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Spread the shark love message with our new "4 sharks" t-shirt.  Trendy bold design on the front, anti shark fin message on the back! What more could you ask for in a t-shirt, really?
Impress your friends with your sharky knowledge: The blue shark is one of the most commonly fished and finned sharks in the world. White, whale and basking sharks are the only 3 sharks protected under CITES. Complete with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and lovesharks.sg logos. Only 15 bucks from the lovesharks.sg shop.
Great new campaign from the Shark Crew of www.sharkdivers.com. A lot of people say that recreational fishermen should not be made to pay for the problems caused by commercial fishing. But sport fishermen catch 500,000 sharks a year in the USA alone. It all adds up. Shark-Free Marina Initiative to reduce worldwide shark mortality
Tuesday 19th May, 2009, Press Release
The Shark-Marina has a singular purpose, to reduce worldwide shark mortality. Today the not-for-profit company launches its strategy which intends to prevent the deaths of millions of vulnerable and endangered species of shark. The initiative aims to win over the fishing community by working with game fishing societies, tackle manufacturers, competition sponsors and marinas to form community conscious policy.
In the last five years over a half million sharks on average were harvested annually by the recreational and sport-fishing community in the United States alone. Many of these were breeding age animals and belong to vulnerable or endangered species. Research has shown that removal of adult sharks from the population is occurring at such an extreme rate that many species stand no chance of survival, severely damaging the delicate ecological balance of the oceans ecosystem.
“There’s a lot of talk about the atrocity of shark fining and fishing worldwide” says the SFMI’s Board Director, Marine Biologist Luke Tipple “but not a lot of measurable action towards reversing the damage. The time has come to stop simply ‘raising awareness’ and start implementing sensible management techniques to protect vulnerable species of sharks from inevitable destruction.”
The Shark-Free Marina Initiative works by prohibiting the landing of any caught shark at a participating marina. By promoting catch-and-release fishing the sport of shark fishing can actively participate in ongoing research studies and collect valuable data. The initiative is based on the Atlantic billfish model which banned the mortal take of billfish in response to population crashes in the 80’s.
Visit the Shark-Free Marina website at www.sharkfreemarinas.com
Yay great news! For those of you who haven't signed, please sign at www.whalesharkpetition.com we need to keep the pressure up so the gahmen will approve RWS's proposal! No whale sharks at IR
May 16, 2009, Grace Chua, the Straits Times
RESORTS World at Sentosa (RWS) is scrapping its plan to exhibit whale sharks at its upcoming Marine Life Park.
The creatures had been touted as a star attraction for the 8ha oceanarium, the world's largest, when Genting International's RWS won its bid for the Sentosa integrated resort (IR) three years ago.
The plan drew intense flak from animal welfare organisations which highlighted the limited space for huge animals that can grow to over 12m long, and their dismal survival rate in captivity.
The developer stuck to its guns - but now may have realised it made a mistake.
RWS spokesman Krist Boo admitted the resort was hoping to back out of its original plan as it believes it may not be able to care for the animals.
She told The Straits Times on Friday: 'We are discussing and exploring an alternative proposal to having whale sharks.'
The new proposal, like any change to the original IR plan, must be presented to the Government.
Sad news that people still want to do something like that. In exchange for 5 minutes of fame you killed an animal that was probably as old as yourself. Watch the video report of his shark catch here. Catching controversy, all 1,060 pounds of it
Eric Ernst, Herald-Tribune, Friday, May 15, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
He could have moved to the middle of the boat. Instead, he leaned over the edge with a gaff hook and set off another controversy.
When fishing captain Bucky Dennis of Englewood reeled in a 1,060-pound hammerhead shark from Boca Grande Pass last week, he was going for a world record on 80-pound test line.
Shark populations worldwide have dropped 50 to 75 percent because of overfishing, so news of Dennis' latest trophy set off derisive protests, some deserved, some not. Maybe that's part of Dennis' public relations problem. The commercial fishing industry catches sharks, cuts off their fins for Asian markets, then discards the fish to die. Worldwide, the practice has decimated shark numbers far more than Bucky Dennis ever could. But commercial shark fishing is a faceless foe. It doesn't pose at the dock for the cameras, so no one attacks it personally. Dennis has other PR troubles, though. The record shark he caught in 2006, a female estimated at 40 to 50 years old, was carrying 55 pups. That was also a hammerhead record, according to Mote Marine Laboratory, which reluctantly accepted the fish for research. It refused to take Dennis' latest catch, which was likely pregnant, too, experts say.
