and if that country can show they are doing it non-detrimentally to the species. The IUCN has the Red List, which is not a law, but a scientific guide to the species we (and decision makers) should be concerned about. Lastly, there are Shark Sanctuaries, Marine Protected Areas and Reserves where shark fishing may be prohibited or limited. At the end of the day, it really depends on the jurisdiction, which also does not guarantee effective enforcement. In this section we will attempt to make some of the policies, laws and agreements a bit clearer.