Countries at the world’s biggest wildlife summit have voted for the first time to regulate the trade that kills millions of sharks every year to feed the vast appetite for shark fin soup.

In what marine conservationists have hailed as a landmark decision, parties at the 186-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or Cites, voted to limit or regulate the commercial trade in 54 shark species of the requiem family, including tiger, bull and blue sharks which are the most targeted for the fin trade. Six small hammerhead shark species were also listed for protection along with 37 types of guitarfish, which are shark-like rays.

Collectively, the three proposals would place nearly all shark species traded internationally for their fins under CITES oversight and controls, up from only 25% prior to the CITES CoP19.

The proposal put forward by Panama, the host country, and backed by 40 others including EU countries and the UK, will offer protection to the sharks which make up two-thirds of the species targeted by the fin market. It will require countries to ensure legality and sustainability prior to authorising exports of these species.

Most requiem sharks are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.

“Now, finally, the deeply unsustainable shark fin trade will be fully regulated,” said Luke Warwick, director of shark and ray conservation for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“These two families constitute well over half of the shark fins traded annually in a half-billion dollar trade,” Warwick said. The new protections would give them a chance to recover and “will forever change how the world’s ocean predators are managed and protected,” he added.

Studies indicate 37% of shark and ray species face extinction and o