Michael Bear is the President and co-founder of Ocean Sanctuaries and a board member of Shark Stewards. He manages the Sevengill Shark ID Project, which uses the pattern recognition algorithms contained in ‘Wildbook’ to help identify Sevengills returning to La Jolla [and Cape Town] from year-to-year. We are leading dive trips and recruiting divers who dive the san Diego area to submit photographs of sevengill sharks to photo ID using an algorithm.
Read MoreSanctuaries and NOAA in Peril
Budget cuts and the potential stripping of marine protection in our National Marine Sanctuaries is an imminent threat to over fifty years of wildlife and habitat in the USA.
Shark Stewards urges you to contact your congressman and support NOAA and our National Marine Sanctuaries.
Read MoreShark Stewards Joins Nationwide Coalition to Support NOAA
Shark Stewards has joined 377 organizations and businesses nationwide have joined together to urge Congress to oppose actions by the Trump administration to dismantle, privatize, or significantly diminish the critical services and functions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Read MoreSupport Pacific Island Marine Sanctuaries
In the next three years we have our sights on increasing marine protection in US waters through the creation of two new National Marine Sanctuaries: one in California with the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, and one in Hawaii with the creation of the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary. Creating the proposed Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary within the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Monument and the Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Sanctuary (PRINMS). These Sanctuary designations will provide stricter protection and can avoid challenges from future administrations stripping marine and cultural protection for resource extraction.
Read MoreSupport Marine National Monuments
In an Executive Order dated January 21, 2021, President Biden announced his administration would review the monument’s status including the Bears Ears of Utah and the NE Atlantic Marine National Monument. Included in this review will be the Trump Administrations proposal to allow commercial fishing in the Pacific Island protected areas in the the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and the Pacific Remote Islands.
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