Cross-border trade in the sharks was unrestricted before the ruling, but now fishermen will have to obtain licenses before catching the sharks in international waters or selling them to other countries.

Contrary to the popular image of sharks as predators, the basking and whale sharks are gentle giants that feed on plankton as they cruise the ocean with huge jaws open wide.

They are prized in Asian cuisines, especially for making shark's fin soup, and hunting has depleted the populations in the past decade, conservationists say. Each year, humans kill about 100 million sharks and rays, including sting and manta rays, half of them caught accidentally in industrial fishing nets.

"Sharks are very important to aquatic ecosystems in the areas where they exist so we want to ensure that those ecosystems stay healthy," said Craig Manson, head of the U.S. delegation, which backed the move.

Earlier this week, the 160-member body narrowly rejected the proposals. Delegates complained that many member countries were not represented and voting was held again last week.

Member nations voted 81-37 in favor of a motion from India and the Philippines to shield the whale shark, and 82-36 for a British proposal to protect the basking shark.

Japan opposed the motions, fearing CITES restrictions on marine species could soon include tighter controls on the commercial fishing of tuna and other fish.

Eugene Lapointe, the head of a pro-trade conservation group, said the protection measures were misplaced because Norway was the only exporter of basking shark products and it has not sold any for two years due to strict domestic limits on shark fishing.

Poor local fishermen in countries like Indonesia, where whale sharks are hunted, would be forbidden from catching whale sharks outside the 12-mile limit of national waters and then bringing them back to harbor, he said.

"They would be in violation of the law and the only thing these people are trying to do is get food for themselves," Lapointe said.

Whale sharks, the larger of the two, can grow up to 60 feet (20 meters) in length and migrate as far as 13,000 miles (20,000 km) at a time.