Sharks and rays are at a substantially higher risk of extinction than most other groups of animals. One quarter of all known species of sharks, skates and rays are listed as Threatened with Extinction on the IUCN Red List™.

Yet, over 1000 species that belong to this group play diverse, critical roles in the ocean ecosystem, are a source of food for thousands of people around the world, and provide many non-consumptive benefits to communities around the world.

In places like Palau for instance, shark diving is a major contributor to the economy and generates an estimated US$18 million per year.

Despite their importance and value, sharks and rays are severely overexploited. Sharks fisheries remain woefully under regulated and overfishing, finning and bycatch continue to threaten the survival of the species.

Thankfully, divers are some of sharks’ closest and most influential allies and we’re working together to keep sharks and rays populations healthy.

Since 2011, when Project AWARE embraced the movement-oriented approach to tackle the two ocean challenges – marine debris and shark and rays in peril - you’ve helped us and our shark conservation partners secure important policy advancement for shark and ray conservation.

This Shark Week, let’s celebrate our powerful collective voice and these key milestones:

Stronger European Finning Ban

From signing European Shark Week petitions to sending letters to Members of the European Parliament urging them to sign the Written Declaration in support of a strong EU finning ban, divers took action with us showing decision makers that the dive community is serious about protecting sharks. In 2013, after years of debates, the EU Council of Ministers finally adopted a strengthened ban on shark finning – the practice of cutting off the fins of a shark and discarding the body at sea. Sharks caught by EU vessels anywhere in the world must now be landed with their fins naturally attached. The EU shark finning ban was one of the weakest in the world, yet the EU is one of the largest exporters of shark fins to Asia. With a “fins naturally attached with no exceptions” policy in place, the EU, given the global scale of its fisheries and the international influence of its shark management policies, is in a prime position to push for game changing shark conservation measures. This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the support from shark advocates around the world including scuba divers.

Historic CITES Protection for Sharks and Rays

In 2013, 183 countries who are parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora took action to ensure that the international trade in sharks and rays doesn’t threaten their survival, adding two manta ray and five shark species to its list of species protected under the treaty. Scuba divers all over the world responded to the call “Extinction is NOT an Option”. In an outpouring of support, more than 130,000 divers from 228 countries around the globe signed Project AWARE's shark petition urging CITES leaders to vote ‘yes’ for sharks and rays.

“As a global, economically significant group, scuba divers are in a unique position to highlight the value of keeping shark and ray populations healthy” said Ania Budziak, Project AWARE’s Associate Director.

CMS Protection for Migratory Shark and Ray Species

We’ve made our voice heard again for migratory shark and ray species at risk of extinction at the 11th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) held in Quito, Ecuador in 2014. Project AWARE was there in Ecuador working with partner NGOs and representing the voice of the dive community as international cooperation is vital to ensuring the survival of migratory species. By adding your voice to Project AWARE’s “Sharks and Rays Without Borders” campaign, you gave us the opportunity to deliver 28,804 letters to decision-makers urging them to collaborate in conservation of 21 shark and ray species.

“From hammerheads of the Galapagos to threshers in the Philippines, sharks are incredibly popular attractions for divers,” noted Ania Budziak of Project AWARE. “With increasing recognition of the economic benefits of associated tourism, divers’ voices are playing a key role in winning protections for these iconic species.”

Sharks are suffering from a bad image – one that Project AWARE battles not only during Shark Week but throughout the year. This bad image often hinders shark conservation efforts. Rallying public support to secure meaningful conservation measures is critical. At the policy level, economics play a powerful role in shark conservation and the collective voice of millions of divers around the world is increasingly being heard loud and clear.

Shark and ray based tourism can provide an attractive economic alternative to shark fishing, with distribution of revenues benefiting several sectors of the economy, stimulating the development and generating high revenues to the government, while ensuring the ecological sustainability of shark populations.

The benefits of policy measures such as these hinge on implementation of these actions by the Parties. We hope that you’ll continue to support us as we channel and redirect the overwhelming concern for sharks and rays demonstrated at such historic meetings into enforced national protections and regional limits on shark and ray catches.

Stay tuned for the latest in shark conservation and put your fins on for sharks with a Finathon challenge to secure funds critical to protecting imperilled sharks and rays! Our movement is being heard.

Photo courtesy of Steve Dunleavy