Fwd: Important: Manifesto - to all shark researchers.... please sign it !

[Wolfgang Leander]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alessandro De Maddalena <a-dema...@tiscali.it>
Date: Apr 4, 2007 10:03 AM
Subject: Important: Manifesto - to all shark researchers.... please sign it !
To: SHA...@raven.utc.edu

Dear friends and colleagues,
as suggested by underwater photographer Wolfgang Leander, I've prepared
a short text, a manifesto for worldwide shark conservation. The document
has been improved thanks to Sean Van Sommeran and Wolfgang Leander's
comments. I've promised to Wolfgang to collect about 200 signatures of
shark researchers. When I'll reach this total amount (I expect to
succeed in a few days), I'll save the document as a PDF file and I'll
send the document to any gouvernment, any party, any institution, any
newspaper, magazine and TV on Earth. Even at that stage I will need your
strong help, so when the 200 signatures will be ccollected and the PDF
file will be ready, I'll let you know.
Note that the manifesto will be not presented as being prepared by any
institution or association. I want to keep away politic from this
project. The manifesto will be signed by persons (even if their academic
affiliations  will appear on the manifesto to show to the public opinion
that actually those that have signed the document are researchers).
So, please, if you're a shark researcher, your signature is needed now!
Please, read the text of the manifesto, that is pasted below, and
contact me at the following address to add your signature:
a-dema...@tiscali.it
To sign the manifesto, please send me the following data:

Full name:
Academic title:
Position in your institute:
Your institute's name:
Your institute's address :

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DECLARATION, MANIFESTO FOR IMMEDIATE WORLDWIDE SHARK CONSERVATION
ACTIONS

An initiated global correspondence toward issue recognition, situational
awareness and public information regarding biological destruction of
sharks and related or associated species and systems.

A demonstrated consensus and petition


We, the shark researchers of the world, are compelled to urge the
governments of all nations to take immediate steps to conserve remaining
shark populations worldwide.

There is a dire and immediate need to raise human awareness globally
about the threat to shark populations and to promote their management,
before it is too late.

Sharks are one of nature's most obvious indicators regarding the health
of marine eco systems; sharks and related species of rays and skates are
vital fixtures within the intricate and varied food webs that cover
fully most of our planet's surface.

Fossil records indicate a tenure of over 400 million years and hundreds
of species at or near the top of tidal estuarine, neritic, benthic and
pelagic environments.
These often maligned creatures represent this planet's original and
primary jawed vertebrates and they need protections/regulations against
some of the many impacts of modern humanity; commercial and recreational
shark fishing, exhibit exploitations, habitat disruption, contamination
and pollution continues to denude and poison the character of our
planet, and those that dwell there.

Sharks have much more cause to fear humans than the other way around.
Modern human fishing practices, both commercial and recreational are
eradicating many species of sharks while disrupting their respective
ecologies.
As a consequence of increased commercial and recreational pressures on
shark populations worldwide, their numbers are now in serious global
decline.

Many species, including blue sharks, oceanic whitetips, shortfin makos,
piked dogfish, smooth-hounds, reef sharks and even the whale shark are
heavily exploited.

It is estimated that even if all commercial fishing were to cease, many
of the large sharks may not recover within 50 years, if ever.
Ironically, even with shark populations plummeting in both number and
former range, they are still being depicted as a hazard to humanity.

An estimated 50% of the world shark catch is believed to be taken
accidentally while fishing for other species such as tuna and swordfish.
This unplanned capture of marine animals is called "bycatch". Pelagic
longlines, which are single-stranded fishing lines 18 to 72 kilometers
long, with an average of 1500 baited hooks, as well as open ocean drift
gill nets (often illegal) literally filter marine life from the seas. In
some regions, the number of sharks caught by longline fishermen account
for 90% of total captures. As the bony fish fisheries have been
depleted, fishermen have compensated by increasing shark captures.
However, sharks are often more vulnerable to overfishing than bony fish
are due to their slow rate of maturity and low birth numbers.

Having evolved over the past 400 million years at or near to top of the
food chain, sharks have developed into creatures with relatively few
natural predators. They have thrived despite an arduous reproduction
mode consisting of periodic or infrequent copulation followed by long
gestation periods whereby they mature slowly and have few young.  As
apex predators, sharks are not equipped to withstand predation
themselves and, for the above reasons, are highly vulnerable to
exploitation.  Exacerbating the problem is the fact many shark species
segregate by size and sex, such that exploitation in a nursery area can
be critically devastating.

