The Shark Alliance was formed in 2006 in an attempt to streamline the efforts of NGOs involved in shark conservation. The Alliance is able to utilize the manpower, resources, and combined knowledge of its member organizations to more effectively lobby for sustainable European and global shark fishing limits. Members of the Shark Alliance include The Shark Trust, the European Elasmobranch Association, and The Ocean Concervancy, among others.
In its own words:
The Shark Alliance is a not-for-profit coalition of non-governmental organizations dedicated to restoring and conserving shark populations by improving European fishing policy. Because of the influence of Europe in global fisheries and the importance of sharks in ocean ecosystems, these efforts have the potential to enhance the health of the marine environment in Europe and around the world.
The mission of the Shark Alliance is two-fold: To close loopholes in European policy regarding the wasteful and unsustainable practice of shark finning; To secure responsible, science-based shark fishing limits for long-term sustainability and ecosystem health.
Sharks have evolved over 400 million years and play a critical role in ocean ecosystems. In common with land predators such as lions and wolves, sharks keep other marine populations in check and help maintain the balance of life in the sea. Today, primarily because of overfishing sharks are among the oceans’ most threatened animals. Tens of millions of sharks are killed each year, either intentionally or as bycatch in commercial and recreational fisheries. Ongoing assessment of the status of European sharks (and closely-related rays) by the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) has led to the classification of roughly one third of evaluated species as threatened (either Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable), with another 16 per cent at risk of becoming so in the near future. Sharks generally grow slowly, mature late and produce few young. Shark populations are therefore especially vulnerable to overexploitation and slow to recover once depleted. The loss of these important predators is predicted to have negative effects on many other species in the sea. Unfortunately, however, misinformation and fear all too often impede the public support required to ensure sharks receive management priority and conservation actions. Unlike many countries that fail to conserve sharks, Europe does not lack the resources to restrict fishing. Despite immediate threats facing sharks there are few European limits on shark fishing, and quotas are routinely set far in excess of actual catches. In 2003, the EU adopted a ban on shark finning (the wasteful practice of slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the carcass at sea), but at the same time allowed glaring loopholes that render the ban all but meaningless. For instance, shark fishermen are allowed to land shark carcasses and fins separately, making it all but impossible to tell how many sharks have been processed on board and how many were subjected to shark finning. Meanwhile, the fin to carcass ratio (the means of checking that the number of fins corresponds to the number of carcasses – after sea processing – is within the ban’s limits) is the highest and therefore the most lenient in the world. Europe is home to the some of the world’s largest fishing fleets while its powerful fisheries officials exert influence on international fishing restrictions in many regions of the globe. Poor European shark policies, therefore, pose threats not only to shark populations in European waters but also to those around the world. If fisheries are managed carefully, sharks can provide a steady source of food and recreation and help keep the oceans in balance. The Shark Alliance is dedicated to ensuring that these valuable yet vulnerable animals survive and thrive for the benefit of ocean ecosystems and the people that depend on them. Save buying products with payday loan
Filed under Sharks Organizations · Tagged with ability, action, age, Alliance, animal, assessment, Association, attempt, balance, balance of life, ban, benefit, board, bycatch, car, carcass, care, catch, cent, check, checking, Class, classification, Co, coalition, Concervancy, conservation, conservation action, Critically, day, ear, ecosystem, ecosystem health, effect, effort, elasmobranch, Endangered, Ensure, environment, ESP, EST, Europe, European, european fishing policy, european waters, excess, fear, fin, Finning, fins, fish, fisheries, fishermen, fishing, fishing fleet, fishing fleets, fit, fleet, food, form, future, gene, general, global fisheries, globe, Government, health, home, importance, Important, Improving, influence, information, instance, intention, International, IUCN, knowledge, lack, land, land predators, largest fish, life, life in the sea, line, loan, Lobby, loss, management, manpower, manpower resources, Marine, marine environment, marine populations, mean, member, million years, misinformation, mission, NGOs, number, ocean, ocean ecosystems, official, Ongoing, organization, overexploitation, overfishing, payday, policy, population, potential, power, practice, predators, priority, process, processing, product, public, rat, rate, ratio, ray, recreation, recreational fisheries, Red, region, responsible science, rest, risk, role, round, row, Save, Science, sea, serv, shark, Shark Alliance, shark conservation, Shark Finning, shark fish, shark fishing, shark populations, shark trust, Sharks, source, Species, spite, status, support, sustainability, system, Tens, term, term sustainability, The Shark Trust, third, threat, Threatened, time, today, Trust, tuna, Union, US, use, Vulnerable, waste, water, With, world, world conservation union, year
The South African based White Shark Trust is “a non-profit organization founded in 2002 to promote and conduct research, education and conservation projects on the endangered Great White Shark”
It is the brain child of Michael Scholl (founder and trustee) who has been conducting research on Great White Sharks since 1997.
