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French Former Champion Bodyboarder Missing

SAINT-PAUL, Reunion Island -- Mathieu Schiller, age 38, former champion bodyboarder, was reported missing and presumed dead after being attacked by a shark off the island of Reunion. The latest attack is the second deadly shark encounter at Boucan-Canot, a top tourist beach on the island, and fourth overall off Reunion since the beginning of the year.

Schiller, the head of a surf school, was attacked in the mid-afternoon while he was in the water with several other surfers. Local police said a red flag was present at the time of the attack, warning bathers to stay out of the water.

Witnesses to the attack managed to put the victim's body back on his board, but a wave swept it off. "The attack was devastating", said one witness. Shortly after the attack, rescuers searched the area with boats, jet-skis and a helicopter, but the victim was not found. "There is little hope that he is alive", commented one of the authorities on the scene.

The shark attack is the fourth occurrence since the beginning of the year on the island, the second fatal, said the police. Local authorities met after the attack and announced "immediate steps to prevent further tragedies." Authorities announced a ban of water sports within 300 meters of a posted red flag. The local authorities also suggested the removal of all tiger, bull, mako sharks from the area.

by Underwatertimes.com News Service - September 20, 2011

Just 4 Percent....

Image via Wikipedia

PALO ALTO, California -- Preserving just 4 percent of the ocean could protect crucial habitat for the vast majority of marine mammal species, from sea otters to blue whales, according to researchers at Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Their findings were published in the Aug. 16 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Of the 129 species of marine mammals on Earth, including seals, dolphins and polar bears, approximately one-quarter are facing extinction, the study said.

"It's important to protect marine mammals if you want to keep the ocean's ecosystems functional," said study co-author Paul Ehrlich, professor of biology and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford. "Many of them are top predators and have impacts all the way through the ecosystem. And they're also beautiful and interesting."

Mapping marine mammals

To pinpoint areas of the ocean where conservation could protect the maximum number of species and the ones most vulnerable to extinction, the researchers overlaid maps of where each marine mammal species is found. Their composite map revealed locations with the highest "species richness" – the highest number of different species.

"This is the first time that the global distribution of marine mammal richness has been compiled and presented as a map," said co-authors Sandra Pompa and Gerardo Ceballos of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "The most surprising and interesting result was that all of the species can be represented in only 20 critical conservation locations that cover at least 10 percent of the species' geographic range."

The researchers identified the 20 conservation sites based on three main criteria: how many species were present, how severe the risk of extinction was for each species and whether any of the species were unique to the area. The scientists also considered habitats of special importance to marine mammals, such as breeding grounds and migration routes.

Nine key sites

It turned out that preserving just nine of the 20 conservation sites would protect habitat for 84 percent of all marine mammal species on Earth, the scientists found. That's because those nine locations have very high species richness, providing habitat for 108 marine mammal species in all.

These nine sites, which make up only 4 percent of the world's ocean, are located off the coasts of Baja California in Mexico, eastern Canada, Peru, Argentina, northwestern Africa, South Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, the study reported.

The researchers also looked at how pollution, local climate disruption and commercial shipping overlapped with species richness in or near the nine key sites. "At least 70 percent of the richness areas coincide with regions highly impacted by humans," said Pompa and Ceballos. "This is powerful information that obliges us to enhance marine conservation."

Factoring in other impacts, such as overfishing and global climate change, would likely reveal even more negative effects on the nine conservation sites, the authors said.

"The next 2 billion people we're going to add to the planet are going to do much more damage to the ocean than the previous 2 billion did," said Ehrlich, president of the Stanford Center for Conservation Biology. "Humans reach for the low-hanging fruit first, so to speak, but for the ocean that's gone now."

Unique creatures

While nine of the conservation sites harbor numerous marine mammal species, the remaining 11 sites boast species found nowhere else. Preserving these areas is important, because species that live exclusively in one place may be at especially high risk for extinction, the authors said. For example, the critically endangered vaquita, or gulf porpoise, lives only in the upper northern Gulf of California, and only a few hundred individuals remain, the researchers noted.

"We need to conserve what's left of the biota of the planet, both on land and in the sea," said Ehrlich. "We need to know where the biodiversity is before we can take many of the necessary steps to conserve it. This is just a start on the mammals of the sea."

Boy Bitten by Shark - Holden Beach

HOLDEN BEACH, NC (WECT) – Holden Beach Police report that a boy, 10, was bitten by at shark in the water at around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. 

According to the child's father, the victim was bitten while in 3-4 feet of water in the mid 500 block of Ocean Boulevard West. He felt something bite his foot in the water, and then made his way to shore, revealing a bite wound to the heel of his foot. 

Holden Beach Police, Brunswick County EMS, and Emergency Responders from Tri-Beach Fire Department responded to the scene within minutes, and Brunswick County EMS transported the victim to Brunswick Community Hospital. 

The victim's father has updated police on the boy's condition. He said his son is out of surgery and is in stable condition and had a long road of recovery ahead.

The Town of Holden Beach called this "an isolated, chance occurrence." 

Hidden Baja Undersea Park

ScienceDaily (Aug 13, 2011) - A thriving undersea wildlife park tucked away near the southern tip of Mexico's Baja peninsula has proven to be the world's most robust marine reserve in the world, according to a new study led by researchers at Scrips Institution of Ocanography at UC San Diego.

Results of a 10-year analysis of Cabo Pulmo National Park (CPNP), published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONE journal, revealed that the total amount of fish in the reserve ecosystem (the "biomass") boomed more than 460 percent from 1999 to 2009. Citizens living around Cabo Pulmo, previously depleted by fishing, established the park in 1995 and have strictly enforced its "no take" restrictions.

"We could have never dreamt of such an extraordinary recovery of marine life at Cabo Pulmo," said National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala, who started the study in 1999. "In 1999 there were only medium-sized fishes, but ten years later it's full of large parrotfish, groupers, snappers and even sharks."

The most striking result of the paper, the authors say, is that fish communities at a depleted site can recover up to a level comparable to remote, pristine sites that have never been fished by humans.

"The study's results are surprising in several ways," said Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a Scripps postdoctoral researcher, World Wildlife Fund Kathryn Fuller fellow and lead author of the study. "A biomass increase of 463 percent in a reserve as large as Cabo Pulmo (71 square kilometers) represents tons of new fish produced every year. No other marine reserve in the world has shown such a fish recovery."

The paper notes that factors such as the protection of spawning areas for large predators have been key to the reserve's robustness. Most importantly, local enforcement, led by the determined action of a few families, has been a major factor in the park's success. Boat captains, dive masters and other locals work to enforce the park's regulations and share surveillance, fauna protection and ocean cleanliness efforts.

"We believe that the success of CPNP is greatly due to local leadership, effective self-enforcement by local stakeholders, and the general support of the broader community," the authors note in their report.

Strictly enforced marine reserves have been proven to help reduce local poverty and increase economic benefits, the researchers say. Cabo Pulmo's marine life recovery has spawned eco-tourism businesses, including coral reef diving and kayaking, making it a model for areas depleted by fishing in the Gulf of California and elsewhere.

"The reefs are full of hard corals and sea fans, creating an amazing habitat for lobsters, octopuses, rays and small fish," said Brad Erisman, a Scripps postdoctoral researcher and co-author of the article. "During some seasons thousands of mobula rays congregate inside the park and swim above the reef in a magnificent way."

The scientists have been combining efforts to monitor the Gulf of California's rocky reefs every year for more than a decade, sampling more than 30 islands and peninsula locations along Baja California, stretching from Puerto Refugio on the northern tip of Angel de la Guarda to Cabo San Lucas and Cabo
Pulmo south of the Bahia de La Paz.

In the ten years studied, the researchers found that Cabo Pulmo's fish species richness blossomed into a biodiversity "hot spot." Animals such as tiger sharks, bull sharks and black tip reef sharks increased significantly. Scientists continue to find evidence that such top predators keep coral reefs healthy. Other large fish at Cabo Pulmo include gulf groupers, dog snappers and leopard groupers.