Of course, not all fishermen endorse Dennis' practice of chasing records. I asked a friend, also a charter captain, for his analysis. "They're a thing of beauty. You don't kill them. You move to the middle of the boat."
Shark protection call
14 May 2009 -- 09:50CEST, by di-ve.com
The Shark Alliance is marking Global Ocean Policy Day by calling on EU Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg, to strengthen the EU’s most important and far-reaching policy for sharks: the ban on "finning" (slicing off the fins and tossing the body at sea).
The EU is the lead supplier for the global shark fin trade, which is driven by demand for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup. The EU finning ban is currently among the weakest in the world, the Shark Alliance said.
Species that dominate the Asian shark fin trade, such as thresher, hammerhead and blue sharks, are taken by Maltese fishermen. In 2008, scientists reported population declines of 97-99 per cent for Mediterranean populations of these species.
“Ten years ago, Malta took bold action to protect the great white shark, giant devil ray and basking shark, and it is high time to show such leadership again,” said Sonja Fordham, Shark Alliance Policy Director.
Nearly 60 per cent of Malta’s 35 species of sharks are considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as threatened with extinction. The main shark targeted in Malta, spiny dogfish, is classified as endangered in the Mediterranean. Maltese fishermen also take critically endangered porbeagle and angular rough sharks.
The European Commission released in February 2009 the Community Plan of Action for Sharks, which sets the stage for sweeping improvements in EU shark policies, including the finning ban.
The Shark Alliance is a coalition of 70 conservation, scientific and diving organisations dedicated to improving EU shark policies, including Nature Trust (Malta), Sharklab (Malta) and Sharkman's World Organisation.
How awesome is this guy! Thanks Dazza!!! Is anybody getting married? Tell them!
Shark Love (EP3): Shark-fin friendly photographer
Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 10:15hrs, the long zlong So if you’ve been following, I’ve been blogging about the love for sharks and how and why we should be treating these gnashing saw teeth fishes better in;
Shark Love (EP1): In conversation with Sharkman
Shark Love (EP2): Sharkwater and some shark facts And on how I am keen in affecting change in an industry that, perhaps doesn’t actually play a part in the slaughter of sharks for Shark-fin soup, but may be in the right position to affect some, if only a slight change - a change in seeing Shark Fin dishes off banquet tables. Take local TV celebrities Shaun and Michelle, their heavily publicized wedding dinner had them declaring live on National TV last Monday night, how they took shark-fin off their menu and served a substitute instead I would like to encourage couples and their families to not serve Shark-fin at their dinner banquets. And to do that, I pledge to offer every couple signed up for Actual Day wedding photography with me, who are holding sit-down Chinese x-course banquets, who consciously decide not to serve any form of sharks-fin dish at their wedding, a S$100 credit1. This credit can be used as a redemption for any products such as Canvas Prints, Photobooks or Wedding Books. This isn’t a time-limited offer, it will be an offer I will provide henceforth. I am providing this at a cost to myself, probably not the smartest business or profit margin increasing move, but I am doing this because I care. I care for the sharks that are being poached and sinking to the floor of the ocean with their fins cut off and I am doing so because it matters what goes into the mouths of the people I care about.
Mozambique Loses Millions To Illegal Shark Fishing
May 14, 2009 11:18 AM, Bernama.com
MAPUTO, May 14 (Bernama) -- The Mozambican state has been losing millions of US dollars because of illegal shark fishing by foreign vessels in the country's waters, the Mozambican news agency (AIM) said quoting a report in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
The illegal vessels mostly come from Tanzania and operate in the waters off the coat of Memba and Nacala districts, in the northern province of Nampula. The local maritime administration currently lacks the resources to inspect the coastal waters effectively.
A kilo of shark fins is sold for about US$750 in the international market, but fetches much higher prices in the Asian shops and restaurants where it is regarded as a delicacy.
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