The goals of the White Shark Trust are as follows:
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To establish a fund in the Republic of South Africa for the purpose of receiving grants and donations from international sources as well as sources within the Republic of South Africa;
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To manage and disburse such funds in the furtherance of the objectives of the Trust;
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To promote dialogue between various research, conservation, education and Government bodies concerned with management, research, conservation and education concerning the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias);
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To assist in providing relevant advice on the management of the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias);
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To obtain the support for the objectives of the White Shark Trust from local residents living around concentration hotspots for the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), including Mossel Bay, Dyer Island / Gansbaai and False Bay in particular;
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To obtain the support for the objectives of the Trust from the established tourism industry involved with the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) located at Mossel Bay, Dyer Island / Gansbaai and False Bay in particular;
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To ensure that effective action is taken in all matters affecting the welfare and preservation of the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias);
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To promote educational opportunities for the general public, schools and the tourism industry;
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To conduct and support scientific research projects and field expeditions with regards to the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias).”
In connection with other like-minded South African organizations, the work of the White Shark Trust is of primary importance in order to better understand the critical role that White Sharks play in balancing the marine environment. Without their joint efforts we are unable to identify the need for better shark protection.
Filed under Sharks Organizations · Tagged with action, advice, african organizations, age, brain, brain child, car, Carcharodon, cent, child, Co, concentration, Concern, connection, conservation, conservation education, conservation projects, dialogue, disburse, Don, Dye, Dyer Island, ear, edition, education, effect, effective action, effort, Endangered, Ensure, environment, EST, False Bay, field, field expeditions, fit, founder, fund, furtherance, Gansbaai, gene, general, goal, Government, government bodies, Great, great white shark, great white sharks, importance, industry, International, international sources, Join, Joint, land, management, management research, Marine, marine environment, matter, Michael Scholl, mind, Mossel Bay, need, non-profit organization, object, order, organization, part, preservation, project, protect, protection, public, purpose, rat, ratio, Red, relevant advice, Republic, republic of south africa, research, research education, reservation, role, round, sea, serv, shark, shark trust, Sharks, side, source, South Africa, stand, support, tour, tourism, tourism industry, Trust, trustee, US, welfare, White, white shark, White Shark Trust, white sharks, With, work
The Shark Safe Network provides a framework to combine and focus the efforts of committed individuals and shark conservation groups towards specific shark conservation campaigns. If you have a passion to protect sharks, Shark Safe Network helps you to get involved and make a difference – by participating in a current campaign or by launching your own campaign in your community.
Shark Safe Network provides the information, tools, raw materials and support. You provide the passion!!
The goal of every Shark Safe Network campaign is to reduce and ultimately eliminate wasteful and unsustainable activities and products that threaten sharks’ survival. Shark Safe Network invites and welcomes participation from any and all organizations and individuals, provided that all campaigns are conducted according the Shark Safe Network campaign principles.
And we always keep in mind that helping sharks = helping people. When you consider any of the issues that threaten sharks today, there is also a corresponding negative impact on humans and the planet.
Shark Safe Network is all about getting involved and doing something that counts. Join the Shark Safe Network and you will make a difference!