"I participated, back in the 1990s, in the studies for the declaration of the marine park. Frankly, we decided to go ahead because the community was so determined but the place at that time was not in good environmental health," said Exequiel Ezcurra, Director of theUniversity of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS) and co-author of the article. "If you visit the place now, you cannot believe the change that has taken place. And all of it has occurred thanks to the determination of a community of coastal villagers that decided to take care of their place and to be at the helm of their own destiny."

"Few policymakers around the world are aware that fish size and abundance can increase inside marine reserves to extraordinary levels within a decade after protection is established; fewer still know that these increases often translate into economic benefits for coastal communities" said Aburto-Oropeza.

"Therefore, showing what's happened in Cabo Pulmo will contribute to ongoing conservation efforts in the marine environment and recovery of local coastal economies."

Personal note:  This article proves that we still have time to turn our oceans around.  That if we act now we can have healthy oceans again, with an abundance of fish, corals, and other worthy sea animals.  Sure, it takes time, work, effort, and a backing community, but the point is it is not too late...YET!  One day, it will be too late and then what?

Plettenberg Bay Shark Attack

A 49 year old surfer was killed on 23 August 2011 by a shark in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. 

The man, who surfing website Wavescape identifies as Tim van Heerden, was attacked by an unknown breed of shark on Lookout Beach.

According to reports, the attack happened at Keurbooms River Mouth. Despite paramedics’ attempts to resuscitate him at the beach, he later died in hospital.

Wavescape writes that eye witnesses said the shark looked like a “small” great white and that the man was pulled out of the water by a fellow surfer, identified as Charles Reitz.

My personal note:  This story took my breath away when I saw the title. Does it really say Plettenberg Bay, South Africa??!!  The answer is yes! For most of you readers Plettenberg Bay is just another city where another shark attack has occurred.  However, for me this city is so much more than a city…it is a place that I called home for a brief period in my life.

In 2004 I conducted my undergraduate research in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.  I was conducting scientific research at Lookout Beach and was daily in these waters.  Not to mention one of our work stations was at the mouth of Keurbooms River.  I know these waters, swam these waters, and collected data on the sharks in this area.  Yes, of course I knew sharks were in this area – I was there and saw them with my eyes, collected data on them, but I never feared them, however, today’s story reminds me that attacks do happen EVERYWHERE, even places I called “paradise”.

Mote Receives NOAA Grant

by Underwatertimes.com News Service - August 22, 2011 22:52 EST

An accelerometer attached to a shark's dorsal fin. credit: Nick Whitney/ Mote

SARASOTA, Florida -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded Mote Marine Laboratory a $192,000 grant to study how sharks fare after anglers release them — critical knowledge that will help resource managers maintain healthy shark fisheries.

Mote scientists will record fine-scale movements of released sharks in unprecedented detail using accelerometers — tags with motion-sensing technology found in products like smartphones and the Nintendo Wii.

Accelerometers attach to a shark's dorsal fin and detect each flick of its tail or tilt of its body, giving scientists insight into what sharks are doing and when. They focus on much smaller movements than commonly-used satellite tags, which track a shark's general geographic location and sometimes its depth.

Mote scientists have been the first to deploy accelerometers on multiple shark species and have even used them to study the movements of Burmese pythons. The current project will be the first study to use accelerometers to investigate how catch-and-release fishing affects sharks.

Project collaborators will include professional charter captains and researchers from the Florida Aquarium Center for Conservation, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service.

Catch-and-release fishing allows sharks to continue their valuable role as predators in marine ecosystems, while helping to maintain Florida's recreational saltwater fishing industry, which has an overall annual estimated economic impact of $5.4 billion.

Not all sharks survive release, and the survivors might bear the lingering effects of stress related to capture. Previous studies have shown that caught-and-released sharks had stress-related changes in blood chemistry, but scientists have rarely been able to relate these changes to death or impaired behavior. Studies that tracked sharks after release have only recorded their broader-scale movements.

