On June 17, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously to approve an emergency regulation to strengthen restrictions on fishing gear, in order to improve public safety and prevent fishers from illegally targeting white sharks near California beaches and piers.
Read MoreBasking Shark-California’s Biggest Fish
International Basking Shark Day Recognizes the Second Largest Fish, and Works to Protect Them
The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark. It is one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark.
Read MoreHope for the High Seas- New Global Treaty Signed
In the Northeast Pacific, adult white sharks annually migrate far from USA and Mexican protection and are vulnerable to being killed as bycatch on international longliners or shark finning on the high seas. This is one of the reasons we celebrate their return to Sanctuary during Sharktober each year!
Read MoreGreat Whites on the Rise
Scientists and shark conservation organizations like Shark Stewards call this period “Sharktober” to describe the period of heightened great white shark (hereafter called white sharks) activity and human encounters along the California coast. As the fall season arrives along California’s coastline, a compelling and cautionary period for ocean-goers occurs when adult great white sharks return to California waters. These fall months coincide with an increase in human -shark interactions and a few, but rare, high profile human shark interactions, (aka shark attacks.) Here we discuss the incidence of great white shark human interactions* along the West Coast of North America, the relative risk and how to avoid becoming the next statistic.
Read MoreShark Week: A Deep Dive or a Light Touch for Sharks
As July 20, 2025 marks the start of Discovery Channel’s 37th annual Shark Week, millions of viewers around the world are gearing up for a another week of shark-centric programming.
Read MoreStrengthening Global Protection for Critically Endangered Sharks at CITES
Sharks are facing an unprecedented crisis. According to recent studies, more than 37% of shark and ray species are threatened with extinction, with this figure rising to a staggering 70% for species involved in international trade. These statistics underscore the critical importance of strengthening global protections for these vulnerable marine predators.
Read MoreShark Retention Bans Can Save Sharks
A study published in the journal Fish and Fisheries this month revealed that fisheries could reduce shark death by requiring the release of threatened sharks caught as bycatch by at least three times. Known as retention bans, the practice requires that fishermen release certain sharks that are endangered or unwanted rather than retain them for their fins or some other use.
Read MoreSevengill sharks of California, Photo ID and Community Science
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 Sex- How Sharks Do It
Shark sex- How sharks reproduce- a diversity of strategies from asexual to eggs to sexual reproduction. Sharks are amazing!
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