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Global Shark Conservation Sanctuaries for a Predator in Peril

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Global Shark Conservation Sanctuaries for a Predator in Peril GLOBAL SHARK CONSERVATION SANCTUARIES FOR A PREDATOR IN PERIL The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public, and stimulate civic life. www.PewTrusts.org THE OPPORTUNITY Swift, graceful, mysterious, superbly adapted of animals on Earth. Ironically, however, sharks. Recognizing this opportunity, The to their environment, sharks have been the even though people are the principal threat Pew Charitable Trusts initiated a campaign apex predators of the oceans since long to sharks, they also are their greatest hope. to reverse the decline of shark populations before dinosaurs roamed the planet. For worldwide. some 400 million years, they have been The fate of sharks has broad implications. the unchallenged rulers of the deeps and There is increasing evidence that the loss At the core of Pew’s shark conservation shallows of the marine world. of sharks may have a ripple effect on the efforts is its work to establish sanctuaries in vitality of food webs in many areas of the the waters of key countries and stop the No longer. They are falling victim to a fiercer global ocean. “They are our canary in the coal overfishing of sharks in places where predator that is threatening to end their mine of the oceans,” said Dr. Boris Worm, a they still stand a chance to rebound. Shark long reign and driving them to the edge of professor of marine biology at Dalhousie sanctuaries provide full protections for sharks extinction. That predator is us—people. In University in Nova Scotia. in a country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), recent decades, human appetites, technology, the area of ocean that extends up to 200 economics, and greed have mounted a Governments around the world are begin- miles from shore. ferocious assault on sharks, an assault that ning to recognize the value of healthy shark is bringing their numbers crashing down populations. Some rely on the dollars sharks As the continued expansion of industrial throughout the world’s oceans. can bring through dive tourism; some see fishing leaves few places in our oceans sharks as culturally significant to legend untouched, now is the time to protect these Killed for their fins, for their flesh, for their and tradition. Others are acknowledging last remaining places where sharks can still skin and other body parts; killed for sport that just as a healthy savanna needs its rule their marine world. and for souvenirs; killed by accident, sharks top predators to weed out the weak and —Jill Hepp are now among the most threatened groups infirm, so vibrant marine systems need director, Pew global shark conservation 1 ! NORTH ATLANTIC NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN OCEAN Gulf of Mexico The Bahamas Northern Philippine Mariana Islands Arabian Sea South Honduras Caribbean Sea Sea China Guam GLOBAL SHARK CONSERVATION Sea Palau Marshall Islands SANCTUARIES FOR A PREDATOR IN PERIL Equator Maldives Cook The Opportunity 1 Tokelau Islands Shark Sanctuaries 2 Palau 4 French Polynesia American Samoa Maldives 6 Honduras 8 SOUTH ATLANTIC INDIAN OCEAN OCEAN The Bahamas 10 Marshall Islands 12 SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN French Polynesia 14 Cook Islands 16 Shark Sanctuaries Shark Trade Bans SOUTHERN OCEAN Tasman U.S. Pacific Territories 18 Scotia Sea Sea The Future: Global Shark Sanctuaries 20 Shark sanctuaries (blue dots) are areas with clear regulations that protect sharks from commercial fishing in a country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Since 2009, Pew’s initiatives have been instrumental in securing 11.4 million square kilometers (4.4 million square miles) of shark sanctuaries around theAntarctica world. Pew has also helped establish areas that ban the trade of shark fins (green dots). The New Zealand territory of Antarctica Tokelau also declared its entire EEZ a shark sanctuary in 2011. 2 3 PALAU Lying southeast of the Philippines in the west- Palau, with approximately 130 species of In September 2009, before the U.N. General ern Pacific Ocean, Palau is an archipelago shark, is regarded as one of the top dive Assembly, President Johnson Toribiong of more than 586 islands and more than destinations in the world. The largest draw declared Palau’s full EEZ a shark sanctuary, 600,000 square kilometers (230,000 square for tourists has always been the schools of closing its waters to all forms of commercial miles) of ocean, an area equal to the reef sharks attracted to upwelling nutrients shark fishing. The declaration was the first to size of France. The Rock Islands Southern along the outer edge of reefs. A study by the protect all species of shark in a country’s Lagoon in the state of Koror is recognized Australian Institute of Marine Science found waters, and it became a model for all shark