The feud between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) flared up again Wednesday over Coburn’s objection to a bill protecting sharks.
The shark legislation, which deals with a prohibition on the harvesting of shark fins, was one of several bipartisan bills intended to protect wildlife that drew objections from Coburn on Wednesday.
Reid called the bills “issues of good moral conscience,” but Coburn objected that they were gifts to special interest groups that would widen the deficit.
The fight began when Reid asked for unanimous consent to approve the Crane Conservation Act, marine mammals rescue assistance legislation, the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act, the Shark Conservation Act and the Southern Sea Otter Recovery and Research Act. All of the bills have already passed the House.
“Today we have the opportunity to help a great number of species,” Reid said in an impassioned plea for the bills on Tuesday evening.
Reid noted the Shark Conservation Act would improve federal enforcement of an existing prohibition on the harvesting of shark fins.
“Because of a loophole in the existing law, animals are still caught, their fins are severed and the dismembered shark is thrown back in the ocean to die,” said Reid. “But they don’t die. They suffer a horrible and protracted death. All that cruelty for a bowl of soup.”
Coburn has clashed often with Reid during the 111th Congress, often throwing up objections to business the Democratic leader considers routine and slowing the pace of work.
+ + + “Days of sharks” in Troparium Hagenbeck in Hamburg on 9th and 10 October + + + signatures to the European parliamentarian + + +
Shark protection must continue + + +
It´s time to improve the finning ban
Every year in October the memebers of the Shark Alliance in Europe organize an actionweek für supports and all sharkfans, who want to learn more about sharks and their protection. It also offers everyone the opportunity to ask the policy makers to ensure the future wellbeing of sharks.
While the European Shark Week 2009 (ESW) there have been more then 300 events in 15 european countries organized and more than 93.000 people signed the petition, which was given to the spanish authorities in January 2010. This petition was an appeal to Spain and his opposition against an improvement of EU-finningban, so the EU can adopt efficient regulations.
I found two nice t-shirt against sharkfinning in the web. Parts of the proceed will be used to improve sharkfinning.
Here are the two shirts with link to order
Women’s No Finning Tee Black
30% of the purchase of this t-shirt will be donated directly to PangeaSeed, supporting their anti-shark finning campaign. Environmentally friendly water-based inks are used for the printing of this t-shirt.
It’s estimated that as many as a million sharks a year are killed just for their fins.
Shark-finning is a cruel practice. Sharks are caught on long lines, or in nets, regardless of size or species. The shark is often stabbed or clubbed, to be less of a threat to the fisherman. The shark’s fins are then cut off and the shark is thrown back into the water, alive, to be eaten by other fish as it sinks to the bottom.
Shark-finning has increased over the past decade for a number of reasons, including increasing demand for shark-fin soup and traditional cures, improved fishing technology and improved market economics, according to the conservation group Shark Water.
Shark fins go for big money. A single dried fin can fetch up to $300.
Every year, up to 73 million sharks are slaughtered for their fins, meat, cartilage, liver and skin. And 30% of shark species are threatened or near threatened with extinction.
In the Bahamas, sharks bring in ecotourism and are treasured members of the ecosystem. Yet even in this tropical paradise, shark populations are depleting at an alarming rate from overfishing bycatch and shark-finning.
Two Bahamians, dive master Cristina Zenato and conservationist Pedro Baranda, have joined forces with local Bahamian and international environmental groups including “The Bahamas Humane Society”, “The Bahamas National Trust”, EARTHCARE, Friends of the Environment, The Nature Conservancy, Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), reEarth and the Pew Environment Group to support shark conservation in the Bahamas.
Tell Bahamian authorities to enforce permanent protection for the sharks of the Bahamas before it’s too late.
Opfer von Haifischattacken haben sich in den USA öffentlich für den Schutz ihrer Angreifer stark gemacht. Das Umweltinstitut Pew Environment Group brachte in New York neun Menschen zusammen, die bei Begegnungen mit Haien im Meer Körperteile eingebüßt haben – und sich dennoch für den Schutz der bedrohten Tiere einsetzen.
“Ich will für die Rechte eines Tiers eintreten, das nicht selbst für sich eintreten kann”, sagte der australische Marinetaucher Paul de Gelder, der im vergangenen Jahr bei einer Hai-Attacke die rechte Hand und den rechten Fuß verloren hatte. Umweltexperten schätzen, dass jedes Jahr 73 Millionen Haie getötet werden – zumeist nur, um ihre Flossen abzuschneiden, die in Asien als Delikatesse gelten. “Wir dezimieren die Haipopulation nur für einige Teller Suppe”, kritisierte de Gelder. Fischer schneiden die Flosse oft bei lebendigem Leibe ab und werfen den Hai dann zurück ins Meer, wo er qualvoll verendet.
Auch die US-Bürgerin Debbie Salamone, der 2004 ein Hai beim Schwimmen in Florida die Achillessehne durchtrennt hatte, engagiert sich für die Tiere. “Ich war zunächst wirklich kein großer Freund der Haie”, sagte sie. “Ich plante meine Rache und wollte Haisteaks essen.” Mit dem Eintreten für den Artenschutz habe sie diese Gefühle inzwischen aber überwunden, sagte sie.
Der südafrikanische Rettungsschwimmer Achmat Hassiem, dem ein Hai den rechten Fuß abgebissen hatte, berichtete ebenfalls über seine schwierigen Erahrungen mit den Tieren. “Es war, als kämpfe man gegen einen Panzer”, sagte er über sein Zusammentreffen mit dem Hai. Er wolle dennoch nicht, dass seine Kinder “ins Museum gehen müssen, um zu sehen, was ein Hai ist”. Weltweit werden pro Jahr weniger als 70 Angriffe von Haien auf Menschen registriert.
Am 05.November 2010 findet bei Seastar eine Filmvorführung der besonderen Art statt.
Sharkproject Austria präsentiert den Film “Sharkwater”. Nach der Vorführung sind alle Teilnehmer zur Diskussionsrunde betreffend des Filmes eingeladen.
Beginn des Filmes: ca. 19.00 Uhr
Da die Vorführung kostenlos ist und keine Platzreservierung vorgenommen werden, rechtzeitiges Erscheinen wird daher empfohlen.
September 30th, 2010 
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