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World's First Ban on Shark Fin Makes Hawaii Global Leader in Shark Conservation

HONOLULU, June 30  -- On the eve of the State of Hawaii becoming the first jurisdiction to ban sales of shark fin soup, local and international conservation groups praised the ground-breaking move as a first step to halting the decimation of global shark stocks.

Fins from up to 70 million sharks a year are used for shark fin soup often with the bodies of the animal dumped overboard dead or alive. In a recent study the world's top shark scientists (IUCN Shark Specialist Group) reported that of 64 species of open ocean sharks and rays 32% are "threatened with extinction," primarily due to overfishing. In addition, 24% were "near threatened," while another 25% could not be assessed due to lack of data. Yet only 3 species have any kind of international protection and the UN CITES convention recently declined to take any action due to opposition led by Japan.

Champion of the Bill Senator Clayton Hee stated, "Hawaii is proud to be at the forefront of the movement to save threatened sharks. For native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders sharks are revered, because we recognize their ecological importance, but we have been silent for too long on the decimation of shark stocks globally."

Stefanie Brendl of Shark Allies said, "Globally shark catches are unregulated and unsustainable. The shark fin trade is completely unregulated worldwide. This is a first step in giving sharks a future."

"Sharks have been around for nearly 400 million years playing vital roles in marine ecosystems, but at the current rate of overfishing driven by the demand for shark fin soup they could be wiped out in a single human generation," said WildAid director Peter Knights.

International conservation group WildAid released dramatic new evidence that proves that sharks are being finned alive for soup sold in the United States. Footage shot by WildAid shows a live tawny nurse shark dumped on an Indonesian reef with its fins removed. The film is being used in a new public service announcement for global broadcast from NBA player Yao Ming, China's most popular star. Most Americans are unaware of the damage caused by the shark fin industry and that shark fin soup is widely available from Chinese restaurants in the U.S. WildAid's recent survey found one third of Chinese restaurants in San Francisco serving the dish priced from $6.95 to $85 a bowl.  Read full story...

Pacific Bound Yachts News: Galapagos Islands taken off Unesco danger list

A UN panel has voted to remove the Galapagos Islands from its list of precious sites endangered by environmental threats or overuse. Unesco's World Heritage Committee backed a Brazilian recommendation to withdraw the islands from the list, saying the Ecuadorian government had made significant progress addressing threats to its island. But the move was criticised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which said there was "still work to be done". The Galapagos - the chain of volcanic islands whose unique bird and animal life influenced Charles Darwin's evolutionary theories - were declared the first World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1978. But they were added to the committee's "red list" of endangered sites in 2007, amid concerns about a booming population and tourism, overfishing and the introduction of invasive species. Read Full Story...