"For the first time, we'll take a magnifying glass to sharks' behavior after release — for instance, we'll look at how strongly they're swimming after capture and whether they're rolling or listing," said project leader Dr. Nick Whitney, a staff scientist in Mote's Center for Shark Research. "These measurements go way beyond 'dead or alive.' 

The vast majority of sharks may survive, but it's important to know if their recovery time varies with different kinds of fishing gear. Our technique will yield new, hard data comparing standard J-hooks with circle hooks, which are designed to be safer for sharks."

The one-year study will begin in September in Charlotte Harbor and will later expand to Florida's east coast. Scientists will work with participating charter captains to catch sharks on rod and reel using both circle- and J-hooks.

Scientists will collect a blood sample from each shark caught and attach an accelerometer to its dorsal fin. They will then compare the accelerometer results to stress-related chemicals in the sharks' blood. By relating blood test results to the behavior of the sharks, they hope to later draw conclusions about the fate of other sharks using blood samples alone.

"The goal will be for the charter captains to use the same practices and gear that Florida anglers normally would, so we can compare the two hooks in a real-world setting and look at how they perform in relation to shark survival and behavior," Whitney said.

Circle hooks are designed to hook a fish's jaw and prevent the animal from swallowing it and causing internal injuries. The hooks are also designed to be easier to remove, allowing a fish to be released more quickly. But the effectiveness of these hooks has not been tested widely in sharks.

The team will focus on blacktip sharks, a coastal species targeted by commercial fisheries and Florida's recreational anglers. "We hope to establish study techniques that can be applied to other species," Whitney said. "By combining accelerometers with more conventional techniques, we hope to revolutionize the study of catch-and-release effects."

Illegal Trades Killing Our Oceans

Maputo, Mozambique - 20 July, 2011

Maputo capital city awoke like any normal Wednesday. Chapa’s scurried across town; cars lined up as the red lights drew the traffic to a temporary stop and people in suits meandered to their offices.

Yet something else was stirring that day, something bigger than any of us could have imagined.  This wasn’t going to be another ordinary day, this day was going to create history in Maputo and bring home the reality of what is happening on a daily basis within this bustling city.

An assembled team of Fisheries inspectors, Maritime and Civil Police left Maputo port, weaving their way through the traffic towards their destination, a house suspected of running a large-scale illegal smuggling operation. The perimeter fencing was covered with barbwire, whilst the chained dog at the entrance strained at its leash as it angrily barked upon the arrival of the unexpected visitors.

Two Chinese nationals were inside the building and had no option other than reluctantly open the doors into their dark and run-down house, revealing the shocking secrets that were hidden within its walls.  Descending into the squalid basement the team quickly discovered illegal firearms and a small room full of large rice sacks filled to the brim with dried sea cucumbers (magajojo) and shark fins.  As they made their way into the back yard, the contrasting sunlight was almost blinding, but what lay before them was even more shocking to their senses.

Hundreds of thousands of drying sea cucumbers covered the entire the area. It was impossible to walk around without stepping on these now motionless creatures, so highly sought after for Chinese medicine and banquets. 

They are gutted, cleaned, boiled and then left to dry for a few days before they are ready to be sold or exported.  Sea Cucumbers play a vital role in the marine eco-system, and with this dark sea of withering creatures spread out before the inspectors, the horrific scale of exploitation of their Oceans was becoming clear.

Fresh shark fins were laid out in the sun, along with hundreds of fish gas bladders, known as fish maw. These internal organs are often served in soups and are considered a food delicacy in some Asian cultures and one of the luxury ingredients in Chinese cuisine.  Shark fins are also highly coveted within the Chinese market, their flavorless, nutrition less fibers are removed after hours of preparations, to be mixed with other ingredients to make shark fin soup, usually served on special occasions like banquets and weddings. The practice of shark finning is the primary reason for the global decline of shark species, with some populations already severely depleted by up to 90%.

Returning inside the property, the inspectors requested the Chinese nationals to unlock closed basement doors. Three more rooms were opened, and even through the dim light the true scale of the operation was uncovered.  Each room contained sacks upon sacks filled with sea cucumbers, shark fins and fish maw. It took the strength of two men to lift just one sack of sea cucumbers, such were the quantities crammed inside each bag.

