Tag: shark

As Shark Week started on July 28, restaurants across the US are contributing to the rapid decline in shark species by serving up soup made from shark fins, despite bans in 12 states and counting, the Animal Welfare Institute claimed. According to an online database maintained by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), about 200 restaurants across the country offer shark fin products.

According to a study conducted by the University of Exeter scientists, hundreds of sharks and rays have become tangled in plastic waste in the world's oceans. The study highlights that more than 1,000 species have been found entangled and it is said that the number is to be far higher.

Australia's Administrative Appeals Tribunal has ruled in support of Humane Society International (HSI) and ordered an end to the lethal culling of sharks in the Great Barrier Reef. They have mandated nine very important variations on the permit for 173 lethal drumlines within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

During the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species the participators did not agree for the protection of the blue shark, which is the most heavily fished shark globally. Blue Shark is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as near threatened globally.

With the departure of the M/Y Bob Barker from Port Gentil, Sea Shepherd announced conclusion of its Operation Albacore III, intended to protect Gabon’s sovereign waters from illegal fishing activities in cooperation with Gabonese Navy (Marine Nationale) and inspectors with the Gabonese fisheries enforcement agency (ANPA). 

The US Coast Guard medevaced a man who was bitten by a shark while diving near the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco, on October 23. The man sustained injuries to its arm, wrist and hand. A US Coast Guard helicopter crew transported the man to Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto in stable condition.

Australia's government of Queensland is set to implement legislation to criminalise close proximity to shark control equipment, to prevent any photography of lethal drumlines and shark nets. The news comes after a photo release of a baby humpback whale caught in a shark net on the Gold Coast on 5 October.

As part of the Operation Albacore III, Central African authorities seized a Senegalese-flagged long-liner over fishing a large quantity of blue sharks that are classified as 'near-threatened' by the IUCN, although the vessel was licensed to fish for 'tuna and similar species'.

The master of a Spanish-flagged fishing vessel was charged in court, after more than a tonne of shark fins were found onboard upon detention off Ireland' southwest coast. Meanwhile, a release bond of €335,000 was placed upon the vessel.

Humane Society International and the Australian Marine Conservation Society released footage depicting how sharks are killed as a result from Queensland’s Shark Control Program in the Great Barrier Reef. Both organisations call for an end to the use of lethal drumlines in the World Heritage-listed waters.