May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, a time to celebrate our rich cultural heritage and contributions. However, it also provides an opportunity to address challenging topics within our communities including racism, and cultural insensitivity. Working in and among Asian and Pacific Islands, we value the cultural and ocean connections we share, with a united purpose to protect sharks and ocean habitat.
Read MorePacific Islander and Asian American Heritage Month – A Hawai’i Perspective
May is recognized as Pacific Islander and Asian American Heritage Month established to recognize the history, contributions, achievements and importance of Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans. With mixed Asian- Hawaiian blood, I represent two island peoples, both who have suffered from discrimination, but also two races who are close to ocean. In recent years I have learned about Hawaiian cultural values like pono (wisdom ) and malama, (care) for the ocean has been recognized by the state of Hawai’i.
Read MoreCelebrating AAPI Month by Demanding Change
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, a time to celebrate our rich cultural heritage and contributions. However, it also provides an opportunity to address challenging topics within our communities. Rooted in culinary tradition, the shark fin trade is a particularly problematic practice that has had devastating impacts on shark populations and marine ecosystems.
Read MoreFinal Public Comment Ends to Support the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary
One third of all sharks including the Oceanic Whitetip and Scalloped Hammerhead are imminently threatened with extinction. Join us at a film screening, volunteer, and help us save sharks from overfishing, and protect their habitat.
Learn more, and sign our petition to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission to reduce shark bycatch below.
Sharks and Oceans Academy: Reaching Youth
Our Science and Education programs have reached over 100,000 youth in California, Hawai’i and in other states, cities and countries in SE Asia where we campaign to regulate the shark fin trade and to protect habitat through community based conservation areas protecting ocean habitat (MPAs).
The Sharks and Oceans Academy is a prototype program to reach urban and underserved youth about the ocean and to bring them into nature, and become part of the solution restoring ocean health.
Read MoreSupport the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary Designation
Papahānaumokuākea is a sacred place with deep cosmological significance to Native Hawaiians who have a genealogical relationship to all living things in the Hawaiian archipelago. The Monument is a mixed (natural and cultural) World Heritage Site. It preserves sacred places, stories, artifacts, and strong Polynesian cultural ties to the land and seas, dating back more than a thousand years.
Read MoreNew Study Attempts to Reveal Deep Secrets of the Sleeper Shark
Little is known about this slow moving, smiley-faced cold water shark. Most observations have come from specimens as unwanted bycatch on commercial fishing vessels. New genetic evidence suggests that the Pacific sleeper shark is one single, largely distributed stock in the whole Pacific Ocean. Previously. it was believed to consist of a complex of several species.
Read MoreWe Can Learn From the Kahu Manō
We are proud to share our new documentary Kahu Manō a film on sharks, culture and traditional conservation.
Our next screening will be at the Dana Point Film Festival May 4 where we will be hosting a panel, and at the Inter-American Pacific Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) meeting May 20, where we will be advocating for gear changes to reduce bycatch of pelagic sharks and retention of endangered species.
Hawai’i DAR Makes Move to Support Aquarium Trade
Hawai’i DAR will: Present a plan to the Board for re-opening West Hawaiʻi to commercial aquarium collection
Read MoreThe Weird, Wild and Nearly Extinct Sawfish
Currently in the news is an account of unusual spinning behavior and deaths in an Unusual Mortality Event, potentially attributed to a neurological pathogen off the coast of Florida. The global populations of all five sawfish species have experienced historic declines greater than 90% due to fisheries overexploitation (directed and bycatch) and habitat loss. Consequently, three species are listed on the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered, and two species are listed as Endangered. There is a very real risk that these unique species will be lost without urgent conservation action
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