It has been demonstrated that most commercial shark fisheries collapse
within a few years due to commercial extinction of the target resource.

Humans catch sharks in order to obtain meat, cartilage, skin, oil and
other products. Shark fins are used in Asian cooking to prepare shark
fin soups. Recently, the demand for shark fins has increased
dramatically, largely due to expanding and developing markets in the
Peoples Republic of China and their competitors in Japan and Taiwan.
Shark fins fetch a high price and this has led to the practice of
finning sharks at sea, where the fins are sliced off while the rest of
the body is discarded overboard. Often, the shark is still alive when
finned and will face a slow and agonizing death as it sinks to the
seafloor.

Almost all species of large and medium-sized sharks are fished for their
fins. The gigantic growth industry of shark and shark fin fisheries is
no longer relegated to certain Asian cultures but has expanded to
markets in Europe, Africa, Central and South America and many developing
nations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Shark meat and shark
byproducts are also increasingly being used as a cheap supplement for
livestock and domestic animal feed. Additionally, shark cartilage is
fraudulently advertised in pharmaceuticals as serving a role in cancer
prevention.  This marketing is based on the wrongful assumption that
sharks do not suffer from cancer and ignores the mounting scientific
research indicating that shark cartilage cannot either cure or prevent
this disease. Some shark products, however, are traditional and viable.
Shark liver is rich in vitamins and provides oil and squalene which are
used as lubricants, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Likewise, shark skin
is used as a type of leather and shark corneas have been used as
substitutes for human corneas. Teeth, jaws and taxidermied specimens
have been used as decorations and as souvenirs.

It is unclear how many sharks are caught annually, but some
conservationists estimate the number to be upwards of 100 million. A
recent estimate of sharks killed in the fin trade alone stands at 73
million per year. Annual landings of cartilaginous fish reported to the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations amounts to
around 800,000 tons, but the actual tonnage is likely to be much higher
as a result of underreporting. Industrial fishing vessels often operate
in flagrant violation of fishing regulations and, in recent decades, it
has been estimated that shark populations have declined by over 90%.

Humans also play a role in decreasing shark populations as a result of
increased habitat destruction, resource depletion and environmental
pollution. Toxic chemicals absorbed or ingested by smaller animals are
passed up the food chain through consumption. Top predators, like
sharks, are at the highest risk of contamination as toxins accumulate
within the food chain, becoming most concentrated at the top.

Several shark species are now protected in some countries, but it is not
enough.
A comprehensive poly-national approach is warranted.

Conservation and management of shark fisheries needs to be based upon
research in biology, ecology, distribution, abundance and exploitation
of sharks, their prey and associated systems.

Despite being important parts of marine ecosystems, shark research is
often neglected in favor of the more commercially viable bony fish and
collaboration between agencies and academics is often wanting for
cooperation.

Biological information on the life history of many shark species is
necessary to better assess stock status and harvest impact. It is also
necessary to better manage fisheries in which sharks constitute a
significant level of bycatch. The lack of effective management and
policy enforcement in many countries is leading to the extinction of
many shark species. Consequently, the removal of sharks continues to
upset and destabilize the ecological balance between predator and prey.
The ability of marine ecosystems to support life has been severely
crippled and the system is now in danger of collapse.

Therefore, we ask governments of all Nations, for immediate:
- protection of all endangered shark species;
- total ban on shark finning in national and international waters;
- management of fisheries in which sharks constitute significant
bycatch;
- management of directed shark fisheries;
- control of trade and utilization of shark products;
- investment of resources into research on sharks to better assess stock
status and harvest impact.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many thanks to Sean Van Sommeran and Wolfgang Leander for their help.
Thanks for your attention.
Best regards,

Alessandro


Dr. Alessandro De Maddalena

President of the Italian Ichthyological Society
Curator of the Italian Great White Shark Data Bank
Member of the Mediterranean Shark Research Group

via L. Ariosto 4, I-20145 Milano, Italy
Ph.39/02/48021454
E-mail: a-dema...@tiscali.it

Alessandro De Maddalena's web page:
www.geocities.com/demaddalena_a/demaddalena.html
Italian Great White Shark Data Bank:
utenti.lycos.it/Carcharodon/index.html
Italian Ichthyological Society:
it.geocities.com/societaittiologicaitaliana
Mediterranean Shark Research Group:
www.elasmoworld.org/mediterraneangroup/index.shtml




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--
Wolfgang Leander
wolf...@oceanicdreams.com
www.oceanicdreams.com