The rest of the house was searched, revealing more disturbing secrets.  Live terrapins inside a large container, turtle shells and even a large bag full of hundreds of dried sea horses were discovered.  As the inspection continued, no fisheries licenses could be shown, and so their laptop, mobile phones were taken as evidence. As Police questioning progressed, the clear up operation began.

In total FIVE truck loads of illegal products were removed from the property. Nearly 60 sacks of sea cucumbers, 15 sacks of shark fins (it is estimated that at least 3 000 plus sharks have been slaughtered to obtain the amount of fins that were discovered) and a similar number of fish maw were confiscated. The day’s operation was a huge success and created history as being the biggest, non-vessel bust in the history of fisheries in Mozambique.

Disturbingly enough, not one week after the Fisheries discovery, we have been reliably informed that the house in question has once again resumed its clandestine operations

Such senseless slaughter needs to be stopped.  Our coastal fishing communities need to be protected, for the sake of their futures and the futures of their children.

Man Bitten by Shark off NC Coast

According to various media outlets, including North Carolina's WITN-7, a 54 year-old South Carolina man, was bitten by a shark about 13 miles off the coast of Morehead City, NC.  Donnie WHite was on a fishing boat and had entered the water to cool off when he was bitten on the lower leg, according to reports.  He was taken to Carteret General Hospital.  While White's injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, his condition has not been released.

North Carolina has a history of shark attacks occurring, starting with the first recorded attack in 1935 in Onslow County.  Onslow County ties for second for the most number of sharks attacks, with the number of shark attacks being 8 with 1 being a fatality in 1935.  The county Onslow ties with is Carteret, that also had one fatality in 1957.

Who wins the number one spot?? New Hanover wins with a whooping 9 attacks, but 0 of them being fatal.  Nine seems like a fairly large number, but when we stop to consider that North Carolina starting reporting shark attacks back in 1935 that is only 9 attacks in 76 years, which is just a little over 1 attack for every decade or 1 attack for every 3,082 days.  If you are a gambling person, then you will quickly see that the odds are against you getting bit by a shark, even when swimming in the highest shark attack county of North Carolina.

Overall, North Carolina has reported 41 shark attacks since 1935, with the last fatality being in 2001 in Dare county.

Save a Shark...Drink Beer??

The beer is being marketed as the “world’s first conservation lager.”

For each can of White Tip sold, 5 cents will be donated to support the Department of Environment’s “Sharks, Whales and Dolphins” program. The program is geared toward the assessment and preservation of the Cayman’s wild shark and cetacean populations.

Okay, for some of you out there I know you rather shallow ten thousand swords on fire than drink one beer.  But for those of you out there that drink beer like a fish drinks water...drink up and save a SHARK!!

Megamouth Shark Caught in Mexico

Image via Wikipedia

By Erick Falcón

ENSENADA: One of the rarest known species of fish, the megamouth shark, has been caught by fishermen in Mexico for the second time in five years.

Only 51 specimens of the elusive deep-water shark have ever been caught or sighted since the discovery of the species in Hawaii in 1976. So far, megamouths have appeared in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, mostly near Japan and Taiwan, but also in places as diverse as Australia, Ecuador and South Africa. Yet only one has been ever captured alive, in 1990.

The newly caught shark, a three-metre male deceased juvenile, was captured near the western Baja peninsula coast, in a region called Bahía de Vizcaíno, which is about a seven-hour drive south of San Diego, California.

It was caught by the same fishing vessel that in 2006 captured another megamouth specimen in Vizcaino bay, which has led Mexican scientists to believe that the megamouth could be a seasonal visitor to the Baja Peninsula.

"Although there is few scientific data collected, local fishermen assured us that they've caught other, even bigger megamouth sharks before, so we believe this might mean this species can be part of the shark population that roams the western coasts of Baja," said Omar Santana, a researcher for Ensenada-based CICESE science institute.


One of a kind
Scientists consider the megamouth a one-of-a-kind shark: despite the fact that adults can reach a length of over six metres, making it the largest deepwater fish in the world, it is a slow swimmer and, unlike its most famous Great White relative, feeds by filtering water.

