The number of manta rays that exist worldwide is unknown. They used to be hunted commercially for their liver oil and skin. The hunters would kill them by harpooning them from small boats in eastern Australia and the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). Today, they continue to be hunted in Mexico, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where their meat is considered a delicacy. Heavy fishing in Mexico has caused manta populations to collapse. Additionally, fishing efforts in the Philippines have been growing in the past decade enabling local markets to expand to national and international market places. There is an increasing concern about the sustainability of such a fishery. Hunters who are economically dependent on the fishery refute any conservation measures to limit the fishery.

There are 5000 signatures needed! Here is the link to support it: Stop The Over Fishing Of Manta Rays

Hope dies last:

Kirk Lee, founder of Facebook page ‘Save Our Sharks from a Bowl of Soup’, is on a mission to raise awareness on the issue. First step, taking sharks fin soup off the wedding banquet menu.

Please support and share the petition to ban shark finning in Chile.

The Chilean Government has taken a step forward in marine conservation by presenting a law project to protect sharks by banning finning. The initiative has the support of parliamentarians and is driven by an international NGO, aims to end the growing practice of finning or “aleteo” in Chile. Shark finning worldwide has made a 90% decline in shark populations and that some 100 million individuals are caught and killed each year. In Chile there is sufficient information showing that 1 in 3 blue sharks caught, suffer from this type of mutilation; this means that about 150,000 sharks are finned each year in Chilean waters.

Chile is one of the few countries where illegal shark finning is NOT oe even promoted the practice

Sign the petition

Target: Senator Rory J. Respicio, Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, Guam
Sponsored by: Shark Defenders

Up to 73 million sharks are killed every year — mainly for their fins, which are used in the Asian delicacy shark fin soup. In the wasteful practice of “shark finning,” fishermen slice off the valuable fins of the shark and discard the bodies at sea, where the sharks slowly die.

Shark finning is banned in U.S. waters, but it still affects shark populations worldwide. Many sharks now face extinction.

Fortunately, we have the opportunity to save sharks in one more part of the world: Guam. But we must act now!

A new bill would ban the sale and possession of shark fins in Guam, greatly deterring motivation to practice shark finning in the area. The hearing for this bill is set for Tuesday, February 1.

Ask Guam Natural Resources Committee Chair Senator Rory Respicio to support this bill and help save the world’s sharks!

Shark’s fin soup is a traditional Chinese delicacy that is popular at celebratory occasions such as the Chinese New Year, as well as a weddings. Available at many “high-class”, pricey Chinese restaurants – often as part of some 7/8-course set meal – it is considered a luxury dish and also a status symbol of sorts. If you can order shark’s fin at a meal with your friends, it shows everyone that you are rich enough to afford it. As the middle class of China expands, so has the demand for shark’s fin soup in China. The same is also happening in Singapore, which is one of the largest ports for shark’s fin trade in the world.

However, the production of shark’s fin soup is a gory, brutal story, and the subject of controversy all over the world. To get shark’s fin, sharks are trapped and caught by fishermen. Their dorsal fins are then cut off, and the still-living shark tossed back into the sea (so as not to take up valuable space on the boat).

A shark’s fin is like what arms are to humans. Without their in, they are unable to swim, and without their normal movement their gills are unable to take in oxygen. They then sink slowly to the bottom of the sea to die a slow death, or get attacked by other sea creatures.

If you go to Google Images and search “shark finning”, the photos that come up will simply break your heart. So much cruelty, death and pain, just so people can show off to their friends and family over dinner.

To make things worse, not only is shark finning animal abuse, sharks are being killed in such large numbers each year that it is having an adverse effect on the marine eco-system.

By itself, shark’s fin is tasteless. It is actually nothing much more than cartilage. The nutritional content of shark’s fin soup is not that much more than the nutritional content of a vegetable soup, and even so the nutritional value comes from the vegetables, not the fin.

Project: FIN is a Singapore-based non-profit organisation that is part of the Global Shark Initiative that hopes to increase awareness about shark finning, and to get more people to oppose the cruelty that is carried out on millions of sharks each year.

