After reading about the new sharks in captivity in the Plymouth aquarium which include a large nuse shark captured in barbados and Enzo a sandtiger shark I found the two websites below really great. Maxine's story gives us all hope.

For a great website on shark conservation look up

www.lesleyrochat.com

and

www.aoca.org.za

A declaration manifesto for Immediate Worldwide Shark Conservation Actions was published last year and signed by over 120 shark researchers. It estimates that 50% of the world shark catch is taken as bycatch. Pelagic longlines, which are single stranded fishing lines 18 to 72 kilometers long may have an average of 1500 baited hooks on them. In some regions sharks caught by longline may account for 90% if total catch.

Sharks are slow to mature and have low rate of reproduction so they cannot keep up with the speed that fishing wipes them out. Estimates say man kills 100 million sharks a year.

The manifesto ask governments to

1 Protect all endangered species

2 total ban on shark finning in national and international waters

3 management of fisheries in which sharks constitute significant bycatch

4 management of directed shark fisheries

5 control of trade and utilization of shark products

6 investment of resources into research on sharks to better assess stock status and harvest impact.

The manifesto's author was Allessandro de Maddalena.

If you eat fish make sure you know how it was caught and where it was caught. Avoid anything that was caught by longline but don't confuse this with handline fishing, which is carried out locally.

Follow the Marine Conservation Society good fish guide, or check out www.fishonline.org  which gives you information on depleted stocks or species which are being over fished.

Avoid deepwater species as they are usually long lived and vulnerable to over fishing. These fisheries are usually difficult to regulate and poorly managed.

If in doubt ask. A good fishmonger should be able to answer your questions and labelling information should have details of where the fish was caught. Look out for labelling schemes such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MCS) logo.

Whale Sharks are a good example of how fishing can be replaced by tourism. Back in the 1990's At Donsol in the Philippines, two whale sharks were tied by their tales to trees and left to flounder in shallow water. Local people were horrified by this action and so set them free by cutting the ropes. The two sharks can still be seen today swimming off the coast of Donsol, with the remains of rope around their tails. Locals have named them Big Lucky and Little Lucky.

This attitude persisted in the local people, who did not want to see the whale sharks fished out of their waters and so in 1998 President Ramos signed a directive prohibiting the killing of whale sharks and manta rays in the Philippine territorial waters. Of course poaching did continue to take place but tourist numbers have risen from 900 in 1998 to 11,000 in 2007 which now gives Donsol an extra 12million Philippean pesos a year into to local economy.

Another advantage is that this industry has created the post of Butanding Information Officer (BIO) All research trips and snorkelling trips have a BIO on board the boat to make sure that the Whale Shark code of practice is followed.

Here in Cornwall we have had a lot of Basking Shark sightings coming in. Its sad but we have also had a lot of reports of people harassing sharks. There is no need for this, as if we all follow the code of conduct the sharks will be here for all of us to enjoy.

These four photos were taken by Lainy Miller, of the Silver Dolphin Centre on a trip out of Falmouth with Orca seafaris. They were taken using a telescopic lens form a safe distance.

There have been sighing reports of groups of fifty sharks between Lands End and Longships Lighthouse.

We saw about twenty sharks feeding in the bay at Sennen Cove. it was a fantastic sight.

The sharks need to feed now to build up for the winter ahead. If we disturb them they stop feeding and then there is a chance that they will starve next winter. There does seem to be an increase in the numbers of sharks washed up, lets hope its not a result of to much attention for boat operators.

All the above four pictures of Basking Sharks are the property of Lainy Miller

see conservation course page for details of course content.

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