Establish a Global Ban on Shark Finning

Petition Target: Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General

It's too barbaric to imagine, but it still happens. Fishermen catch a shark, slice off its fins, and then, cast it back into the water to die. This horrific practice is already prohibited in federal waters of the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Carribbean, but sharks need more protection from finning and other threats.

Your signature can encourage all countries to prepare and implement plans for shark conservation and management as recommended by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

This petition also implores these nations to ban the cruel, wasteful and destructive practice of shark finning in local and international waters. This practice wastes 95-99% of the animal and makes proper management extremely difficult.

Sharks play a critical role in ocean ecosystems. Their numbers are beginning to dwindle. Please help them today!!

Sign Now to encourage Ban Ki-Moon and the UN General Assembly to take action immediately to protect the shark populations across the globe and stop shark finning

Rare "Prehistoric" Shark Photographed Alive

Flaring the gills that give the species its name, a frilled shark swims at Japan's Awashima Marine Park on Sunday, January 21, 2007. Sightings of living frilled sharks are rare, because the fish generally remain thousands of feet beneath the water's surface.


Spotted by a fisher on January 21, this 5.3-foot (160-centimeter) shark was transferred to the marine park, where it was placed in a seawater pool.

"We think it may have come to the surface because it was sick, or else it was weakened because it was in shallow waters," a park official told the Reuters news service. But the truth may never be known, since the "living fossil" died hours after it was caught.

See these photos and more at National Geographic

Take a bet on global warming

You know it’s happening when a bookmaker comes up with a series of ‘global warming wagers’! Totesport is offering odds of a measly 25-1 only that a great white shark will be caught off the waters of the UK in 2007, believing that rising sea temperatures could attract the great white to British shores this year.

If it happens, let’s hope the Brit’s don’t develop the all sharks are bad attitude prevalent in many countries in our part of the world!

See full article at Science Daily.

Blow to Whale Conservation

The debate around whale conservation goes on and on. Most of us cannot understand that whaling can be justified on any level but of course life is not as simple as that. The politics of this global debate is extremely complex. Iceland made its position clear when stating its recent intent to resume commercial whaling by immediately slaughtering 3 fin whales (an endangered species). They intend to kill 6 more in addition to the 30 minke whales already taken.

Take a look at the Greenpeace whale tourism pledge – http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/stop-icelandic-whaling .

With the signatures already signed to this pledge, Greenpeace have calculated that the revenue to Iceland from whaling tourism could be worth over 10 times that of whaling slaughter.

What do you think? If you feel that Iceland’s decision to restart whaling is an unnecessary and backward step then let Iceland’s Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, know at postur@for.stjr.is

Lawsuit Filed to Protect World's Most Endangered Whale

From: SCUBA Diving News

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit to compel the Bush administration to protect the North Pacific Right Whale under the federal Endangered Species Act. The US Department of the Interior has proposed opening up areas in the Bering Sea frequented by the species to offshore oil development. Additionally, President Bush is considering lifting the presidential withdrawal that currently prohibits such development.

The North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica), once ranging from Baja California to Alaska, is the most endangered large whale in the world, with perhaps as few as 100 individuals remaining. Devastated by commercial whaling, North Pacific Right Whales now face the threat of oil and gas development in their critical habitat.

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