First Annual South Florida Shark Conservation Party a Huge Success!

Sunday, January 10, marked the first annual South Florida Shark Conservation Party. The event was hosted by Shark Savers, Oceanic Defense and Shark Safe Network at Pro Dive International in Ft. Lauderdale.

The purpose of the gathering was to introduce and unite local folks and beyond who love sharks and healthy oceans, and want to get involved with shark conservation efforts. The crowd consisted of scientists, divers, students, boat captains, and the general public. Clips from Lawrence Groth's extensive archive of shark footage were shown while fun music played in the background.

One goal of the event was to raise money for the Shark Savers/WildAid billboard campaign to "Say 'no' to shark fin soup" currently being run in China. From party donations, we will be able to purchase 15 bus stop billboards! This is a very exciting outcome of the shark celebration. For more information on the campaign and purchasing these billboards yourself, go to here.

The shark party revelers were treated to PSA screenings produced by Shark Savers/WildAid. These powerful PSAs feature international basketball star Yao Ming, and other known celebrities and athletes. To view the Yao Ming PSA, check out this page . Julie Andersen of Shark Savers introduced the PSAs as well as gave updates on the campaign. We are proud to contribute to such a creative and effective cause!

Joe Romeiro and a virtual Bill Fisher, of 333 Productions, debuted their latest film, "A Lateral Line." Along with visually stunning shark footage, the film includes graphic coverage of a shark kill tournament. One astonishing scene shows the beating heart of a long-dead mako. Sad, but incredibly convincing. The film was well-received and we continue to applaud the efforts of our friends at 333.

Samantha Whitcraft from Oceanic Defense followed by presenting their 100% catch and release video to the audience.

Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, Dr. Gruber, Steve Stock, and Bill Parks each spoke to the room about what has been accomplished in 2009 and what their plans for conservation and research are for 2010. They expressed words of encouragement and heartening after seeing the progress that has been made this past year. Walt Stearns was unable to attend, as he was away on a dive trip.

Finally, the inimitable Andy Brandy Casagrande IV entertained the masses with his infectious songs about finning (anti, of course!) and being a great white shark.

We are grateful to Pro Dive for volunteering to host the event. Even though our plans for an evening boat ride were scrapped due to Florida's unseasonable cold, we were able to stay indoors at Pro Dive and enjoy an evening with good friends. The food and drinks from Coconuts restaurant were delish. Special thanks to Sergio for the three exceptionally well-designed shark cakes!

So far, photos from the party can be viewed on the Facebook pages of Samantha Whitcraft, Fort Lauderdale Dive Report by Pro Dive International, Brendal Davis, Thomas Sergent, or Felix Leander.

A hardy thank you to all for your support and attendance of the inaugural South Florida shark conservation party! See you all again next year!!

Florida Lemon Shark Update!

Lemon Shark Public Workshops start today. If you can attend one of these meetings, it would make a big difference in the effort to protect these sharks!

Monday October 19th in Fort Myers, FL - 6pm till 8pm

Joseph P. D'Alessandro Office Complex -- 2295 Victoria Ave.

Tuesday October 20th in Dania Beach, FL - 6pm till 8pm

IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum - 300 Gulfstream Way

And if you haven't signed yet, please sign the Petition: Urgent Help Needed to Protect Lemon Sharks!!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/urgent-help-needed-to-protect-lemon-sharks

Over 4000 people have signed in just one week! This petition along with selected comments will be presented at the Dania Beach Beach Workshop on Tuesday. So let's make a big push to get many more signatures in the next two days!

Thanks to everyone who signed, shared and blogged so far. Your support is very much appreciated!! Please check back later in the week for a full report on the Workshops.

Florida's Lemon Sharks Need Your Help

This is an urgent posting asking your help to protect Florida's lemon sharks. Since lemon sharks are not protected, and other species of coastal sharks and fish are, fishermen are already targeting these fascinating and eco-vital creatures for slaughter this winter.

Divers, scientists and conservationists have united to form a petition to be delivered at the upcoming public workshops hosted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission on October 19th and 20th. We need your support to reach our goal of 10,000 signatures. Please pass along the petition to everyone you know. The sharks need your help!

The petition can be read and signed here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/urgent-help-needed-to-protect-lemon-sharks

If you live in Florida please join us:

October 19th - Fort Myers, FL - 6:00pm - 8:00pm - Joseph P. D'Alessandro Office Complex, 2295 Victoria Ave.

October 20th - Dania Beach, FL - 6:00pm - 8:00pm - IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum, 300 Gulf Stream Way.

You can also list the petition site as your Twitter or Facebook status. Any form of reaching the masses is appreciated.

Let's do our best to put an end to this senseless slaughter!

Thank you for your help!

Announcing the NEW Shark Safe Network website!

We want to encourage and enable more people to get involved with shark conservation and make a difference.

