FAO plan for conservation and management of sharks

CORRECTION

Carrying on with the theme of Sharks and Shark fishing, The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, ratified an "Action plan for the conservation and Management of Sharks'.

On the website of the FAO the only countries that have put together and published a plan for sustainable shark fisheries are Canada, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia, and Ecuador, as well as a Mediterranean wide plan.

However the action plan is voluntary and not legally binding. Bad news is that the Ecuadorian government in early August has lifted the ban on sales of shark fins. This is politically motivated move by the president to court fishermen prior to a up coming election. (source: guardian.co.uk)

The European Union are also guilty of killing huge numbers of sharks and recent attempts to list the Porbeagle and Spiny Dogfish onto CITES was not ratified. These species are consumed in Europe at alarming rates with the fins being sold to China.

All divers appreciate and love to see sharks, and they are a vital part of the marine ecology, isn't it time more was done to protect and enforce international legislation and protection of sharks.

FYI. The FAO website lists the aims of a national shark-plan should be to:

1. Ensure that shark catches from directed and non-directed fisheries are sustainable
   
2. Assess threats to shark populations, determine and protect critical habitats and implement harvesting strategies consistent with the principles of biological sustainability and rational long-term economic use
   
3. Identify and provide special attention, in particular to vulnerable or threatened shark stocks
   
4. Improve and develop frameworks for establishing and co-ordinating effective consultation involving all stakeholders in research, management and educational initiatives within and between States
   
5. Minimize unutilized incidental catches of sharks
   
6. Contribute to the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function
   
7. Minimize waste and discards from shark catches in accordance with article 7.2.2.(g) of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (for example, requiring the retention of sharks from which fins are removed)
   
8. Encourage full use of dead sharks
   
9. Facilitate improved species-specific catch and landings data and monitoring of shark catches
   
10. Facilitate the identification and reporting of species-specific biological and trade data

Sharkwater - the movie

A critically acclaimed film about the plight of sharks is currently been released in North America.

Have a look at the website and trailer by clicking http://www.sharkwater.com/ the film does put across a very important message.

Unfortunately the film is not yet due for release in Asia as the producer :
"We would love to have the film release in China and Hong Kong but unfortunately we have seen some resistance"

I am currently seeing whether there are ways that this can be released in Hong Kong and China but I have limited influence or contacts in the cinema/film distribution industry. Anyone have any ideas?

Intro to marine organisms - 2

Another quick break from conservation issues to write an introduction to some more undersea creatures, a good educational process for me so hopefully for others.:


1. Octopus (Octopus Sp.)

A member of the mollusc family, the octopus has no skeleton and is a master of disguise. Their amazing ability to change colours and skin texture enables them to almost literally disappear into the background. You only really see them if they happen to move or if you are particularly eagle eyed.

Octopus, he knows he has been spotted and rapidly changes colour, to show his
(her?) annoyance before squeezing into a tiny crevice

Octopus are clearly highly intelligent and in experiments have been shown to have maze and problem solving abilities. Octopus are not currently endangered however they are popular food animals.

2. Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator)

A spectacularly beautiful fish that reaches upto 40cm in length however they are more typically upto 30cm in length. The picture below is a mature animal, juveniles have a completely different coloration and pattern, with concentric blue and white circular lines on a dark blue background.

Emperor angel fish been cleaned by resident 'cleaner wrasse'.

Most angelfish are seen in pairs that are highly territorial, never locally common, angelfish are sometimes captured for the aquarium trade, a practice that should be discouraged given the difficulty and territorial nature of the animal.

3. Sponges

Sponges are extremely common and are thus a highly successful animal, earliest fossil records have sponges as much as 1000 million years old. They take many forms for instance a red encrusting sponge is shown in the emperor angelfish picture above through to the largest species, the barrel sponge. Sponges are the most primitive of multicelled animals and are pretty much a colony of individual cells, they have no muscles, nerves, true tissues or internal organs.

Tubular sponge, photo taken in Komodo National Park, Indonesia.

Sponges are filter feeders and form an important part of the reef ecology, acting as 'hosts' to a menagerie of smaller organisms. Some species are commercially important, harvested to keep us clean as we take showers.

4. Snapper

This is a diverse fish family that are both important predators on reefs as well as important commercially caught food fish. There are more than 100 species worldwide, most of these are found around the western pacific region. Many species form large schools, the species below typically is solitary waiting over reef shallows waiting for suitable food to come swimming by.

One spot snapper (Lutjanus monostigma) in a typical reef scene in
relatively shallow water (12m). A swarm of reef fish that also includes
goat fish, damsel and parrotfish. Photo from Puerto Galera, Philippines

5. Maxima clam (Tridacna maxima)

Related to the giant clam, the maxima clam is a brightly coloured mollusc that is closely related to the giant clams (which is now a increasingly rare animal) They attach themselves to the reef and grow slowly, competing with corals and other invertebrates for space and access to sunshine.

Maxima and giant clams have a close and dependent relationship with algae (zooxanthellae) that gives the animal it's vibrant colours. Due to this dependence Maxima clams are found in the shallow areas of reefs, where there is a lot of sunlight.

Seafood guides - global selection

There are various seafood guides available globally, they are not exactly the same, being focused on local market conditions, unfortunately on an initial look, they also appear to promote local fisheries or aquaculture and may not be unbiased (subject to detailed analysis..!)

The following are some of the ones available, choose which is more appropriate:

Hong Kong/South East Asian
http://www.wwf.org.hk/images/conservation/seafood/HK-card-fold.pdf

European/British in focus
http://www.fishonline.org/information/MCSPocket_Good_Fish_Guide.pdf

American
http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx

Canadian
http://www.seachoice.org/files/asset/file/37/SeaChoice_Alertcard.pdf

Hong Kong: juvenile green turtles released

Some great news...

Mid July 2007 a total of 61 green turtles (Chelonia mydas) were released at Tai Long Wan in Hong Kong's North Eastern, Sai Kung country park.

Heading out to open sea, photo from http://www.news.gov.hk

The juveniles were under the care of AFCD and Ocean Park staff since their mother laid eggs on Tai Long Wan last September and have grown from 25g to 800g in weight and 5cm to 16cm in shell length. This will give the youngsters a fighting chance of surviving and returning to Tai Long Wan.

All of the youngsters were micro chipped for future identification.

Story on the HK government website can be found Click HERE

The green sea turtle is an endangered species, under threat from habitat loss, pollution, fishing by catch and hunting/over exploitation.