Recreational Fishermen Catch Protected Sharks

On January 18, a young angler in Florida received the surprise of his life by catching a protected white shark and widespread news coverage benefits fishermen targeting protected sharks that take advantage of loopholes. Shark Stewards urges the Florida Fish and Willdife Conservation Commission to close loopholes allowing commercial charters to benefit by targeting protected sharks for sport and impact endangered and threatened sharks.

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Risk of Shark Attack at Pacifica

Sightings of Great White Sharks occur more often than many locals may expect. Great Whites (Carcharodon carcharias) are responsible for at least 180 out of the 203 shark attacks recorded in California since 1950, and thanks to popular media, most humans have a huge fear of these cold-blooded predators- and rightfully so! There have been a large handful of Great White Shark sightings in California in recent years.

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Shark Stewards CITES Intern Update, Vivian Guido

The requiem and hammerhead shark families include some of the most endangered species of sharks. Important apex predators, hammerheads and requiem sharks are among the highest traded fins in the Asian market. New research shows that 37% of all sharks are threatened with extinction, the highest percentage among vertebrate groups in the ocean. Pelagic (open ocean) sharks have declined over 70 percent in the last 50 years. Additionally, reef shark populations were found to be functionally extinct on 20% of coral reefs surveyed around the globe.of all species in the shark fin trade are endangered.

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Press Release: Federal shark bill included in the National Defense Authorization Act

PRESIDENT BIDEN SIGNS H.R. 7776 THE “JAMES M. INHOFE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT” FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023, US SHARK SALES & TRADE PROTECTION BILL INCLUDED.

Today President Biden signed into law H.R. 7776, the “James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023,” which authorizes fiscal year 2023 appropriations for Department of Defense programs and military construction, Department of Energy national security programs, and Intelligence programs. It also includes legislation that will protect sharks, whales and coral reefs in US waters.

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Biden Signs Fisheries Protection into Law With the Omnibus Bill

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced today that the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Senator Feinstein and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) to phase out the use of harmful large mesh drift gillnets in federal waters, was included in the fiscal year 2023 omnibus government funding bill expected to be signed into law later this week.

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House Votes to Pass Shark Fin Trade Ban

A bill to end the USA shark fin trade reintroduced by Representatives Sablan and McCaul passed through the Congress with a strong bipartisan majority Thursday.

House lawmakers passed the measure that would ban buying and selling shark fins in the United States and help the country fight illegal fishing and overfishing sharks. As part of the huge National Defense Authorization Act HR 776, the “END Wildlife Trafficking Act” includes the shark fin sale provision.

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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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