Project AWARE is pounding the pavement to make the ocean safer for some of the most overexploited sharks. We have less than a year to secure international trade protections for sharks at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CITES CoP16) to be held in March 2013, Thailand.

Scientists say the market for shark fin soup is the likeliest reason for the sharp drop in blue shark numbers over the last 30 years.
They discovered that the sharks feed in exactly the same places in the ocean that long-line fishing boats operate, which means they get caught along with other target fish.
The researchers add that such regions are ideal places to implement so-called marine protected areas, where fishing is banned, to safeguard blue sharks and other vulnerable species.

Hundreds of high school students in Cologno Monzese, Milan in Italy took part in a project aimed at bringing the wonders of the sea into the classroom.
Gianluca Pomati, Director of Bucanieri Dive Club, lead this initiative taking the students involved straight into the heart of the ocean with a marine biology course called "Ocean Common Good".

The spectacular snouts of sawfish are revealed as complete hunting weapons, sensing prey and killing them.
The saws, which can grow more than a metre long in some species, have previously been identified as able to sense prey by their electric fields.
Now, researchers have filmed the fish impaling prey on the teeth of the saws.
They suggest in Current Biology that sawfish are more active hunters than previously thought, which could help in their much-needed

One afternoon on the island of Koh Tao, a poor boat captain watched as his vessel filled with rubbish. Over five hours, ten volunteer divers removed a record amount of trash from one reef.
Some months earlier, in a bid to protect a shallow reef at Hin Ngam, local dive schools and the Save Koh Tao Group installed a ‘No Boat’ Zoning Line. But after the monsoon season New Heaven divers were astonished to find an 80 metre stretch of line covered in bags, ropes, and marine debris.

Last week the European Parliament began its work on the Commission’s proposal to close major loopholes in the EU ban on shark finning submitted in the fall of 2011.
The European Commission has proposed ending special permits that allow fishermen to cut off shark fins at sea and land them separately from the bodies under a legal exemption to the overall EU requirement for landing sharks with their fins naturally attached.

Sailors have reported seeing everything from a canoe, to shoes, rope, cigarette lighters, chunks of metal and whole trees floating in the strait, leaving them wondering what lies beneath the murky surface.
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG skipper Ken Read said he was saddened to see the quantity of rubbish floating in the shipping superhighway, which had left him dismayed by humanity.

“It’s an incredible place to sail but the sad part is how much stuff is in the water, how much junk there is in the water,’’ he said.

Divers everywhere are uniting like never before for a clean, healthy ocean. Each and every day we’re amazed by your dedication and your ocean actions.
Project AWARE’s My Ocean online community has been helping you connect, organize and shine a light on your underwater actions for change. Every week the underwater data, photos, blogs and events you post are on display. And you’re inspiring others to mobilize around the world.

Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. They are primarily killed for their fins to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study by University of Miami (UM) scientists in the journal Marine Drugs has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS).