Each year, tens of millions of sharks are killed by overfishing and shark finning to supply the shark fin trade.

Among these, millions of hammerhead sharks are killed each year through the cruel and wasteful practice of shark finning. Shark finning is the act of removing shark fins and discarding the living shark overboard to suffocate or bleed to death. The fins are used to supply the demand for the luxury shark fin soup.

Already threatened by longlines and overfishing, a hunger for shark fins is driving hammerhead and other shark species to the brink of extinction.

Help us protect these sharks before it's too late!  Click This Link!

Due to their biology and tendency to aggregate, Smooth, Great and Scalloped Hammerhead sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing. Fins from hammerhead sharks are highly coveted for shark fin soup and are widely poached from marine reserves. A new scientific study indicates that scalloped hammerhead sharks may be in fact two separate species, thereby increasing the risk of their extinction.

These species of shark need international protection immediately.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) analyses, all shark species proposed at the 2010 meeting met the criteria for listing under CITES Appendix II, yet the proposals were all shot down by nations with interests in the shark trade. Restrictions on international trade are in place for only three shark species - the whale shark, great white shark and basking shark, yet all hammerhead and other species need this protection. This listing requires that trade including shark fin is controlled in order to avoid use that threatens the species' survival.

To Save These Sharks We Must Protect Them Now.

We need your voice to urge the US Fish and Wildlife Service to take the lead and help list all species of hammerhead sharks on Appendix II under the next CITES Coalition of the Parties meeting (CoP16) in 2013.


Thank you,

David McGuire, MPH

Director, Shark Stewards

Turtle Island Restoration Network

Posted 3 weeks ago by David McGuire   0

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