Governor Benigno R. Fitial signed the historic law today, recognizing that “sharks are one of the top predators in the marine food chain and play an important role in our ocean’s ecosystem. Sharks have characteristics that make them more vulnerable to overfishing than most fish.”

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.

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 17^th.

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.

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.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.

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.

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.

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.

"We like Shark fin so much ... I will eat as long as available in the market ... why push people not to eat ???? this is a freedom society ... we can do and eat anything we like .... stop this !!!"