Shark Coalition

More people are taking a stand on what they eat, but where do they draw the line between political correctness and politeness?

By Sandra Leong

Originally posted on the Sunday Times on 8/29 /10

Whenever Olivia Choong receives an invitation to a wedding, she makes it a point to ask if shark’s fin soup is being served. If it is, she skips the occasion.

Both a vegetarian and an anti-shark’s fin advocate, she made an exception earlier this year when a persuasive bride-to-be begged her to ease up on her self-imposed ban. But she felt torn.

‘In the two weeks that led up to the wedding, all the voices inside my head were saying ‘don’t go’,’ she says.

In the end, she presented the bridal couple with a special ‘hongbao’ at the dinner. Designed by LoveSharks.sg, a local anti-shark’s fin group, a message on it urges diners to boycott the delicacy.

(Read full article here)

From 6th-8th September 2010, Costa Rica is hosting a workshop to discuss the technical aspects of landing sharks with their fins naturally attached. Delegates from all the coastal States of Central and South America have been invited.

The Coalition has for years been advising that the only way to ensure that sharks are not finned is to require that they are landed with their fins naturally attached, either fully or partially, to their bodies. Other ways of enforcing finning bans, such as the 5% rule, have been shown not to work.

At the FAO Committee on Fisheries meeting last year, Costa Rica requested that a workshop be convened under the auspices of the FAO, but unfortunately the FAO said that it was not able to fund a workshop. And so, supported by Coalition member HSI and by the Pew Environment Group, INCOPESCA, the Costa Rican Fisheries Agency, has decided to go ahead and convene its own workshop.

Parts of the workshop, in particular a visit to the docks to see sharks being landed with their fins-attached, will be filmed, so that delegates from fishing nations around the world will have a chance to view the process at screenings of the film at international meetings in the coming 12 months. Costa Rica, which enacted “fins-attached” regulations five years ago, is hoping to persuade the rest of the world that it is the best option for ending the barbaric and wasteful practice of shark finning. Potentially, it could save the lives of millions of sharks.

We will report back on the outcome of the workshop later in the year.

Originally posted on nytimes.com on 8/18/10

HONG KONG (AP) — When Steven Leung and Sylvia Cheung celebrated their nuptials in this southern Chinese financial center recently, they lavished their guests with one sumptuous dish after another — bird nest soup, lobster, abalone.

One traditional dish, however, was missing from the 13-course Cantonese banquet. The newlyweds chose not to serve shark fin soup.

”I saw the cruelty in shark slaughtering in online videos. The way the fish is dumped back into the water — it is just inhumane,” Leung said, referring to the practice of hacking off the fins of sharks, then setting them free.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted on lahora.com.ec on 8/16/10

The government informed on Monday that the Rosa 1 fishing boat, with a Costa Rican flag, was seized by the Ecuadorian Navy after being located within the Galápagos marine reserve, 1,000 km from the coast. 

It was informed that the boat was discovered last Wednesday while navigating unauthorized and carrying an estimated 75 sharks, whose fins had been removed, aboard.

The Galápagos marine reserve is included among UNESCO’s list of Natural World Heritage, and the archipelago was removed from an “endangered” list in which it was included in July 2007 in the face of the devastating effects of overfishing.

Originally posted on thedailyherald.com on 8/12/10

PHILIPSBURG–A group of local shark fishermen claim they fish for sharks for the benefit of research by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Following an article that appeared in this paper in which St. Maarten Nature Foundation condemned shark-hunting, the shark fishermen came forward with their take on the situation. According to them, the sharks are caught, tagged and released back into the water.

However, St. Maarten Nature Foundation Manager Tadzio Bervoets points out that in the video that surfaced on video-sharing Website YouTube, the fish were not tagged and no tags were visible in the photographs.

(Read full article here)

By Krista Mahr

Originally posted on time.com on 8/9/10

Toxic algal blooms can alter shark brains, making them hyperexcited and in some cases, killing the animals, new research shows.

By Jennifer Viegas

Originally posted on discovery.com on 8/6/10

Toxins produced by red tide events can alter shark brains, resulting in “hyperexcitability” and even death, according to a new study that will appear in the September issue of the journal Aquatic Toxicology. 

The study is the first to document how brevetoxins, which are brain-changing compounds synthesized by some harmful algal blooms, affect a free-ranging marine species. In this case, researchers focused on lemon sharks, but they believe many other types of sharks could fall victim to the toxins. 

(Read full article here)

Demand for shark fin soup in Asia has been blamed for the illegal killing of nearly 300,000 sharks off Brazil, an environmental group has alleged.

Originally posted on bbc.co.uk on 8/3/10

The Environmental Justice Institute in Brazil has accused a seafood exporter (Siglo do Brasil Comercio) of illegally killing nearly 300,000 sharks.

It is suing for what it says is massive damage to the marine ecosystem.

It alleges that many of the sharks were thrown back into the sea after their fins were taken for clandestine export.

(Read full article here)

By Matt Rand

Originally posted on CNN.com on 8/4/10

Few members of the animal kingdom have grabbed our imagination as much as sharks. From 1975’s summer blockbuster “Jaws,” to 2004’s animated film “Shark Tale,” these marvels of the deep have been a staple in U.S. pop culture — a trend that continues as viewers this week watch the Discovery Channel’s latest edition of “Shark Week.”

Yet even though they have earned a reputation as fierce predators, in reality it is sharks that are the hunted. Unless we act soon, re-runs on cable TV may be among the few places sharks can be seen.

(Read full article here)

Originally posted on the SeaWeb website

Randall Arauz has been an avid shark and turtle conservationist for more than a decade. As President and founder of the nonprofit organization PRETOMA (Programa Restauración de Tortugas Marinas), Arauz’s work in Cost Rica has raised international awareness about the practice of shark finning, or cutting of the fins of sharks while they are still alive and throwing them back into the ocean. His efforts have led to the implementation of fins-on laws, which require any shark fished in Costa Rica to have its fins still attached when landed.

As one of the world’s leading voices against shark finning, Randall recently earned the Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition of his achievements in conservation. SeaWeb spoke with him about his ongoing efforts to stop shark finning and to encourage sound management practices of these top predators that are essential to marine ecosystems.

(Read full article here)