NOAA seeks public comment on Chumash Heritage sanctuary draft proposal

Following input from tribal nations, state and federal agencies, conservationists and the public, NOAA has released a proposal to designate a 5,617-square-mile area offshore of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties in central California as Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.

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 The Tigers of the Sea

While the tiger shark ranks second on the list of number of recorded shark attacks on humans, behind the great white shark, such attacks are few and very seldom fatal. Known as Mano Niuhi in Hawaiian, these sharks are well documented in oral history and Hawaiian cultural lore. There are between two to four shark bites in Hawaiian waters every year, most on the islands of Oahu and Maui.

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How Jaws Influenced Shark Perception

Twenty-one years after publication, Peter Benchley, the author of the best selling novel from which the script was derived said, “I couldn’t write Jaws today. The extensive new knowledge of sharks would make it impossible for me to create, in good conscience, a villain of the magnitude and malignity of the original.”

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UK Joins Canada and USA to Ban the Fin Trade

On June 29, 2023, The Shark Fins Act passed into law in the United Kingdom, protecting sharks in UK waters and a major step for conservation of sharks around the world. Following Canada and the USA, the Shark Fins Act will ban the import and export of detached shark fins, including all products containing shark fins such as canned shark fin soup. Shark Stewards applauds the example set by the United Kingdom ,and joins the StopFinning Eu coalition and calls on the EU to follow the lead to reduce impacts on Atlantic and global shark populations by facilitating the shark fin trade.

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ACT NOW TO END THE LAST LETHAL NET FISHERY OFF CALIFORNIA

Set gillnets are the primary threat to juvenile great white sharks in their nursery grounds off California. White sharks play an important ecosystem role, and their population is still at low numbers and in recovery.

We can stop the needless slaughter of sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, and other marine wildlife by these nets off the coast of California. Urge the California Fish and Game Commission to declare the bycatch in the California Set Gillnet Fishery unacceptable.

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