Shark Coalition

At the end of June, Coalition members Randall Arauz of PRETOMA, Jorge Ramirez of Iemanya and Susie Watts of HSI traveled to New York to attend a meeting of the UN Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS). The purpose of their trip was to test the waters in terms of delegates’ reactions to the idea of a global policy of landing all sharks with their fins attached to their bodies.

Jorge Ramirez in the UNICPOLOS meeting

Our Coalition team took with them some DVDs about shark finning, shark postcards carrying the "fins-attached" message and the Coalition statement on shark finning (see "shark finning" section). These were handed out to delegates and were well-received. A number of delegates expressed their support for the idea and others asked for more information.

The Costa Rican delegation made a strong intervention on the issue and urged delegates to discuss the matter seriously at the next meeting – in October/November this year – of the UN General Assembly. Their statement was endorsed by Venezuela and the IUCN, and a number of central American delegations expressed their support privately to Costa Rica.

The Coalition will continue to lend its full support to Costa Rica and its allies at key international meetings, including the UN General Assembly.