Written by Shark Savers
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Wednesday, 26 January 2011 14:16 |
Shark Savers is pleased to announce the enhancement of its Board of Directors and Advisory Board. We welcome several extraordinary individuals who have inspired millions with their knowledge and images of, and passion for, the oceans and sharks. Joining our Board of Directors are Sue Chen, Eric Cheng, Martha Watkins Gilkes, and Douglas Seifert. Joining our Advisory Board are Jim Abernethy, Michele Hall, and Howard Hall. Meet our new Board members.
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Tuesday, 25 January 2011 14:31 |
We need your help to support a new bill in Guam's legislature to ban shark fin trade. Shark Savers has teamed with WildAid and Shark Defenders to support legislation to ban the shark fin trade and to broadly protect sharks and mantas in CNMI, Guam and throughout the Pacific.
Please write a letter or email to support this new bill on or before January 30, 2011. You can email your letter to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. Shark Defenders will introduce our collective testimony at an upcoming hearing.
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Written by Shark Savers and WildAid
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Sunday, 12 December 2010 17:04 |
Press Release
WildAid (www.wildaid.org) and Shark Savers (www.sharksavers.org), two international conservation organizations working to protect sharks from over-fishing, applaud the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Senate’s vote to outlaw the shark fin trade.
The bill was originally introduced by Representative Diego Tenorio Benavente into the CNMI House of Representatives, where it was approved on November 17th.
The landmark bill recognizes sharks to be “an essential element of the ocean’s ecosystem” because of their role as apex predator of the sea. It seeks to stop the severe over-fishing of sharks that occurs worldwide in order to feed the status-driven demand for shark fin soup.
The bill makes it “unlawful for any person to possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute shark fins in the CNMI”. The bill is similar in that regard to one recently passed in the State of Hawaii. If signed into law, the CNMI will join another Pacific island nation, Palau, which has also taken a bold stand to protect its nation’s sharks.
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Written by Shark Savers
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Friday, 03 December 2010 18:34 |
We're pleased to announce the launch of the next stage of Shark Fin Soup campaign to persuade consumers to stop eating the soup.
Beginning in 2009, Shark Savers teamed with WildAid and their spokesperson, Yao Ming, one of China’s biggest and most influential stars to produce and distribute a television public service announcement (PSA), 1,000 bus stop and video billboards. We also produced an online campaign in China.
New for 2011, Shark Savers has create an innovative media and grassroots campaign called I Pledge. In I Pledge, former consumers of shark fin soup share their reasons with members of their communitiy why they have stopped eating shark fin soup. These citizens are compelling and persuasive, encouraging others to join them.
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Written by Shark Savers
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Wednesday, 01 December 2010 13:49 |
Every year, dive industry professionals from around the world gather to participate in the world's largest dive industry trade show -- DEMA (Dive Equipment Manufacturers Assn). This year's DEMA show - Nov. 17- 20 was held in Las Vegas and hosted by the Las Vegas Hilton. Most exhibitors and attendees, including Shark Savers, stayed at the LV Hilton and many industry meetings, parties and awards ceremonies were held there.
Then to our horror, we learned that one of the restaurants in our host hotel was offering shark fin soup and three other shark fin dishes on their menu. Several outraged divers came by the Shark Savers booth to inform us about this. While we are painfully aware that shark fin soup is legal just about everywhere and is not uncommon in Chinese restaurants, its proximity to one of the great gatherings of ocean lovers was more than we could ignore.
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Written by Shark Savers
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Monday, 29 November 2010 12:36 |
A question has been raised as to whether Shark Sanctuaries lock out local fishermen for the pleasure of divers and conservationists, while protecting sharks. Local villages and their people will be such an important element of the success of the Raja Ampat Shark Sanctuary that we feel it important to clarify its relationship to the surrounding communities.
The goal of the Raja Ampat Shark Sanctuary is to protect sharks and other wildlife. In order to do that effectively, we believe the program needs:
- The active participation of the local communities to ensure they are invested in the outcome. Local villagers are not locked out, but are locked-in.
- To utilize an appropriate level of underwater ecotourism (diving) as a means to bring jobs to the communities and money to enforcement, while not undermining the conservation goals.
Without both, it's very hard to make a Shark Sanctuary a sustainable, viable solution and the sharks will be gone in short order.
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Written by Shark Savers
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Monday, 15 November 2010 19:31 |
Press Release
Misool Eco Resort and Shark Savers announced today that a Shark Sanctuary has been declared for the entire 17,760 square miles of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Bupati Drs Marcus Wanma, the Regent of Raja Ampat, made this historic declaration, demonstrating leadership in marine conservation.
The Raja Ampat Shark Sanctuary provides full protection for sharks, manta rays, mobulas, dugongs, and turtles. Also prohibited are highly destructive practices including reef bombing and the aquarium fish trade. The Shark Sanctuary is the first of its kind in Indonesia, the largest island archipelago in the world.
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Written by Shark Savers
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Monday, 15 November 2010 07:47 |
We are excited to announce that the Regent of Raja Ampat, Indonesia, Bupati Drs Marcus Wanma, has declared a Shark Sanctuary for the entire 17,760 square mile area of Raja Ampat. This declaration is a direct response to the proposal presented by Shark Savers and our partner, Misool Eco Resort.
The Bupati has declared that, in Raja Ampat, it is now:
- Forbidden to catch fish with poison, bombs etc;
- Forbidden to catch fish using a compressor, purse seine,“Muroami” and “bubu”
- Forbidden to catch sharks, manta rays, mobulas, live reef fish for the aquarium trade, dugongs and turtles.
- Forbidden to catch any fish at all in designated tourism and conservation areas.
This is an important milestone, as Raja Ampat enjoys the highest marine biodiversity level on the planet with 1397 species of fish and over 600 species of coral recorded. It has also been the scene of destructive overfishing that has severely threatened sharks, mantas, and other vulnerable species.
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Written by Shark Savers
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Wednesday, 06 October 2010 11:23 |
Press Release
Aggressor Fleet (www.aggressor.com), one of the largest LiveAboard companies in the world, has announced they will sponsor Shark Savers (www.sharksavers.org), a leading international shark conservation organization. The Aggressor contribution will support Shark Savers’ program to create Shark Sanctuaries to protect sharks in critical locations throughout the world.
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Written by Shark Savers
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Monday, 30 August 2010 15:44 |
Shark Savers is working with the Misool Eco Resort and other tourism companies and NGOs to create a large Shark Sanctuary in Raja Ampat. One component of this effort is our petition in support of the Shark Sanctuary. The purpose of the petition effort is to show broad international support for the Shark Sanctuary, particularly among the very people who are likely to visit Raja Ampat as a result. To date, we have assembled the signatures of over 7,000 individuals, and over 250 NGOs and tourism companies from around the world. This is a great outpouring of attention and support.
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