Protecting Sharks - Shark Protection Organizations around the world

PROTECTING SHARKS - ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVISTS

Shark Protection is a vitally important cause if we wish to maintain a healthy balance in the world's oceans. There are many organizations that have picked up the torch. Some fight globally to limit the effects of commercial shark finning while others are concentrated on protecting sharks in a specific region where over-fishing and environmental degeneration are causing their numbers to plummet dangerously.

This area of Elasmodiver is designed to introduce the shark charities and organizations that are working (usually with little or no funding) to counter the pressure that sharks and rays are under. Each page ends (where possible) with a link directly to the organization's sign up page and /or homepage.

Supporting these shark protection organizations doesn't have to be a time consuming or expensive proposition (unless you want it to be). Often it is simply a matter of signing a petition or agreeing to copy and paste an email to government officials, but the results that you and others can jointly achieve by these small actions can be significant.

Big fishing has big money and money talks. Large fishing consortiums are able to retain professional lobbyists whose job it is to wine, dine, schmooze with, and coerce decision makers into passing legislation in favor of commercial fisheries (which is generally against the best interests of shark populations. Sometimes the only way to go head to head with these companies is by raising an equal amount of money to spearhead a campaign in favor of stricter legislation protecting sharks.

Not all Shark Champions fight with the pen. If you prefer to support a more hands on approach then there are organizations out there like Sea Shepherd that put themselves in harms way because sometimes that is the only way to stop the carnage.

Some organizations are more fiscally responsible than others, some have bigger teeth, and some work purely to educate the masses in the hope that future generations will be more conscious of the plight of sharks, but all of the organizations listed here do more good than harm and whoever you choose to support, the sharks will benefit.

If you would like your organization to be featured on this page please contact elasmodiver.

SharkSafeNetwork

The Shark Safe Network provides a framework to combine and focus the efforts of committed individuals and shark conservation groups towards specific shark conservation campaigns. If you have a passion to protect sharks, Shark Safe Network helps you to get involved and make a difference - by participating in a current campaign or by launching your own campaign in your community.

Shark Safe Network provides the information, tools, raw materials and support. You provide the passion!!

The goal of every Shark Safe Network campaign is to reduce and ultimately eliminate wasteful and unsustainable activities and products that threaten sharks' survival. Shark Safe Network invites and welcomes participation from any and all organizations and individuals, provided that all campaigns are conducted according the Shark Safe Network campaign principles.

And we always keep in mind that helping sharks = helping people. When you consider any of the issues that threaten sharks today, there is also a corresponding negative impact on humans and the planet.

Shark Safe Network is all about getting involved and doing something that counts. Join the Shark Safe Network and you will make a difference!

http://www.sharktrust.org

The Shark Trust was established in 1997 to study, protect, and manage the elasmobranch species found in UK waters and internationally. It is a member of the European Elasmobranch Association and works with other EEA organizations to counter the enormous fishing pressure that European shark and ray stocks are under.

The Shark Trust's mandate includes:

Introducing effective management on a regional basis to regulate shark and ray fisheries and ensure that they are sustainable.
Reducing shark and ray bycatch and mortality in other fisheries.
Increasing research efforts on the biology of sharks and rays and their fisheries, including the promotion of a collaborative tag and release program.
Improving records of catches, landings, and international trade in species of sharks and rays.
Improving management of critical habitats, including nursery grounds, under threat.
Increasing the amount of information available to the public and decision makers.

The Shark Trust encourages scientists, divers, fishermen, anglers, and the general public to join the growing number of ST members that currently lend their support.

Your membership in The Shark Trust adds to the pressure that it is able to be put on governing and regulatory agencies, and helps spread awareness on the plight of sharks and rays in general.

Subscription to The Shark Trust carries no obligation on your part unless you wish it to. However, if you would like to help educate or raise funds your added contribution will be most welcome.

Shark Trust members receive the trust's magazine/newsletter 'Shark Focus' 3 times per year. This is a glossy publication that chronicles the latest work of the trust and has articles on a variety of shark and ray subjects. Upon joining the trust you will also receive i.d. posters of British shark and ray species and other Shark Trust goodies.

The Shark Trust also hosts a highly informative website with sections on all aspects of sharks and rays. The site also contains a good image database of elasmobranch species and an active and well moderated forum for anyone wishing to talk sharks.

http://www.seashepherd.org

Sea Shepherd is best known for its frontline work protecting marine mammals but its broader mandate is to protect all ocean creatures. Styled on the more widely publicized organization Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd continued to grow teeth where Greenpeace lost them through inactivity. Sea Shepherd's founder Captain Paul Watson has a reputation for pursuing illegal whalers and longliners, harassing seal cullers, organizing rallies, and generally irritating governments that would rather turn a blind eye, and infuriating fishing consortiums who would rather go about their illegal and often cruel practices unnoticed.

Sea Shepherd's flag ship The Farley Mowat has harassed shark fishing boats in Costa Rican waters and sent sailors sprawling over their decks after being hit by The Marley Mowat's water cannons.

Captain Watson also manages to fit a lecture circuit into his busy schedule, during which he educates anyone willing to listen on the plight of whales, dolphins, seals, and sharks.

Sea Shepherd's second vessel is on permanent patrol in the Galapagos area where Park Rangers are virtually helpless against the Ecuadorian fishing boats that brazenly ignore the protection afforded to the park by its world heritage site status. Even with Sea Shepherd's vigilant patrols the rangers are so out numbered that fishermen have an almost unimpeded run of the islands and the Galapagos Sharks that once schooled in vast numbers around Darwin Island have all but vanished.

