Shark finning by stealth in Australian waters-Action Alert!

Australians could be forgiven for thinking that fishing for shark fins is no longer permitted in our waters. Surely with such dramatic shark population collapses around the globe, our Government would not permit this unsustainable practice by our own fisheries? Well they do.Way up north in the Gulf of Carpentaria, a major Australian fishery is currently targeting high numbers of sharks, mostly for their fins, to service the shameful international trade in shark fin. In spite of the national ban on shark finning, a loophole allows sharks to be caught and their fins removed at sea, as long as the body is not discarded.
The Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries supports the export of shark fins from this fishery and ocean lovers everywhere must make a stand.Sharks are inherently vulnerable to overfishing. Their life cycles are more like whales and dolphins; sharks are slow-growing, late to mature and produce few young. Sharks are also a keystone species and their removal has serious negative effects on marine ecosystems. We must act today.It is totally unacceptable that Australian fisheries participate in the grossly unsustainable shark fin trade. Sign our petition and send your objections to the Queensland Government. TO TAKE ACTION CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK:http://www.amcs.org.au/WhatWeDo.asp?active_page_id=527
And please help spread the word.We can stop this if we make a stand.
Please pass this on to anyone who loves our ocean wildlife.
Submissions must be sent by 5pm 30 October 2009
For more information on the review of this fishery by the Queensland Government, click here.

Important Taiji Update

Update September 11, 2009 Brought to you by Oceanic Preservation Society

Important Taiji Update

You may have been following what's been going on in Taiji.

Ric O'Barry was there last week, and the fishermen didn't start the dolphin drives. Then Ric O'Barry left on Wednesday, and they started rounding up dolphins and pilot whales.

We're very pleased to say that for this week, the dolphin slaughter has been suspended. Fishermen in Taiji will be selling the dolphins captured in this week's round up to aquariums and releasing the rest. However, pilot whales that were also captured will be killed for their meat. You can read the full press release here, and Ric O' Barry's update here. Photograph copyright by Mark J. Palmer
It's a mixed success, but the important thing is that the outcry following The Cove (i.e. your support) is having a real impact in Taiji. So let's keep the pressure on them!

Keep writing letters, keep telling your friends about the movie-- it's more important now than ever. We can stop this as long as we keep fighting.

Please send a message to the Japanese Embassy, asking to stop the dolphin drive hunt and prohibit the sale of mercury-contaminate d dolphin meat:

Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C.
Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki
2520 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008-2869
Tel: (202) 238-6700
Fax: 202-328-2187

Hours: M-F 9:00-12:30 and 2:00-5:30

E-mail the Japanese Ambassador in D.C.: jicc@embjapan.org

You can also write to other Japanese Embassies and Consulates around the world.

Dolphins and Mercury

Thankfully, Japanese press continues to report on Taiji and The Cove.

But we've noticed that they don't talk about mercury enough.

The following quote from a Taiji resident was in an AFP news story today:

"I can never understand those Westerners' argument. They eat cattle, pigs and chicken. We eat dolphins and whales. That's it."

While many of us are concerned about the dolphin drives as an animal rights matter, the bigger problem is a public health issue. The dolphin meat being distributed throughout Japan contains toxic levels of mercury.

Help us get the mercury message out by including this when you talk about the film or write letters to officials.

Thank You!
A BIG thank you to everyone that has donated to OPS! Your contributions, big and small, have helped us get this far.

But remember, the fight isn't over.

Haven't donated yet, but would like to?

Visit our secure online donation site here.

THANK YOU!

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Act/Mutilated Sharks - Fin Soup's Main Ingredient

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST
9/11/09: Mutilated Sharks - Fin Soup's Main Ingredient

Finning is the process of cutting off the fins of a shark and discarding the
body at sea. Photo - "Shark Finning," added by Chanica at
http://wdydwyd.ning.com/xn/detail/u_39n264op8kemu

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FULL CONTACT INFORMATION. Sample letter follows.
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EVERYONE MAY SEND COMMENTS TO:
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
Public Information Office, 508 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510-6125
Public Information Office: 202-224-5115
Full Committee Office: Majority: 202-224-0411 / Minority: 202-224-1251
Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman:
http://rockefeller.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Ranking Member:
http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of NOAA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 5128 / Washington, DC 20230
ph: 202-482-3436; email: jane.lubchenco@noaa.gov

U.S. CITIZENS ONLY, ALSO SEND COMMENTS TO:
The Honorable Representative [YOUR REP'S NAME HERE]
U.S. House of Representatives / Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Senators [YOUR SENATORS' NAMES HERE]
The U.S. Senate, U.S. Capitol Building / Washington, D.C. 20510

To identify your federal legislators and find contact info, try:
* http://www.Congress.org
* http://www.vote-smart.org/
* http://www.house.gov
* http://www.senate.gov
* Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121

MEMBERS, Senate Committee On Commerce, Science & Transportation
If YOUR elected legislators sit on this committee, please write them:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=About.Members

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ASK FOR A FORMATTED LETTER (WORD DOC): info@kinshipcircle.org
Easily modify letter. Copy/paste it into an email or print letter to fax or mail.
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Honorable Senators, Representative, and Dr. Lubchenco:

I understand the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (H.R. 81) has been referred
to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation after its
passage in the House on March 3, 2009. I hope this bill moves quickly so
that a ban on the amputation of shark fins is enforced.

Until fishermen stop severing fins and dumping mutilated sharks at sea, many
species -- including hammerheads and makos -- remain vulnerable to
extinction. Please support the Shark Conservation Act (H.R. 81), which
mandates that sharks be landed with their fins naturally intact.

H.R. 81 amends the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act and
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to close a
loophole that let boats transfer illegally acquired fins as long as sharks
weren’t butchered aboard the same boat.

