Shark fin conservation...It's all in the loophole

Newly revealed EU loopholes allow special permits for shark finning by EU member nations.

Shark finning is banned in the EU but under present rules member states may issue special permits to exempt fishing vessels from the finning-at-sea prohibition.

Sonja Fordham of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Shark Specialist Group is calling on EU member nations to close the loophole.

As with any multi-national conservation agreements, the devil is in the fine print. Closing loopholes and enforcement are the second act to serious shark conservation efforts.

Sonja Fordham Wants Your Signature

Sonja Fordham is Ocean Conservancy's Shark Conservation Program Director. We have talked about her in the past and the simply fantastic NGO she represents.

These guys do shark conservation and have our full support.

So, when Sonja puts out a call for a few electronic signatures we're more than happy to help because we know at the end of the day it will. Please join Sonja and her team in making a difference:

I'm Sonja Fordham, Ocean Conservancy's Shark Conservation Program Director, and I'm talking about "finning" the practice of slicing off a shark’s valuable fins for soup and tossing the body back to sea.

If you're like me, the thought of it makes you outraged and eager to end it. Me, I've dedicated almost two decades to conserving sharks. You, I just need you to urge your senators to pass the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 right now.

The bill, which already passed in the House of Representatives last March, is needed to end the practice of shark finning in US waters and to step up shark conservation efforts in other countries. The US passed a national finning ban in 2000, but the practice continues and is still legal in many other nations. The demand for the fins, which can sell for up to hundreds of dollars per pound, remains high for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy.

The Shark Conservation Act of 2009 closes loopholes in the US finning ban and can revitalize shark conservation efforts on a global scale. It must be passed without further delay.Please join me, and the thousands of other Ocean Conservancy supporters, by sending a powerful message to your senators.

A growing number of shark populations are in peril from overfishing and unsustainable finning — we must do better. Prohibiting the removal of shark fins at sea takes the guesswork out of determining if sharks were finned and greatly improves the ability of experts to accurately record the shark species taken. This bill can end the waste of these vulnerable animals and will contribute to our knowledge of shark population health and conservation needs.

When the passionate support of people like you combines with our policy expertise, we can end harmful fishing practices and turn the tide for sharks. We can end the wasteful practice of shark finning. Working together, we can save our sharks.

Thank you for all that you do to fight for a healthy and diverse ocean,

Sonja Fordham
Shark Conservation Program Director
Ocean Conservancy

Sea Notes Blog-Ken Paterson

From the Mont Bay A.Q Sea Notes Blog and Ken Paterson, a blog to keep your eye on:

Several years before his death, Peter Benchley said that he couldn't write Jaws given what he'd learned about shark behavior and the threats sharks face around the world.

More confirmation about those threats arrived this week, when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported its assessment of sharks & their kin in the northeast Atlantic. The conclusion: 26 percent are threatened with extinction, and another 20 percent are in the near-threatened category.

The total number of threatened species may well be underestimated as there was insufficient information to assess over a quarter of the species.

The most threatened include heavily fished, large sharks and rays, like porbeagle sharks and common skates, as well as commercially valuable deepwater sharks and spiny dogfish. The culprit remains the same: overfishing of species that mature late in life and produce relatively few young.

European agencies that regulate shark fishing have several chances to make a difference in the weeks to come, when they set fishing quotas and consider a European Community Plan of Action for sharks and related species. The good news is that the plan on the table for action in December would ban fishing for the most endangered sharks.

Never before have European countries had more reason or opportunity to safeguard the beleaguered shark and ray species of the Northeast Atlantic," said Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the IUCN's Shark Specialist Group and policy director for The Shark Alliance.

"Country officials should heed the dire warnings of this report and act to protect threatened sharks and rays at national, regional and international levels. Such action is immediately possible and absolutely necessary to change the current course toward extinction of these remarkable ocean animals."

As individuals, we can make our voices heard. And we can shift our seafood-buying dollars to fisheries that don't decimate ocean wildlife. That's the principle behind our Seafood Watch program.

Can we make a difference? Yes, we can.

Sonja Fordham-If you don't know her you should

This years Shark Week enlisted the help of notable shark advocate Sonja Fordham to help dispel the myths surrounding sharks. What they got was one of our brightest voices in the world of shark conservation, tourism, and sustainable seas:

Sharks for Fun

As top predators, sharks have helped keep oceans in balance for hundreds of millions of years and have provided food, leather, oil, weapons and decoration for thousands. Much more recently, sharks have emerged as a source for recreation, through diving, snorkelling, fishing and viewing in aquariums. There is no shortage of controversy surrounding these relatively new uses of sharks.

For starters, many people have concerns about shark-feeding dives; they fear such activities might alter shark behavior and condition sharks to associate people with food, resulting in bites that could fuel the already negative perception of sharks. On the other hand, shark ecotourism can dispel myths about sharks and may inspire action on their behalf. Revenue from shark diving supports powerful economic arguments for keeping sharks alive (see this blog's entry on devil rays). Most proponents of shark ecotourism agree that strict guidelines for conduct should be in place.

Recreational fishing can have a significant impact on sharks. Scientists note a substantial dent in East coast shark populations in the 1970s, after "Jaws" sparked interest in sport fishing for sharks. Since the early 1990s, the government has increasingly limited U.S. Atlantic recreational shark catch while the popularity of catch-and-release fishing has increased. In recent years, the Humane Society (www.hsus.org) has gained attention and support for their efforts to end shark "kill" tournaments in the U.S. Atlantic. Of particular concern is tournament take of porbeagle sharks, as this species is regionally endangered.

Some groups have criticized aquariums for keeping wide-ranging sharks, such as great white and whale sharks, in captivity. Others say that the public needs to see these creatures to appreciate and fight for them, and that the number of individuals in aquariums pales in comparison to the number killed in the wild each year.

These are indeed controversial issues. We're wondering where you stand and invite you to share your perspectives.

PHOTO: Porbeagle shark, Seapics