The 9th Meeting of the Convention on Migratory Species was held at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, in November 2008.

Eduardo Espinoza (in the photo, centre left), member of Migramar and Head of Marine Research at the Galapagos National Park Service, attended as a representative of Ecuador, along with Manuel Bravo, from the Ministry of Environment. Several species of marine mammals were added to Appendices 1 and 2, but proposals to include sharks (such as the mako) were opposed by Chile, Argentina and New Zealand.

However, after group workshops, the shortfin mako Isurus oxyrinchus, the porbeagle Lamna nasus and the spiny dogfish, Squalus acanthias, were all added to Appendix 2, although the aforementioned countries lodged their complaints, and Ecuador further added that there was a lack of data.

During the meeting there was a ceremony to formalise a Memorandum of Understanding to protect marine turtles in the Indian Ocean, to which France and Mozambique recently ascribed.