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SCUBA DIVING PAGE ONE :: WORLD NEWS :: ECO

New bill aims to ban shark finning in U.S. waters

by EVAN T. ALLARD @ CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network

WASHINGTON DC (10 Jan 2009) — A new bill aims to ban shark finning in all U.S. waters.

Representative Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), Chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans in the 110th Congress, introduced the "Shark Conservation Act of 2009," H.R 81.

The Shark Conservation Act of 2009 would ban the removal of shark fins at sea in all U.S. waters, close enforcement loopholes, encourage other nations to adopt shark conservation programs and establish a process that would lead to sanctions against countries that fail to protect endangered shark species.

Shark finning is a brutal, wasteful and unsustainable method of fishing in which fishermen catch sharks, slice off their fins and throw the animals back into the sea to slowly die.

While the global shark finning industry profits from the increasing demand in Asia, especially China, for shark fin soup, it has nearly wiped out many shark species (see CDNN's "ENDANGERED SPECIES - Sharks, Rays, Skates, Sawfish" table on this page).

Other threats to sharks include dive industry profiteers who destroy the natural defence mechanisms of sharks by manipulating them with bait to perform for thrill-seeking scuba diving tourists.

"We commend Chairwoman Bordallo for introducing the The Shark Conservation Act and urge the U.S. congress to pass the legislation without delay in order to protect one of the world's most magnificent yet endangered marine species," said Jason Goldberg, Assistant Director of Cyber Diver Society, the world's largest organization of activist divers.

"We also urge the dive industry to expel shark baiting and shark feeding dive tour operators who profit from the manipulation and harassment of sharks for thrill-seeking tourists," Goldberg added.

"If we cannot get our own house in order and genuinely embrace shark conservation by preventing foks in our own industry from exploiting and damaging these magnificent creatures for personal profit, then how can we expect anyone else, least of all finners, to take us seriously when we hypocritically call on them to protect sharks rather than exploit them for financial gain.

 

New bill aims to ban shark finning in U.S. waters
Fishermen and so-called "interactive" scuba diving operators are among the many threats to the survival of endangered shark species.

 

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    © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK

     

    ENDANGERED SPECIES - Sharks, Rays, Skates, Sawfish

    (Editors note: This is not a complete list)

    Name: Angular angel shark (Squatina guggenheim).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: western South Atlantic coastal waters from Southern Brazil to Northern Argentina.
    Reasons: bycatch by gillnet and bottom trawling fisheries.

    Name: Barndoor skate (Raja laevis).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: northwest Atlantic.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Other: has been extirpated from large parts of its range in Canadian Atlantic and New England coastal waters

    Name: Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Atlantic, Pacific, Australian and New Zealand coastal waters.
    Reasons: overfishing, bycatch.
    Other: some local populations have declined up to 80 percent.

    Name: Borneo shark (Carcharhinus borneensis).
    Status: critically endangered or already extinct.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Where: Pacific Asian coastal waters.

    Name: Common sawfish (Pristis pristis).
    Status: critically endangered or already extinct.
    Reasons: bycatch.
    Where: Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Seas.
    Other: once common in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, but is now extirpated from Europe waters and the Mediterranean along with all other sawfishes.

    Name: Dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: coastal waters worldwide.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Freshwater sawfish, Great-tooth sawfish (Pristis microdon ).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Indian Ocean and west Pacific coasts, lagoons and estuaries; freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
    Reasons: overfishing, habitat loss and degradation.

    Name: Ganges shark (Glyphis gangeticus).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Ganges-Hooghly river system, India and Pakistan.

    Name: Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: worldwide.

    Name: Green sawfish (Pristis zijsron).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Indian and west Pacific coastal waters and lower reaches of rivers.
    Reasons: overfishing, bycatch.

    Name: Grey nurse shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Australia.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Largetooth sawfish (Pristis perotteti).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Indian Ocean and west Pacific coasts, lagoons and estuaries; freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
    Reasons: overfishing, bycatch, habitat loss and degradation.

    Name: Night shark (Carcharhinus signatus).
    Status: endangered.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Pincushion ray (Urogymnus ukpam).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: coasts, lagoons and estuaries, and freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams of Congo, Gabon, and Nigeria.

    Name: Sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: worldwide.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Other: western Atlantic population has been reduced by 85-90% in just ten years by overfishing.

    Name: Sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Australia.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Silver shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Other: a freshwater shark.

    Name: Smalltooth sawfish, Wide sawfish (Pristis pectinata).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts, lagoons, and estuaries, and freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
    Reasons: overfishing and loss of habitat.
    Other: wholly or nearly extirpated from large areas of its former range in the North Atlantic (Mediterranean, US Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico) and Southwest Atlantic coast.

    Name: Smoothback angel shark (Squatina occulta).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: western south Atlantic shelf waters (Brazil to Uruaguay.
    Reasons: bycatch by gillnet and bottom trawling fisheries.

    Name: Speartooth shark (Glyphis glyphis).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Indo-Pacific coastal waters.
    Reasons: development, overfishing and habitat destruction.

    Name: Spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: temperate oceans worldwide.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Whale shark (Rhincodon typus).
    Status: endangered.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Whitefin topeshark (Hemitriakis leucoperiptera).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Philippine coastal waters.
    Reasons: overfishing.

     

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