This kind of hard line activism is not for everyone. The Sea Shepherd crew have been deported, locked up, threatened, and roughed up on many occasions. Violent confrontations at sea may not fit with your particular code of behavior or ethics but what makes you more uncomfortable: sponsoring Sea Shepherd's activities that achieve direct results in the protection of endangered creatures, or lobbying deaf government officials while the wholesale slaughter of our oceans sharks and whales continues unchallenged?

If Sea Shepherd seems like a worthwhile organization with which to take a stand, you can help them in a variety of ways. Joining Sea Shepherd with a modest contribution, helps with the provisioning, fueling, and maintenance of their ships. As a member you may also have the chance to sign on as a volunteer for a tour of duty on one of their campaigns. On their website they list what skills they are looking for in new crew members but they also take unskilled deckhands that are willing to work hard.

http://whitesharktrust.org

The South African based White Shark Trust is "a non-profit organization founded in 2002 to promote and conduct research, education and conservation projects on the endangered Great White Shark"

It is the brain child of Michael Scholl (founder and trustee) who has been conducting research on Great White Sharks since 1997.

The goals of the White Shark Trust are as follows:

To establish a fund in the Republic of South Africa for the purpose of receiving grants and donations from international sources as well as sources within the Republic of South Africa;
To manage and disburse such funds in the furtherance of the objectives of the Trust;
To promote dialogue between various research, conservation, education and Government bodies concerned with management, research, conservation and education concerning the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias);
To assist in providing relevant advice on the management of the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias);
To obtain the support for the objectives of the White Shark Trust from local residents living around concentration hotspots for the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), including Mossel Bay, Dyer Island / Gansbaai and False Bay in particular;
To obtain the support for the objectives of the Trust from the established tourism industry involved with the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) located at Mossel Bay, Dyer Island / Gansbaai and False Bay in particular;
To ensure that effective action is taken in all matters affecting the welfare and preservation of the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias);
To promote educational opportunities for the general public, schools and the tourism industry;
To conduct and support scientific research projects and field expeditions with regards to the Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias)."

In connection with other like-minded South African organizations, the work of the White Shark Trust is of primary importance in order to better understand the critical role that White Sharks play in balancing the marine environment. Without their joint efforts we are unable to identify the need for better shark protection.

http://SharkAlliance.org

The Shark Alliance was formed in 2006 in an attempt to streamline the efforts of NGOs involved in shark conservation. The Alliance is able to utilize the manpower, resources, and combined knowledge of its member organizations to more effectively lobby for sustainable European and global shark fishing limits. Members of the Shark Alliance include The Shark Trust, the European Elasmobranch Association, and The Ocean Concervancy, among others.

In its own words:

The Shark Alliance is a not-for-profit coalition of non-governmental organizations dedicated to restoring and conserving shark populations by improving European fishing policy. Because of the influence of Europe in global fisheries and the importance of sharks in ocean ecosystems, these efforts have the potential to enhance the health of the marine environment in Europe and around the world.

The mission of the Shark Alliance is two-fold: To close loopholes in European policy regarding the wasteful and unsustainable practice of shark finning; To secure responsible, science-based shark fishing limits for long-term sustainability and ecosystem health.

Sharks have evolved over 400 million years and play a critical role in ocean ecosystems. In common with land predators such as lions and wolves, sharks keep other marine populations in check and help maintain the balance of life in the sea. Today, primarily because of overfishing sharks are among the oceans’ most threatened animals. Tens of millions of sharks are killed each year, either intentionally or as bycatch in commercial and recreational fisheries. Ongoing assessment of the status of European sharks (and closely-related rays) by the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) has led to the classification of roughly one third of evaluated species as threatened (either Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable), with another 16 per cent at risk of becoming so in the near future. Sharks generally grow slowly, mature late and produce few young. Shark populations are therefore especially vulnerable to overexploitation and slow to recover once depleted. The loss of these important predators is predicted to have negative effects on many other species in the sea. Unfortunately, however, misinformation and fear all too often impede the public support required to ensure sharks receive management priority and conservation actions. Unlike many countries that fail to conserve sharks, Europe does not lack the resources to restrict fishing. Despite immediate threats facing sharks there are few European limits on shark fishing, and quotas are routinely set far in excess of actual catches. In 2003, the EU adopted a ban on shark finning (the wasteful practice of slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the carcass at sea), but at the same time allowed glaring loopholes that render the ban all but meaningless. For instance, shark fishermen are allowed to land shark carcasses and fins separately, making it all but impossible to tell how many sharks have been processed on board and how many were subjected to shark finning. Meanwhile, the fin to carcass ratio (the means of checking that the number of fins corresponds to the number of carcasses – after sea processing – is within the ban’s limits) is the highest and therefore the most lenient in the world. Europe is home to the some of the world’s largest fishing fleets while its powerful fisheries officials exert influence on international fishing restrictions in many regions of the globe. Poor European shark policies, therefore, pose threats not only to shark populations in European waters but also to those around the world. If fisheries are managed carefully, sharks can provide a steady source of food and recreation and help keep the oceans in balance. The Shark Alliance is dedicated to ensuring that these valuable yet vulnerable animals survive and thrive for the benefit of ocean ecosystems and the people that depend on them.

More Shark Protection Organizations will be added as time permits.