​OUR MISSION
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Following the success of The International Year of the Shark in 2009 there were some difficult battles won in the fight for shark protection. Many of the countries hardest hit by shark finning declared their territories as shark sanctuaries, some species received protection from international commerce, and there has been an increase in marine protected areas (MPAs) around the globe.
However, while the “fins naturally attached” regulations widely adopted have helped to a degree, they have overloaded the market with shark meat, encouraged the consumption of sharks as meat, and have not addressed over fishing. With ninety percent of the original fish stocks depleted, sharks are now the most valuable prey, so are being targeted instead of fish.
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Though there has been an increase in awareness of the drastic effects of shark finning in Asian countries, the latest studies have indicated that a slight slowdown of the shark fin market in recent years has been the result of over fishing, not conservation. So in spite of all of our efforts, sharks are more endangered than ever.
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A third of shark species now face extinction and the enormous loss of sharks that has occurred indicates a worldwide build-up of extinction threat throughout the vast ecosystems of the oceans. In some locations sharks are already extinct.
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Rampant over fishing is their greatest danger along with the expansion of global trade, now taking place against a background of industrial pollution, plastic garbage and micro-plastics, combined with the effects of global warming. As the oceans warm, the ice-caps melt, the oceanic currents change, and the waters become more acidic due to absorption of CO2, and the consequences cascade through the ecological networks. As a result, increasing numbers of organisms, including sharks, find themselves in regions where they cannot survive, such as in de-oxygenated waters or on dead coral reefs. The warmer water also helps diseases to proliferate.
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For sharks there has been a profound failure of conservation efforts. The documented shark fin trade has revealed that catches are three or four times greater than what was reported to FAO, which is the only organization that keeps global records. This indicates the complete failure of Fisheries to monitor the true numbers of sharks being killed. Most catches of sharks and rays are neither recorded nor reported, and are discarded at sea.
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So a complete change in the way that sharks are considered is urgently needed. The main goal of the Year of the Shark in 2019 was therefore to promote the total protection of sharks from international commerce, and to work towards this goal.
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We are continuing the work of the The Year of the Shark 2019 now, in the aftermath: working on getting shark fin trade bans in place in different countries, supporting the creation of MPA's and establishing the fact in the literature that sustainable commercial shark fishing is impossible under the circumstances.
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Other aspects of The Year of the Shark in 2019 included opposing the bad press sharks have been given by the mass media as mindless killers, ever since the movie JAWS was released. We disseminated information about the true nature of these unusual animals and the actual rarity of their “attacks” on people. We also opposed sports fishing, which is just as cruel and morally wrong as the other blood sports including dog fighting and recreational hunting. These efforts are continuing now, too.
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A wealth of information about sharks and their plight is posted on this site, and during the Year of the Shark 2019, posters and graphics in 21 languages were available. ​
