A new study examining the complex and dynamic interactions between white sharks and Cape fur seals in False Bay, South Africa, offers new insights on the physical conditions and biological factors underlying predator-prey interactions in the marine environment.

University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science assistant professor Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, and a colleague from the University of British Columbia, describe how sharks are camouflaged as they stalk their prey from below. Low-light conditions, from the optical scattering of light through water, along with a shark’s dark grey back and the dimly light rocky reef habitat allow sharks to remain undetected by seals swimming at the water’s surface.

“Animal hunting in the ocean is rarely observed by humans,” said Hammerschlag, director of the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program at UM. “The high frequency of attacks by white sharks on seals at our study site in South Africa provides a very unique opportunity to uncover new insights about predator-prey relationships.”

Sharks typically search, stalk and strike their prey from below. The vast majority of predatory strikes by sharks and Cape fur seals occur against small groups of young-of-the-year seals. Predatory activity by sharks is most intense within two…

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The Micronesian Shark Foundation partnered with SOSF to continue its pilot education program throughout the Micronesian region. The program has been very successful in Palau for the last two years and the idea of expanding to other islands of the Micronesian Region became a reality early December 2011. The first island chosen was Yap, a state of Federated States of Micronesia. Even though Yap is less than 300 miles away from Palau, there is a vast difference between the two islands; economically, traditionally and education-wise. The children of Yap do not get many visiting school programs such as the Shark school program.

Meet Finny, the funny shark that tell shark jokes, dances and shakes children hands, and Shark Ranger Tim, the serious guy that tells the children the importance of sharks to our reefs and eco-system.

Tova Harel Bornovski, the president of the Micronesian Shark Foundation, Finny and Tim flew in early December to the islands of Yap. The group visited all fifth graders in Yap and was welcomed warmly by Yap children. Finny made an entrance to the classes and the children loved him. The shark cartoon book was a big hit and the children eyes sparkled when…

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The Foundation has received nearly 300 grant applications this year. Selected applicants will be invited to submit detailed stage II funding applications around December 15th, 2011. We thank you for your patience.

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Half of all fish caught in the North Sea are thrown back overboard… dead.

Six months ago, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall left the comfort of River Cottage behind, and went on a journey to find out what was really going on at the industrial end of our fisheries. What he found was that things are not just bad ... They’re mad.

“I have been travelling around the UK meeting fishermen, marine conservationists, politicians, supermarkets bosses, and of course fish-eating members of the public,” says Hugh.

“The experience, and how it changed the way I think about fish were shown in Hugh’s Fish Fight as part of Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight.” Watch all three programmes on 4oD.

Hugh learnt that half the fish caught in the North Sea are being thrown back into the sea, dead, because of crazy EU laws.

So, he launched a campaign ‘Hugh’s Fish Fight’ to try to change those laws and was supported by a wide coalition of environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and, we hope, by a growing number of fishermen and policy makers too.

This website, fishfight.net is the campaign hub accompanying Hugh’s Fish Fight, you can…

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Great news for giant mantas (Manta birostris)! Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) agreed today to list this species under CMS Appendix I & II, obligating member countries to implement strict protections for giant manta rays and their key habitats. The move comes as mantas are increasingly targeted in fisheries for their gill rakers, which are in high demand in East Asia for their use in Chinese medicine.

Save Our Seas Foundation was one of several organisations playing key roles to support this measure, but these individuals in particular must be singled out for their work to make this happen: Sonja Fordham of Shark Advocates International (who championed the project), and Andrea Marshall, Rupert Ormond, Shawn Heinrichs, William White and Sarah Fowler, who laid the groundwork for the decision.

The full press release is below:

Bergen, Norway. November 25, 2011:  Shark Advocates International is heralding today’s overwhelming agreement by Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) to list the giant manta ray (Manta birostris) under CMS Appendix I and II. The listing obligates CMS member countries to provide strict national protections for giant manta rays and their key habitats, and…

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Shark Conservation Gets a Boost

Brussels, Belgium - 11/21/2011 - The Shark Alliance welcomed the long-awaited proposal today from the European Commission for closing the loopholes in the European Union’s ban on shark finning, the wasteful practice of slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the body at sea.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), every year millions of sharks are finned worldwide. The current EU regulation, adopted in 2003, is too lenient to ensure that finning is not continuing undetected and unpunished. The proposal, if adopted by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, would ensure that all sharks taken by EU vessels or in EU waters are landed with their fins still naturally attached to their bodies. Marine conservationists and scientists recommended this policy as the most reliable means of enforcing a finning ban.

“The Commission’s proposal is a positive step toward the much-needed protection of sharks,” said Sandrine Polti, shark policy adviser to the Pew Environment Group and the Shark Alliance. “The responsibility now lies with the Fisheries Ministers and members of the European Parliament for all 27 EU Member States, who must agree to this proposal as the only reliable way of…

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Fishing nations at this year’s International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) meeting have adopted protections for silky sharks, but failed to take action to protect porbeagle sharks and to strengthen the ICCAT ban on shark finning.

In a press release following the meeting held in Istanbul, SOSF-funded Shark Advocates International reports that:

For the second time, an EU proposal to protect porbeagle sharks failed due to opposition from Canada, the only Party with a targeted fishery for the species. Belize, Brazil, and the US were unsuccessful in their third attempt to strengthen the ICCAT finning ban by replacing the current fin to carcass weight ratio limit with a prohibition on removing fins at sea. China, Japan, and South Africa spoke in opposition to the measure.

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