With a brownish-black colour and a large head, and a mouth with protruding jaws unlike any other shark species known, it has been classified into its own family, Megachasmidae, under the scientific name Megachasma pelagios.

The new specimen was taken to Ensenada, Mexico, where it was photographed and sliced in order for Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Mexican researchers to study the structure of its muscles and gills.

"Sharks have two muscles, white and red. Some have the red muscle in the outer part of the body. This is a very rare opportunity to study the megamouth's speed, how it moves and where it lives," said Santana.


Important area for megamouths
Little is known about the shark's reproduction and feeding, other that it usually dives up to 500 m in search of plankton and krill, a microscopic shrimp species.

Despite its huge head, its teeth are tiny, which researchers suggest is a means of absorbing and filtering large amounts of water.

Even though the megamouth is very rare, the capture of this shark in the Baja Peninsula is an indicator of how ecologically important the region is. Santana hopes this will encourage the Mexican authorities to improve marine species management and better regulate commercial fishing in the area.

Oregon Proposes to Ban Shark Finning

SALEM, Ore., Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Oregon has passed a bill conservationists say puts the state firmly in a national effort to end the trade in shark fins.

Gov. John Kitzhaber signed bill the Thursday banning the sale, trade and possession of shark fins, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The fins, highly prized as a food delicacy in Asia, are often cut from a live shark, which is then thrown back in the ocean where it can bleed to death, drown or be attacked by predators.

"With the global trade in shark fins pushing sharks toward extinction, it will take strong actions such as this to prevent us from making irreversible changes to our ocean ecosystems," Whit Sheard of Oceana, a maritime conservation organization, said of Oregon's action.

Oregon joins Hawaii and Washington in banning the practice, and President Barack Obama signed federal legislation this year tightening a ban on shark finning in U.S. waters.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/08/04/Oregon-joins-movement-to-ban-shark-finning/UPI-99511312508005/#ixzz1UWnwBr97

Pacific Island Nations Call For World's Largest Shark Sanctuary

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An area covering over two million square miles of the western Pacific Ocean, two-thirds of the land area of the United States, is slated to become the world's largest shark sanctuary and the first one ever created through a regional agreement among governments.

Leaders at last week's 15th Micronesian Chief Executive Summit passed a resolution (PDF) to begin the process of creating a regional sanctuary where shark fishing would be prohibited. The agreement, which also authorizes the development of a regional ban on the possession, sale and trade of shark fins, covers the waters of the Federated States of Micronesia and its four member States, The Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.

"We applaud and support the chief executives for protecting the sharks of Micronesia," said Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group, who has worked with Micronesian leaders this year to develop the resolution and presented at the summit to push for its passage. "Their leadership should serve as a model for other coastal nations to safeguard these important keystone species which are rapidly disappearing from the world's oceans, primarily as a result of the escalating demand for shark fins in China and other Asian countries."

The Micronesian resolution is the most recent and largest example to date, of a growing realization that sharks, of which a third of all species are headed towards extinction, are in serious trouble. Last month, the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures (APIL), a body comprised of lawmakers from across the Western and Central Pacific, requested all member nations to "adopt legislation for a unified regional ban prohibiting the possession, selling, offering for sale, trading, or distribution of shark fins, rays, and ray parts."

In June and July, Honduras and the Bahamas joined Palau and the Maldives in creating shark sanctuaries. These nations have come to realize that shark tourism is far more profitable than killing the animals for their fins. One year later, the Marshall Islands instituted a shark fishing moratorium after reports of unregulated activity in its waters.  "The world must rise with us to protect our oceans and our environment," said Johnson Toribiong, President of the Republic of Palau.  "That is the moral obligation of this generation for the benefit of the next."

"This is a great accomplishment for all the advocates of global and regional shark conservation," said Benigno Fitial, Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which along with Guam already has banned trade in shark fins. "The protection of sharks will improve our ecosystem. Now we can have balance."

