GREECE – European Shark Week 2009 just started and for the first time there is participation from Greece also. With friends and volunteers from Northern Greece we’ve organized two big events;
on October 14th and 18th, with purpose to inform people that most of shark species are threatened with extinction.
Most European shark populations are declining from overfishing. Unfortunately the EU ban on “finning” – slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the body at sea – is among the worlds weakest.
“ Shark soup? No thank you!!”
Why not? Because sharks managed to survive on this planet for more than 400 million years and it is unethical and wrong by all means in a couple of decade’s to extinct these magnificent predators by force, because some people like to have shark fins as a spice in their coup of soup. We stand up against this international trade of shark fins. An estimated 10,000 tons of shark fins are traded around the world every year and increasing by an estimated 5% per year. Mainland China is now the largest importer.
How Europeans evolve? Someone can say that Europeans doesn’t eat Shark Soup but European participation in the Hong Kong fin market has increased from negligible levels in the early 1990s to nearly a third of total declared imports…So we are all evolved!
European Shark Week 10-18 of October is a unique opportunity for people across Europe to demonstrate their support for shark conservation and effect change. By participating in the European Shark Week we ask you to help get more attention for the sharks!
This year, we’ll demand the governments for follow-up action under the Shark Plan, most importantly, improvements to the fining ban and quotas of zero for especially threatened shark species. You can help by signing the on-line petition, or you can meet us in person on
October 14th in Shark Bar in Thessaloniki
with film screening, digital shark photo exposition and shark happenings during a very pleasant night or on
October 18th in Chalkidiki
for an all day shark event with film screenings, a lecture about Sharks of Mediterranean and a dive dedicated to sharks!
