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
Sea Shepherd is best known for its frontline work protecting marine mammals but its broader mandate is to protect all ocean creatures. Styled on the more widely publicized organization Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd continued to grow teeth where Greenpeace lost them through inactivity. Sea Shepherd’s founder Captain Paul Watson has a reputation for pursuing illegal whalers and longliners, harassing seal cullers, organizing rallies, and generally irritating governments that would rather turn a blind eye, and infuriating fishing consortiums who would rather go about their illegal and often cruel practices unnoticed.
Sea Shepherd’s flag ship The Farley Mowat has harassed shark fishing boats in Costa Rican waters and sent sailors sprawling over their decks after being hit by The Marley Mowat’s water cannons.
Captain Watson also manages to fit a lecture circuit into his busy schedule, during which he educates anyone willing to listen on the plight of whales, dolphins, seals, and sharks.
Sea Shepherd’s second vessel is on permanent patrol in the Galapagos area where Park Rangers are virtually helpless against the Ecuadorian fishing boats that brazenly ignore the protection afforded to the park by its world heritage site status. Even with Sea Shepherd’s vigilant patrols the rangers are so out numbered that fishermen have an almost unimpeded run of the islands and the Galapagos Sharks that once schooled in vast numbers around Darwin Island have all but vanished.
This kind of hard line activism is not for everyone. The Sea Shepherd crew have been deported, locked up, threatened, and roughed up on many occasions. Violent confrontations at sea may not fit with your particular code of behavior or ethics but what makes you more uncomfortable: sponsoring Sea Shepherd’s activities that achieve direct results in the protection of endangered creatures, or lobbying deaf government officials while the wholesale slaughter of our oceans sharks and whales continues unchallenged?
If Sea Shepherd seems like a worthwhile organization with which to take a stand, you can help them in a variety of ways. Joining Sea Shepherd with a modest contribution, helps with the provisioning, fueling, and maintenance of their ships. As a member you may also have the chance to sign on as a volunteer for a tour of duty on one of their campaigns. On their website they list what skills they are looking for in new crew members but they also take unskilled deckhands that are willing to work hard.
Filed under Sharks Organizations · Tagged with activism, age, amp, anyone, area, behavior, boat, campaign, Captain Paul Watson, Captain Watson, chance, circuit, Co, code, Continue, contribution, Costa Rica, costa rican waters, creature, crew, cruel practices, Darwin Island, duty, Ecuadorian, Educate, Endangered, EST, everyone, eye, Farley, farley mowat, fish, fishermen, fishing, fishing boats, fit, flag, founder, front, frontline, frontline work, frontline work protecting marine mammals, Galapagos, galapagos sharks, gene, general, Government, Greenpeace, hand, heritage, inactivity, Join, kind, land, laugh, lecture, leg, line, List, Lobby, longline, maintenance, Mammals, mandate, Marine, marine mammals, Marley, member, Mowat, number, ocean, ocean creatures, official, organization, Park, park rangers, part, patrol, Paul Watson, plight, practice, protect, protecting marine, protection, public, range, rat, Red, reputation, round, row, run, schedule, sea, Sea Shepherd, seal, shark, shark fish, shark fishing, Sharks, sharks and whales, Shepherd, ship, site, slaughter, stand, status, Styled, tag, threat, Threatened, tour, turn, US, variety, vessel, vigilant, Violent, violent confrontations, vision, volunteer, water, water cannons, way, Web, website, Whale, wholesale slaughter, Wide, With, work, world, world heritage site, Your
The Shark Trust was established in 1997 to study, protect, and manage the elasmobranch species found in UK waters and internationally. It is a member of the European Elasmobranch Association and works with other EEA organizations to counter the enormous fishing pressure that European shark and ray stocks are under.
The Shark Trust’s mandate includes:
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Introducing effective management on a regional basis to regulate shark and ray fisheries and ensure that they are sustainable.
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Reducing shark and ray bycatch and mortality in other fisheries.
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Increasing research efforts on the biology of sharks and rays and their fisheries, including the promotion of a collaborative tag and release program.
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Improving records of catches, landings, and international trade in species of sharks and rays.
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Improving management of critical habitats, including nursery grounds, under threat.
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Increasing the amount of information available to the public and decision makers.
The Shark Trust encourages scientists, divers, fishermen, anglers, and the general public to join the growing number of ST members that currently lend their support.
Your membership in The Shark Trust adds to the pressure that it is able to be put on governing and regulatory agencies, and helps spread awareness on the plight of sharks and rays in general.
Subscription to The Shark Trust carries no obligation on your part unless you wish it to. However, if you would like to help educate or raise funds your added contribution will be most welcome.
Shark Trust members receive the trust’s magazine/newsletter ‘Shark Focus’ 3 times per year. This is a glossy publication that chronicles the latest work of the trust and has articles on a variety of shark and ray subjects. Upon joining the trust you will also receive i.d. posters of British shark and ray species and other Shark Trust goodies.
The Shark Trust also hosts a highly informative website with sections on all aspects of sharks and rays. The site also contains a good image database of elasmobranch species and an active and well moderated forum for anyone wishing to talk sharks.
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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
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Finning is called as the cruel cutting off the fins of the sharks. Often the sharks are still alive at this time. The trunk of the shark (dead or alive) is then thrown as redundant ballast over board. The shark fins constitute only approx. 14% of the total weight of a shark but bring in on the international market substantially more than shark meat. The fins are used exclusively for shark fish fin soup. Finning is cruelly however lucrative; for a kilo of shark fins in Asia an average over 100 US Dollar is paid.
Hong Kong and the mainland China dominate the world-wide shark fin market to 50%. Statistics from Taiwan, Singapore
and Hong Kong point a growth like an explosion of the trade with shark fins. Already 1999 according to official data of the customs authorities of Hong Kong 6954 tons of shark fins were released for the re-export. The number of exported fins might have increased by a multiple since then. They predominantly go to Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and China. Taiwan ranks at place five in the world-wide shark fin trade. It maintains the world-wide largest fishing fleet, which fishes primarily in international waters, far away from the own territorial waters.
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Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with age, approx, Asia, author, average, ballast, board, China, china taiwan, Co, customs authorities, cutting, cutting off, Data, Dollar, EST, explosion, fin, fin soup, Finning, fins, fish, fishing, fishing fleet, fleet, growth, Hong Kong, International, international waters, kilo, Korea, land, largest fish, mainland china, Malaysia, market, meat, multiple, number, official, place, point, rat, Red, release, row, run, shark, Shark Finning, shark fins, shark fish, shark meat, Sharks, Singapore, singapore malaysia, soup, Taiwan, territorial, territorial waters, time, trade, trunk, US, use, water, way, weight, Wide, With, world