Some countries like the United States and New Zealand have put in regulations on shark finning. However, as far as I know, Singapore doesn’t have any such regulations, because we don’t really have shark finning in our seas – we are just a port for import/export. The best way, then, would be to educate the public, and make people aware of the horror of shark finning, and to get them to boycott shark’s fin soup.

A third of all animals and plants on earth face extinction — endangered blue whales, coral reefs, and a vast array of other species. The wave of human-driven extinction has reached a rate not seen since the fall of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

But there is a plan to save them — a global agreement to create, fund and enforce protected areas covering 20% of our seas and lands by 2020. Right now, 193 governments are meeting in Japan to address this crisis. But without public pressure, they are likely to fall short of the bold action needed to avert the collapse of ecosystems the world over.

This summit ends on Friday, October 29 — we have no time to lose. Let’s rapidly build a global public outcry urging governments to save all life on earth from runaway decline. Sign the petition below and it will be delivered directly to the meeting:

Take action now!

Here you can read the reaction to the email to the “European Parliament” (http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=1678&ea.campaign.id=7941).

vielen Dank für Ihre Email. Sie bitten mich, anlässlich der aktuellen europäischen Haifischwoche die schriftliche Erklärung zum Schutz von Haien zu unterschreiben.

Die EU hat mit ihrer Ratsverordnung (1185/2003) aus dem Jahre 2003 ein Finning-Verbot beschlossen. Ziel dieser Verordnung des Rates ist es, die Praxis des Abtrennens von Haifischflossen an Bord von Fischereifahrzeugen und das anschließende Zurückwerfen des Tierkörpers ins Meer zu verbieten.

Das Europäische Parlament hat sich seitdem dafür eingesetzt, dass entstandene Schlupflöcher der Verordnung geschlossen werden (INI/2006/2054).

Für diese Flossen besteht offenbar immer mehr Nachfrage, insbesondere auf den asiatischen Märkten, wo sie zu hohen Preisen verkauft werden. Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang, dass Hawaii im Mai 2010 als erster Staat der USA den Besitz, den Handel und die Verteilung von Haifischflossen verboten hat.

Ich habe für Ihr Engagement, die offenbar immer noch bestehenden Schlupflöcher zu beseitigen, großes Verständnis. Im Fischereiausschuss des Europäischen Parlaments verfolgt meine Kollegin Britta Reimers die Entwicklung mit großer Sorge.

Sie wird sich dafür einsetzen, dass das Schicksal dieser besonderen Meeresbewohner wieder auf die Tagesordnung der Kommission gesetzt und die Ratsverordnung auch umgesetzt wird.

Wie Sie mir auf Nachfrage mitteilte, plant sie eine sogenannte Schriftliche Anfrage an die Kommission gemäß Art. 117 der Geschäftsordnung, in der sie die Kommission auffordert, die korrekte Umsetzung der Ratsverordnung zu ermöglichen und die Verordnung besser zu kontrollieren.

Diese Position teile ich und werde ebenso wie meine Kollegin das Thema weiter verfolgen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Jorgo Chatzimarkakis

Remains to be seen what will happen if or whether this is a typical response of the Parliament. We will follow it!

If you have not signed yet you still have the chance here: http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=1678&ea.campaign.id=7941

Not only in Africa (see trailer) sharks are killed, even in European waters! Now the time has come for some completely laws.

Sign petition under: www.sharkalliance.org/content.asp?did=35619

World freediving champion Tanya Streeter dives with a pack of reef sharks in an attempt to overcome her fear of these wild predators. Beautiful underwater video from BBC show ‘Shark Therapy’.

And here is another part of the BBC show ‘Shark Therapy’: World freediving champion Tanya Streeter attempts to face her fear of sharks by swimming with a host of tiger sharks.

Write to your Members of the European Parliament and ask them to close the loopholes in the EU finning ban

This autumn Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have a unique opportunity to support shark conservation and provide much needed protection for these vulnerable species. We need to persuade them to sign a Written Declaration calling on the European Commission to deliver a proposal to completely prohibit the removal of shark fins on-board vessels and finally close the loopholes in the shark finning ban.

The Written Declaration will only be effective if a large number of MEPs from all EU countries sign on. MEPs as elected representatives listen to their constituents. We need your help to encourage them to sign on.

Link to campaign: European Shark Week 2010: Focus on Finning