Ocean News

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…

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…

New law protects sharks in their vital pupping and feeding grounds The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved a measure to protect tiger sharks and three species of hammerheads from being fished out of state waters. “I commend the Commission for taking this significant step to protect these…

Save Our Seas supported project leader Nicolas Pilcher sent us exciting news from Malaysia! One of the major threats to marine turtles in the marine environment is incidental capture, injury, and mortality during fishing operations. A device that can avoid this, is called a "Turtle Extruder Device", or TED. A…

The Taiwan Fisheries Agency has announced that it will impose a ban on shark finning – the practice of slicing off the animal’s fins on-board and then throwing away the body at sea – next year, and mandate that sharks are landed with their fins attached. The move comes days after…

Toronto city council has voted to ban the sale of shark fin in the city. The ban, suggested by councillors John Parker, Glenn De Baeremaeker and Kristyn Wong-Tam, will outlaw the possession, sale, trade and distribution of shark fins or their derivative products. The proposal passed easily – by a…

“This year may be remembered as the ‘summer of the shark hunt’,” stated Christopher Neff, University of Sydney doctoral research student studying the politics of shark attacks. Neff added, “Shark bites are terrible events and for a third time this year Western Australia has endured another tragedy. But there is…

From the 15th to 23rd of October, members of the Shark Alliance in Europe are running a week of activities for supporters and other shark enthusiasts to find out more about shark conservation and to add their voices to those demanding that policy makers secure the future health of shark…

Andrea Marshall, who heads up the Ray of Hope project, was in Ecuador recently to satellite tag mantas and try to shed some light on an intriguing mystery: could mantas from aggregation sites on the mainland be traveling all the way to the Galapagos, almost 1000 km from shore? Along…

SOSF-sponsored marine podcast Naked Oceans is back for a second series, with this month’s episode focusing on life and death in the ancient seas. Listen in to learn about how life emerged from the oceans – and how it almost came to an end, as well as what the past…

The prestigious Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival concluded last week, and we’re proud to announce that The Riddle Solvers: The Shark Riddle won the award for best children’s program! The program was co-produced by Sisbro Studios and Save Our Seas Foundation. The Shark Riddle follows the a brother/sister riddle solving…

A few days ago, the government of the Marshall Islands passed fishing regulations that have created the world’s largest shark sanctuary. The sanctuary covers nearly 2 million square kilometers of the Pacific ocean, extending the global area where sharks are protected to roughly 4.6 million square kilometers. The move follows…

The recent shark incident in Cape Town, South Africa, has again catapulted the relationship between people and sharks into the public eye. In light of the recent attention, we have published two articles examining the subject in-depth: The first is by SOSF project leader Christopher Neff, which looks at the…

As a result of the incident at Fish Hoek beach yesterday, 28 September, The City of Cape Town has compiled a report of the incident, which we are reproducing below in full: Introduction At approximately 12.30 on Wednesday 28 September 2011, a 43 year old male, Mr. Michael Cohen was…

Since September 2009, Palau is the world’s first shark sanctuary. With half of the world’s oceanic sharks at risk of extinction, conservationists regarded this move as "game-changing". The sanctuary comprises about 600,000 sq km (230,000 sq miles) of ocean, an area about the size of France. President Toribiong also called…