Protect The Sharks

Brussels (Belgium) – Environment and Health NGO’s recommendation: support amendment 541 about toxic mercury in fish, ENVI Committee report on the proposed regulation on food information to consumers.

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DOHA (Qatar); A U.N. wildlife meeting has rejected efforts to regulate the trade in overfished porbeagle sharks, reversing an earlier ruling at the conference and leaving none of the proposed shark species with protection.

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DOHA (Qatar) – Sharks were the big losers today at the 15th Conference of the Parties (CoP 15) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Doha.

“CITES Parties voted by the slimmest of margins to protect porbeagle sharks, but rejected all other shark proposals at this meeting,” said Dr. Ralf Sonntag, Director IFAW Germany. “An Appendix II listing would have given sharks a fighting chance against the devastation that shark finning is causing around the world.”

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Doha (Qatar) – Assistant Secretary Tom Strickland, head of the U.S. Delegation to the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), expressed disappointment that the Parties did not grant
protection to four species of sharks considered today at the meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The U.S. and Palau had introduced two proposals to list several species of hammerhead sharks and the oceanic whitetip shark under Appendix II to manage the international trade of these highly threatened species. The decisions were reached after intense discussion among the 175 nations represented at the Convention.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Good news for beachgoers: The number of shark attacks in the United States has declined, according to a University of Florida report released Monday.

The number of attacks reported in the U.S. dropped from 41 in 2008 to 28 in 2009, said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. Worldwide, the number of attacks stayed the about same, with 61 events in 2009 compared with 60 the previous year. Read more…

KARLSRUHE (Germany) – A tiny shark has German biologists scratching their heads. She’s producing offspring, despite having no male partner. Scientists have solved some parts of this reproduction puzzle, but questions still remain. Read more…

MANILA, Philippines – An international conservation group is calling for the prosecution of people responsible for the “butchery” of an 18-foot butanding (whale shark) on the shores of Tingloy town in Batangas, with the marine animal’s dorsal and pectoral fins cut off.  Read more…

MADRID (27.01.10): Representatives from the Shark Alliance, an international shark conservation coalition, today delivered to Spanish authorities a petition signed by over 90,000 citizens from 16 European countries urging Spain to en its opposition to improving the EU ban on finning ‐ cutting off a shark’s fins and discarding its body at sea – and lead the EU toward a more effective finning regulation. Read more…

GUANGZHOU (CHINA) – In Guangzhou we were supported in a very special way by Michael He, Cultural Officer of the Dutch Consulate in Guangzhou. He managed to organize, in just a very short time, an additional screening of GIMME A HUG including Q&A at the Jinan University in Guangzhou. Like in Beijing, the students in Guangzhou were also very interested to learn more about sharks and shark related topics. The Q&A lasted almost one and a half hour…

Michael, after translating all the questions and answers, was also getting interested and enthusiastic about protecting and conserving sharks. He showed GIMME A HUG even to colleagues of 15 other Consulates and gave them DVD’s to pass on the education for protecting sharks. Besides that, he also supports us by forwarding free DVD’s to schools and universities in Guangzhou to create awareness and a better understanding for sharks.
Michael, thank you very much for all your support!

Here you can find some photos of this event.

BEIJNG (CHINA) – Thanks to the generous support of the organizers of the “Chinese International Animal and Nature Film Festival“, a lecture and screening of GIMME A HUG was organized as part of the “Green Eyes” project at the “Yew Chung International School of Beijing“. The presentation was given by Geert Droppers. The school management, represented by their co-principal Mrs Christine Xu, the organizers, but especially the almost 200 children were very enthusiastic.

During the Q&A many interesting questions were asked; “what is the difference between male and female sharks? “, “Do sharks all have the same kind of tail?”, “Do all sharks have the same teeth?” and “what enemies does a shark have except other sharks and us, humans?”. Here you can find some photos of this very successful event. Read more…

We hereby like to express our gratitude to both, the organizers and the school management, for this invitation.