The Micronesian state of Pohnpei has also taken steps to ban the possession, sale and trade of shark fins within its jurisdiction. "I am very thankful that the region has a common voice on sharks," said John Ehsa, Governor of Pohnpei. "Our State Government has pending legislation to save sharks, and I am in full support." The Pohnpei initiative is modeled after Hawaii's landmark shark fin ban which took effect July 1, 2010. That law, championed by Hawaii State Senator Clayton Hee, prohibits the sale, possession, or distribution of shark fins and fin products.

Senator Hee participated in the Micronesia summit to encourage the chief executives to continue their marine conservation efforts, particularly those focused on the protection of sharks and manta rays. "As native sons of the Pacific, the leaders of Micronesia have taken care of their mother by passing this historic resolution to save sharks," said Senator Hee.

Electromagnetic Fish Hook Reduces Shark Catches

By Ben Coxworth

13:35 August 2, 2011

In fisheries all over the world, many fish are caught using a process known as pelagic longlining. This consists of fishing crews traveling out into the open ocean and deploying a series of baited hooks that are all attached to one horizontal main line, that can range from 20 to 40 miles (32 to 64 km) in length. After being left to sit in the water for a period of time, the line is hauled abroad a fishing vessel, where the fishes that took the bait are removed from the hooks. Unfortunately, even though they're not usually one of the targeted species, sometimes sharks will be among the fish captured. A new type of fish hook, however, is said to reduce unintended shark catches by up to 94 percent.

First of all, why wouldn't fishers want sharks on their lines?

For one thing, as apex predators that are essential to the balance of the marine ecosystem, several types of sharks are protected species - depending on the country. Sharks can also bite off the hooks, break the main line, or cause entanglements. They also occupy hooks that could have been taken by more sought-after fish, and if they're still alive when hauled aboard the boat, can injure crew members when being removed from the line. Additionally, the time spent removing sharks from the line and/or repairing the damage that they cause could be spent catching more fish.

The SMART (Selective Magnetic and Repellent-Treated) Hook, created by New Jersey-based Shark Defense, is intended to repel sharks. This is due to the fact that it is magnetic, and coated in a metal that produces an electrical current when placed in seawater. Electromagnetic fields are known to confuse sharks' sensory systems, and as such the creatures try to steer clear of them when possible. It requires no power source, and reportedly only costs slightly more than a traditional hook - an amount that should be made back through reductions in damaged equipment, wasted time, and unmarketable catches.

In a set of 50 tests using two different groups of sharks, it was found that smaller, recreational-sized SMART hooks with bait received 66 percent less shark strikes than their conventional counterparts. Larger, commercial-sized SMART hooks received 94 percent less, due to the fact that more of the shark-repellent metal was present.

Magnetic and voltage-creating metals have separately been shown to reduce shark catches by 18 to 68 percent in past studies, although the Shark Defenseresearchers state that combining the two properties boosts the SMART hook's repellent properties.

Proposal to Protect Florida Sharks

A ban on killing tiger sharks and three species of hammerhead will go for approval to the state wildlife commission next month.

Concerned about dwindling shark populations, the staff of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has held a series of meetings around the state to gather comment on several proposals to protect them. Now that the meetings are over, the staff has recommended protection for four species, the tiger shark, smooth hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead and great hammerhead.

The primary threat to sharks comes from the growing demand in China and other Asian countries for shark fin soup, a delicacy that has generated a lucrative market for their fins. Although there’s little commercial fishing in Florida state waters, which have tight bag limits, there’s an extensive recreational fishery.

The commission, a seven-member board appointed by the governor, will take up the issue at its Sept. 8 meeting in Naples.

The commission’s staff decided against proposing a ban on chumming near beaches by shore-based shark fishing groups, a practice that had concerned some coastal communities. And it decided against requiring the use of circle hooks rather than the more conventional J-hooks, which experts say can make it harder for sharks to survive being caught and released.

The tiger shark, which can reach a length of 17 feet, ranks second only to the great white in attacks on people, with 90 unprovoked attacks worldwide, including 27 fatalities, according to the International Shark Attack File. All species of hammerhead rank lower, with a total of 17 unprovoked attacks and no fatalities.