On the Shark Safe Network website you can find out:

• What shark conservation groups around the world are doing to save sharks and how you can support their efforts.
• How to start your own shark conservation campaign in your community.  We’ll help you to do it!
• Urgent Alerts on important shark conservation issues – Please check today’s Urgent Alert about protecting Florida sharks.

For each of seven main campaign areas, the Shark Safe Network website provides:

• Overview of the issues
• Campaign goals
• Action plan
• Materials to download – Brochures, Sample letters and more
• Links to more information and resources
• Information on current campaigns you can join

It’s been a huge project to compile all this information and create all these materials, but there’s much more to do!  Please send us your ideas on how we can improve this resource for you and for the sharks!!

Thanks for your support and looking forward to working with you!!

Shark Safe Network Team

Looking Good for Lemon Sharks and other Florida Coastal Sharks!

Overall the FWC meeting on Sept 10^th went extremely well and Dr Gruber is happy! The Commissioners spoke very favorably about amending the rules to add lemons, tigers and hammerheads (great, scalloped and smooth) and possibly bulls to the prohibited list, and also to require circle hooks for shark fishing.
   

We were hoping that they would make the decision right then and there, but after some discussion the Commissioners decided that they should first get some more input from staff.  For one, they would like to have more data to be able to make the case for Federal protections, since some of the lemon shark aggregations span State and Federal waters.  They also cited concern about protecting one species and then just shifting the fishing pressure to another species.  So while the focus was clearly on the lemon sharks to protect their winter aggregations, the Commission is open to adding protections for other shark species that are vulnerable.

The final public hearing will take place in December. In the meantime, we would still encourage you to send comments to the Commissioners (Commissioners@MyFWC.com).     

If you send a comment, please thank the Commissioners for their leadership in protecting sharks and let them know that you support adding more vulnerable shark species to the Prohibited Species list, especially Lemon Sharks, Hammerheads, Tigers and Bulls.  Observations from any of you who have been diving and fishing in Florida for a long time with regard to the declines in shark populations in Florida and specifically which species have declined the most would be helpful.  And of course scientific data documenting these declines is important as well. 

And please don’t forget about the proposed circle hook requirement.  This is huge!  In Florida alone over a million sharks are caught and released.  The use of circle hooks vs J hooks has been demonstrated to increase the post-release survival dramatically.  So this rule alone could potentially save the lives of hundreds of thousands of sharks in Florida every year.

UPDATE to Florida's Lemon Sharks Need our Help!

Written comments can be submitted to:

By email: Commissioners@MyFWC.com

By postal mail:

Kathleen Hampton
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
620 South Meridian Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600

Comments submitted will be forwarded to the Commissioners for their review and for the record.

Please note: Florida has a very broad public records law. Most written communications to or from state officials regarding state business are considered public records and are available to the public and the media upon request. Therefore, your e-mail communications may be subject to public disclosure.

Public attendance is still vital though!! Please try to make it to the meeting in person. The Sept. 10th FWC meeting takes place at the Mission Inn Resort & Club. This is a really nice place to spend a few days and only minutes from Orlando! Very reasonable rates too (call to check - we got a lower rate than advertised on the website).

See previous post for more info. Please also see the flyer posted on the Shark Savers site, which includes links to full details about the proposed regulations.

Florida's Lemon Sharks Need Our Help!

As regulations tighten for other fish, lemons sharks and other large coastal shark species - already in trouble! - are facing increased fishing pressure. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is seeking feedback from the public on options for amending its shark management rules.

Commercial fishermen are gearing up now to target the winter lemon shark aggregations off Florida's coast. It's critical that as many people as possible speak up in support of greater protections for lemon sharks and other highly vulnerable large coastal shark species.

Please join Dr. Samuel Gruber, Walt Stearns, publisher of the Underwater Journal, and others who are concerned about the fate of Florida’s sharks in this effort to save lemon sharks and other highly vulnerable sharks.

Lemon sharks take 12 to 15 years to reach maturity and then only mate once every two years, have long gestation periods and give birth to a small number of young. These slow reproductive characteristics, very high first year mortality destruction of lemon shark nursery habitats, combine to make this species extremely vulnerable.

The lemon shark "aggregations" - large gatherings that take place off the coast of Florida in a small regional area close to shore with a highly predictable time frame, also make them easy targets for fishermen. Satellite tagging studies have proven that the lemon sharks that aggregate off Florida’s coastline have come from all up and down the East Coast of the US and the Bahamas.

Commercial targeting of Florida's lemon shark aggregations can severely deplete or even wipe out lemon sharks populations very quickly and will impact a large geographic area. This is a potential shark conservation disaster!

If at all possible, please attend this meeting and ask the FWC to add lemon sharks to the Prohibited Species List.

The FWC Meeting is will be held on September 10th 8:30 am. at:

Mission Inn
10400 County Road 48
Howey-in-the-Hills, FL
Phone: (352) 324-3101
Fax: (352) 324-2636
Website: http://www.missioninnresort.com/

Contact Shark Safe Network:

sharksafenetwrk@gmail.com