Ban Wire Leaders to Save Endangered Pacific Sharks

The 16th meeting of the WCPFC is taking place on 5-11 December in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and we are urging member states in attendance to fight for sharks and rays that are harvested in the Pacific.

Banning wire leaders and shark lines would reduce fishing mortality of oceanic whitetips by 40.5%, and that of silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis), another threatened species, by 30.8%, according to research cited in the WCPFC proposal.

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Victory for Sharks – 90 Species Protected

Sharks and Rays Receive Appendix II Listing at CITES-CoP19
We just made history protecting sharks at CoP19 in Panama by bringing Requiem sharks (including blue sharks), all hammerhead sharks, freshwater rays, and small guitarfish under protection from the international shark meat and fin trade.

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Over 100 Species of Sharks and Rays Protected at CITES

Yesterday history was made protecting sharks at the the 19th Coalition of the Parties at Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Panama where 184 governments and conservationist Parties convened to consider applying major trade protections for plants and animals in the wildlife trade.

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Shark Bites San Diego Swimmer, 8th in California in 2022

On November 4 at around 10 Am, an ocean swimmer was bitten in the thigh by what is believed to be a juvenile white shark (aka great white sharks Carcharodon carcharias) off the coast of Del Mar in San Diego County.
This is the 8th confirmed incident in California in 2022 between San Diego and Humboldt Counties

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Trip Report: Devil’s Teeth and Ducking Whales

Humpback whales steam among the fish, spouts blowing in the wind as they forage in the waves. We find the whales often feeding in or close to the shipping lane. Each year as many as 200,000 ships enter and exit the Golden Gate, and according to the Point Blue Conservation Science as many as 83 humpback, blue and fin whales are killed by ships on the West Coast each year.

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A Whale of a Time: Farallon Island Log

As we float in shark alley, the wildlife biologists on the island make their own recordings of seabirds, seals, shark attacks and human visitation. Finally, it is time to head back to the mainland, and reeling in the decoy, we are delighted by a goodbye view of a white shark passing beneath unseen but for the video, to be enjoyed on the monitor afterwards and here.

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