as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The high that divers spend US$18 million a year to see sanctuaries created in subsequent years. biological diversity of the area, including at Palau’s sharks, accounting for 8 percent of The Rock Islands of Palau, also called Chelbacheb, least 13 shark species, is renowned for its the country’s gross domestic product. formed millions of years ago from volcanic eruptions. exceptional conservation value. Photo: Norbert Wu/MindenPictures.com 4 5 MALDIVES The Maldives, which has more than 1,000 of Biosphere Reserve as it contains some of least 100 times more alive at a dive site than coral islands grouped among 26 atolls, lies in the richest waters of the atolls. Numerous dead on a fishing boat. In March 2010, the the Indian Ocean. Its ocean waters extend reefs are home to a high diversity of coral Maldives established the first shark sanctuary more than 900,000 square kilometers and marine species. Hanifaru Bay is known in the Indian Ocean. The sanctuary helped (almost 350,000 square miles), an area greater for the seasonal gatherings of whale sharks to protect the tourism industry by ending than the size of France and Italy combined. and manta rays, attracting tourists from commercial fishing for all shark species in More than 30 species of shark, including the around the world. Maldivian waters. The protections also include whale shark, are found off the Maldives. a ban on the import and export of sharks. The country’s Ministry of Fisheries and A diver swims beneath a whale shark, the world’s largest In the west atoll chain of the Maldives, Baa Agriculture found that as early as 1993, gray fish, in the waters of the Maldives. Atoll is a designated UNESCO World Network reef sharks were estimated to be worth at Photo: Mark Strickland/SeaPics.com 6 7 HONDURAS Honduras, located in Central America, is the Caribbean coast of Honduras are the Americas. With the sanctuary, Honduras also bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Bay Islands of Roatan, Utila, and Guanaja. bans the possession, sale, import, and ex- Nicaragua. With coastlines on both the Shark diving is popular in these areas, and port of sharks and shark products. One year Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, Honduras Utila is known for its annual whale shark after the sanctuary was created, Honduras has an EEZ of more than 240,000 square congregations. demonstrated successful enforcement of kilometers (92,000 square miles), an area its shark protections with the burning of approximately the size of the United Kingdom. In June 2011, President Porfirio Lobo Sosa hundreds of confiscated shark fins. signed legislation establishing full shark The southern end of the Mesoamerican protections in Honduran waters, making Barrier Reef, the second-largest barrier reef permanent the country’s 2010 moratorium in the world, extends into Honduran waters on shark fishing. This was the first shark A guard stands over hundreds of illegal shark fins and is home to more than 500 species of sanctuary to include both a Pacific and confiscated by Honduran authorities in 2012. Photo: Miguel Ángel de la Cueva/International fish, including 40 species of shark. Off Caribbean coastline, as well as the first in the League of Conservation Photographers 8 9 THE BAHAMAS The Bahamas, a Caribbean archipelago In 2010, Pew partnered with The Bahamas the commercial fishing of sharks along with off the coast of Florida, is made up of 700 National Trust, a nonprofit organization, to the sale, import, and export of parts and islands and 2,400 cays with a span of ocean advocate for permanent shark protections products. totaling more than 629,000 square kilometers in the waters surrounding this tropical (240,000 square miles), an area similar in size archipelago. Pew developed a major outreach After the sanctuary announcement, Pew to Texas. Due to a ban on longline fishing gear effort that included school events, public organized a celebratory film tour featuring in the 1990s, The Bahamas is one of the few meetings, and visits from renowned marine “Sanctuary: The Last Stand for Sharks.” This locations in the Caribbean where relatively conservationist Pierre-Yves Cousteau, short documentary, directed and produced healthy populations of sharks remain. As a scientist and artist Guy Harvey, and by John Weller and Shawn Heinrichs, paints result, the country is the world’s top destina- “Sherman’s Lagoon” cartoonist Jim Toomey. a picture of the global threats faced by sharks tion for snorkeling and diving with sharks and More than 5,000 Bahamians signed a petition, and recent protections established in The claims the mantle of “Shark Diving Capital and hundreds of students drew their favorite Bahamas. The campaign also created an ed- of the World.” Shark-related tourism has shark to show the government their support ucational manual on sharks for schools and contributed more than US$800 million to the for the shark sanctuary.
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