Filed under Sharks Organizations · Tagged with amp, campaign, campaign principles, Co, community, conservation, conservation campaigns, conservation groups, day, difference, effort, ESP, Focus, form, framework, goal, group, impact, information, information tools, issue, Join, mind, negative impact, Network, organization, part, participation, passion, planet, product, protect, provides a framework to combine and focus, raw materials, Red, Safe, serv, shark, shark conservation, Sharks, side, something, support, survival, The Shark Safe Network, thing, threat, today, US, waste, way, work, Your
The shark existence of the east coast of the USA decreased in the last 15 years substantially. The number of the hammerhead sharks sank around 89%, those of the thresher sharks around 80%, those of the great white sharks around 79%. The populations of the mako sharks, blue sharks and tiger sharks sank around 40-65%. The existence of the sandbar sharks were reduced in the last 10 years by overfishing by 85-90%.
Canadian researchers announce a decrease of the oceanic whitetip shark by around 99%. They are almost extinguished in certain regions already.
Sharks are not only caught actively for their meat, fins or cartilages. Millions of sharks die as non-usable catch (bycatch) in the nets and longlines of the swimming fish factories.
In the year 1991 the longline fishery brought in 8.3 million sharks world-wide. It is assumed that about half of it were blue sharks. More than 87% of these 8.3 million sharks were thrown away!
In the USA, along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, annually approx. 2.5 million sharks are fished by sportfishing (game fishing). From that approx. 20-40% (500’000 – 1’000’000 sharks) got killed.
The population of all sorts of sharks is worldwide extremely threatened. In total 82 shark and ray species are registered on the so called “Red List” of the World Conservation Union.
Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with age, approx, Atlantic, Atlantic Coast, blue, blue sharks, bycatch, canadian researchers, car, cartilage, catch, Co, coast, conservation, decrease, ear, existence, fact, fin, fins, fish, fish factories, fishery, fishing, game, game fishing, Got, Great, great white shark, great white sharks, Gulf of Mexico, half, hammerhead, hammerhead sharks, head, line, List, longline, longline fishery, longlines, mako, mako sharks, meat, number, ocean, oceanic whitetip shark, overfishing, population, ray, Red, region, research, researcher, round, row, sand, sandbar, sandbar sharks, sea, serv, shark, Shark Existence, shark existence of the east coast, Sharks, Sharks are fish, Species, sport, swimming, threat, Threatened, thresher, thresher sharks, tiger, tiger shark, Tiger Sharks, Union, US, USA, way, White, white shark, white sharks, whitetip, Wide, world, world conservation union, worldwide, year, year 1991
Following its acceptance of membership to the recently formed Shark Alliance, Save Our Sharks (SOS) attended the first anniversary and inaugural meeting of the Shark Alliance member groups in Brussels.
Around 35 delegates from 6 countries, U.K, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Holland attended plus the directors and staff from the Pew Charitable Trusts, who financed the meeting.
Save Our Sharks were represented by Nigel Proctor (on behalf of the SOS committee) who met up at Brussels airport with the Sea Anglers Conservation Network (Scotland) representative, and SOS liaison officer Denis Kelly.
“Fins On”
One of the principal proposals that came out the conference is to be headed “Fins On” where the aim is to have sharks landed whole. There will be a drive to raise public awareness of the issue, and we will try to capitalise on the IUCN red listing, and create further publicity.
“Shark Week”
Another proposal is to hold a “Shark Week” in each member country, where each country’s members create a project to involve the community, schools, museums, aquariums and the like to raise awareness of shark issues.
There will be more to follow on the above shortly
There were many other issues and points made, however, these are the principal ones
• Strive to raise public awareness of shark related issues,
• Create adequate publicity and maintain the pressure,
• Educate journalists away from ‘sensationalism’ without portraying sharks as an animal they clearly are not, they are apex predators, not cuddly, loveable ‘toys’,
• Pre-influence the journalist way of thinking prior to ‘shark week’ and Ocean Day,
• Feed the media with facts and data to ‘force’ the attention on sharks prior to EU discussions on shark management,
• Similarly with CITES,
• Important to maintain ‘shark friendly’ states and get them to lobby less friendly countries,
• Lobby the UK to dispense with its ‘special permits’,
• Ensure that the Shark Alliance has a high profile at the release and showing of the new shark film,
• Don’t alienate the fishing industry,
• Work with fishermen, more is likely to be achieved at a faster rate,
Denis and Nigel were made extremely welcome and clearly treated as being amongst equals, if but a little less experienced in the ways of policy and lobbying. Nigel stated after the meeting that, “We have made significant moves along the pathway of shark conservation and have little to fear in the future, in terms of acceptability, we have a lot to offer and should not be afraid to push forward with our objectives, we can gain a great deal from liaison with the other member groups of the Shark Alliance, however, we also have a great deal to offer as well”.
