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 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