An estimated 73 million sharks are killed annually. In most cases, their
fins alone are sold for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy. Though "finning"
was outlawed in all U.S. waters in 2000, negligent fishing practices
continue to hinder enforcement.

Finning is just plain cruel. Fishermen haul living sharks on to decks, slice
off their fins, and toss them back to bleed to death or become defenseless
prey at sea. It is time to end this crime against nature and promote
conservation worldwide. Please do everything possible to ensure that the
Shark Conservation Act passes into law.

Thank you,

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION / REFERENCE LINKS
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Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (Passed in House; Referred to Senate Committee)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:3: ./temp/~c111LwBq b3::
Shark Conservation Act of 2009
http://www.hsus.org/legislation_laws/federal_legislation/wildlife/ shark_conservati on_act_of.html
Tell Congress: Ban Shark Finning
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/190900047?z00m=19382402
Stop Shark Finning
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/618227620?z00m=19788991

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SHARK RESCUE CAMPAIGN!(NZ)

Painted as predatory, blood-thirsty creatures in headlines and horror films, sharks are one of the world's most misrepresented creatures. Now they're in trouble of being lost from our oceans forever.
Shark Pledge
So far over 4500 people have signed our shark pledge. Click here to sign the pledge and support a ban on finning in NZ
Pre-dating dinosaurs, sharks have swum through our waters for more than 400 million years and have evolved not just five senses, but seven.
Sharks have an incredibly highly developed sense of smell and night vision that rivals cats - and a reputation among divers as being remarkably shy.
They are so sensitive to electric fields that some scientists believe that they can detect the Earth’s magnetic field, and they use this to navigate during long migrations.
Long-lived and slow to mature and breed, these ancient creatures are incredibly vulnerable to over-fishing. Over the last 10 years or so, shark fishing has increased dramatically, largely because their fins are a prized ingredient in shark fin soup.
Finning - stripping a dead shark of its fins and dumping its body - is banned in several countries, including Australia, the EU, the USA, South Africa, Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil. However finning is still legal in New Zealand waters.
Once stripped from the body of the shark, fins are lightweight, compact and highly lucrative (fins can reach $US700 per kilo), making them a very attractive by-catch. It is estimated that 100 million sharks are killed each year worldwide – in the time it takes you to read this article more than 1800 sharks will have been killed.
The New Zealand situation – why is finning still allowed?
New Zealand has 112 species of shark recorded in our waters. Of these 79 species are known to be caught in our fisheries, including 28 that are listed as threatened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Only one threatened shark species – the Great White Shark – is protected in New Zealand.
On average 24,000 tonnes of shark are caught each year in New Zealand (Ministry of Fisheries figures) - the equivalent of 300,000 people.
Most of the shark species landed in our fisheries are used for their meat. And to avoid waste, the fins of some species are used. However, seven percent of all sharks landed are taken just for their fins according to Ministry of Fisheries data. A further 1% are taken just for their livers – to extract liver oil.
Finning live sharks is illegal in New Zealand under the Animal Welfare Act, but if the shark is dead it is legal.


Anecdotal reports suggest that shark fins are an increasingly common target among commercial fishers because of soaring demand and prices for the fins, and recent newspaper reports indicate that live finning (video) occurs in New Zealand waters, even though this practice is illegal.
In October 2007 the Ministry of Fisheries released a draft National Plan of Action for sharks. Calls to ban the practise of finning in New Zealand were made by Forest & Bird, other Environmental NGOs, leading shark scientists, the NZ Recreational Fishing Association, the Big Game Fishing Council, chefs, food critics and thousands of New Zealanders outraged that we condone such a practise.
Despite our efforts in October 2008, the 5 year NPOA-Sharks was signed off by the outgoing government condoning the practise of shark finning.
Sharks: we don’t know enough
The Ministry of Fisheries has good records on the population figures of only three shark species, despite the fact 79 species are caught in our fisheries.
Claims that our fisheries Quota Management System are sufficient to protect shark stocks are therefore clearly unjustified. With such a lack of data it is hard to determine the degree of damage we are inflicting on our shark populations and what levels of action are needed to protect them.
However, data on recent by-catch numbers and anecdotal reports form recreational and game fishers suggest that shark populations are declining.
Keep our sharks in our oceans and out of the soup
As the guardians of a sea area that is more than 15 times bigger than New Zealand’s land mass, New Zealanders have an international obligation to protect sharks from extinction, and prevent the inevitable ecological disruption that will be created if these ancient creatures are wiped out.
To stop the decimation of our shark population Forest & Bird believes we must follow South Africa, the USA, the EU and others and make it mandatory that sharks be landed whole as a disincentive to stop the lucrative and wasteful business of shark finning.
STOP SHARK FINNINGSo that:• Any sharks taken must be landed with the whole carcass.* * Forest & Bird supports some processing (bleeding and gutting) at sea to prevent ammoniation of the flesh of some shark species.
For Forest & Bird's full position on shark finning - clickhere
Campaign Details
More campaigns in this region
National
Take Action!
What You Can Do In 5 minutes
Support Forest & Bird’s campaign by organising a public display or awareness event. To help you contact our marine conservation advocate Kirstie Knowles (k.knowles@forestandbird.org.nz
Make a pledge to support the banning of shark finning.
Say no to shark fin soup and other shark products.
Share the knowledge - tell your friends about your concerns about shark finning.
What You Can Do In 20 minutes
Email the Minister of Fisheries (phil.heatley@parliament.govt.nz
and Minister of Conservation (tim.groser@parliament.govt.nz
or write to them (Parliament Buildings, Wellington - freepost) asking for a ban on shark finning and better protection for our threatened sharks.
Visit your local MPs asking them to push for a ban on shark finning.