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

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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

The Shark Conservation Act is a proposed bill that aims to put an end to shark finning in U.S. waters and closes the loopholes that exist in previous shark finning legislation.

This bill is a necessary step in preventing fishermen from removing fins at sea and will make it illegal to have a fin that is not naturally attached to a shark carcass aboard any type of vessel. The bill will also require that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) identify and maintain a list of countries that target sharks during fishing activities across the globe in order to encourage other countries to stop shark finning.

To email your US Senators:
http://www.oceanfutures.org/action/sh…

People who do not live in the US can support the Act here:
http://www.oceanfutures.org/action/sh…