Saturday 12 December 2009

Proposed amendments to CITES appendices

In March 2010 CITES (What is CITES? ) Parties will meet to discuss the potential inclusion of the marine species to the convention appendices list:

  1. Lamna nasus - Porbeagle
  2. Sphyrna lewini - Scalloped hammerhead
  3. Sphyrna mokarran - Great hammerhead
  4. Sphyrna zygaena - Smooth hammerhead
  5. Carcharhinus plumbeus - Sandbar shark
  6. Carcharhinus obscurus - Dusky shark
  7. Carcharhinus longimanus - Oceanic whitetip
  8. Squalus acanthias - Spiny dogfish
  9. Northern Bluefin tuna - Thunnus thynnus

The shark species are all threatened by overfishing for sharks fin soup, for meat consumption and as a result of fishing bycatch. The bluefin tuna is overexploited to feed the worldwide sushi craze..

We hope that these inclusions are accepted and measures implemented as soon as possible. Inclusion of additional shark species (only the whale shark and basking sharks are currently protected) is important, the bluefin tuna is on the verge of complete collapse and efforts to protect this wonderful animal are too little but hopefully not too late.

There are often strong political resistence to expanding the list of protected animals.

Sunday 26 July 2009

Bluefin consumption in Hong Kong

WWF in Hong Kong has successfully managed to get some high profile restaurants to ban the sale of bluefin tuna in their outlets. Too little for now, but a start...


Bluefin tuna, in a food market in Barcelona


Article can be found here

http://www.livingseas.hk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=152:hong-kong-restaurants-to-stop-serving-bluefin-tuna&catid=53:hkconservation&Itemid=118

Sunday 17 May 2009

Lessons from the visit to Hong Kong of a humpback whale

The visit in early/mid March of a humpback whale in Hong Kong was an amazing and unexpected event, and provoked a lot of interest with the Hong Kong public.

To the credit of the Hong Kong authorities (AFCD) when it became clear that the whale was showing signs of distress from this attention, they quickly implemented measures to ensure that disturbance to the animal was minimised. These steps were successful and the good news is that the whale has not been seen since the 26th March, presumably finding his way back to his normal migratory route.

If only such a proactive approach could be taken with other species that are not protected in Hong Kong, such as the whale shark.

Visit the website from Living Seas Hong Kong to read the full article. (Click HERE )

Thursday 1 January 2009

Glimmer of hope for Pacific tuna - but only a glimmer

An article from Greenpeace international points to weakness in the agreements from Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. This is likely to continue to result in continued overfishing of bluefin and skipjack tuna fisheries. Objections to plans were raised by China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.

The small glimmer of hope is the banning of purse seine fisheries in two high seas pockets between Pacific Island countries. Click here for description of purse seine fishing

Implications for me are that tuna is mostly off the menu. Albacore tuna is probably still okay.

Check out the following: http://www.msc.org/cook-eat-enjoy/fish-to-eat/albacore-tuna