They say big things come in small packages. In the shark world nothing is bigger then governments who enact bans on shark fishing in their waters.Palau's recent shark fishing ban and the Maldives decision to ban shark fishing in their waters was met with acclaim both in the tourism and shark conservation worlds.
As it turns out other governments were watching, and taking note.
Thanks in part to the Shark Legacy Project headed up by a small and dedicated team in Roatan, Honduras the government just announced they will ban all shark fishing in Honduran waters while they study the issue of shark fishing and the economics of Honduran sharks which, for a Latin American country, is a simply stunning decision.
The next steps will require resources and help from the shark tourism industry and from the research side as well to make this ban a permanent and regional example.
From Peter Wilcox Director of the Shark Legacy Project:
"Thanks Patric - have a major victory down here. After our meetings with DIGIPESCA they pushed up the passing of a bill that has now gone into practice. It puts a moratorium on the fishing of all shark species in all the waters of Honduras! Think that makes Honduras the first in the Caribbean to have a shark sanctuary! Part of the drive behind this measure was to cease use of sharks as a resource until research can be done to evaluate the population/species of sharks here. So finally, a government willing to step in before the problem gets unmanageable. We met with the government this last weekend to discuss how we can assist in this research (as you may be able to guess they do not have much in the way of funding for their own research). We are travelling to Tegucigalpa this week to discuss further research and affiliations to benefit the goals of protecting sharks here."
We would Like to congratulate the Shark Legacy Project and all those who have worked to this point to get the ban in place.
This is very good conservation news indeed.
1 comment:
This is truly a major victory!!
All these achievements (e.g. Palau) will eventually induce other maritime countries such as the Bahamas to fully protect all theis sharks.
If it was possible in Honduras, it should be possible in Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile - to name those Latin American countries on the Pacific coast.
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