At the conference Nigel reiterated the high level of importance UK anglers attached to sharks, skates and rays, making the point that the bad old days of trophy fish were long gone. He finished off by indicating our commitment and referencing the prohibition on the landing of tope along the English east coast (c 200 miles of coastline) which to the best of our knowledge is the first full protection, and or prohibition on the landing of any shark species in European waters. This brought about a warm and consensual round of applause, which probably indicates that we are not outcasts any more, but highly regarded and welcome members of an important Shark Alliance.
Well done to Nigel and Denis for helping to put recreational shark fishing on the front-line of European shark conservation
The next few months
We are in for a quiet time in Scotland until after the elections but there is much to do, in England and Europe. We will be writing to our members shortly with more details, please get involved.
• Liaise with the Shark Trust to organise a “Shark Week” to raise public awareness with the overall goal of banning the removing of fins at sea.
• Lobby Defra to stop handing out special permits which allows finning on Porbeagles. Both of the above are part of the “Fins On” campaign.
• Keep pressure on Defra to announce the results of the tope consultation.
• Build up a case to take to the EU to implement tope management across Europe.
• Remind Defra of their intention to implement a maximum landing size on rays, skate and spurdog.
• Keep pressure on the Scottish Exec. to have the Firth of Lorne, Sound of Mull and surrounding lochs and waters designated as a Spurdog nursery area.
• Lobby the EU to have the 25 per cent by catch on rays implemented in all UK waters.
• Continue with the red tape to get SOS listed for charitable status. Once achieved we can apply for grants to help with the campaigning and administrative costs.
Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with ability, acceptability, acceptance, age, aim, air, airport, Alliance, alliance member, amp, Anglers, animal, anniversary, apex, apex predators, applause, aquariums, area, attention, awareness, ban, behalf, Brussels, brussels airport, Build, campaign, campaigning, capitalise, case, catch, cent, CITES, Co, coast, coastline, commitment, committee, community, conference, conference in Brussels, consensual, conservation, conservation network, consultation, Continue, country, Data, day, deal, Defra, Denis, Denis Kelly, Director, dog, Don, drive, ear, Educate, England, English, Ensure, EST, Europe, European, european waters, Exec, experience, fact, fear, feed, film, fin, Finning, fins, Firth, fish, fishermen, fishing, force, form, France, front, future, gel, Germany, germany switzerland, Gland, goal, Great, group, half, hand, head, hold, Holland, importance, Important, inaugural meeting, industry, influence, intention, International, issue, Italy, IUCN, iucn red list, journal, journalist, knowledge, land, landing, leg, level, Liaise, liaison, liaison officer, line, List, listing, Lobby, Lorne, lot, management, maximum, meeting, member, member country, member groups, membership, mind, Mull, Network, network scotland, Nigel, Nigel Proctor, nursery, object, ocean, offer, officer, organise, part, pathway, Pew, pew charitable trusts, point, policy, porbeagle, Porbeagles, Pre-influence, predators, pressure, Principal, principal proposals, proctor, profile, prohibition, project, proposal, protect, protection, public, public awareness, publicity, rat, rate, ray, recreation, Red, release, Remind, representative, round, Save, Scotland, Scottish, sea, sea anglers, sensationalism, serv, shark, Shark Alliance, shark conservation, shark fish, shark fishing, shark species, shark trust, shark week, Sharks, ship, showing, size, skate, skates, SOS, Sound, Species, spurdog, staff, status, Strive, Switzerland, tape, term, The Shark Trust, time, tope, trophy, Trust, Trusts, U.K, UK, uk waters, US, use, water, way, Week, With, work
