EU citizens, your urgent action is needed to help sharks!

It is also unfortunately necessary to sound a note of caution on two fronts. Firstly, this means that the we still have a long road to go until we have legislation that forces boats to land the full shark (and makes the trade uneconomic). We need to keep the motivation and pressure up to make this happen. We have proved that we can make a difference with the legislators in Europe, so lets keep doing so. If you hear of MEPs who need "bolstering" on the issue, let us all know!

 

Secondly, cutting supply is only one part. The hardest task is to cut demand, and this ultimately is where the survival of sharks will rest. Please support campaigns like Sharksavers "I pledge..."

 

Adam

And thirdly, enforcement...

PS. written before I read your last post Drew...

If what has been achieved here is to potentailly reduce the supply of fin by up to 30% (the European contribution) whilst demand remains constant or may be rising, will this result in the rise in the value of fin?

If so, may this lead to increasing fishing pressure in the remaining fisheries and also may attention now be directed to previously uneconomically accessible stocks which will become attractive targets as a result of increased value? If EU vessels are now constrained to land whole carcassess and this is uneconomic at the present value of fin, would an increase in market price make this a commercially viable option?

On the flip side, one may also hypothesise that demand may decrease as the price of fin reaches a threashold which the consumer finds unattractive...

The battle is won but the war is certainly not...

Guys-so negative!

This is an achievement. We have won a battle not the war, but it is a significant victory nevertheless. Stop looking for the negative and be happy that we have taken a positive step in the right direction. If we constantly look at the challenges and ignore our successes we will lose momentum.

Be Happy!

Adam

Don't think about prices and stock of sharks, that's exactly how the rest of the world sees the sharks, like a product.

We are saving lives here!!!

This is a great achievement, there is really hope for the sharks and maybe for us.

Thank you all who participated in this campaign.

Great work all who participated!!!

Indeed it's good news and shows once again that it's us individuals, who hopefully CAN make some difference (not sure if the signature numbers would be this high without all the e-mails that we sent).

I belive allso there's no need to look for negative sides here, but we should be realistic and no let us fall off the race with this achivement. There's still lots to be done!!!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Cheers

Karel

Swinburne responded with a non-committal waffle. I've asked her to be specific - yes or no.

Well, Swinburne's letter to me has been proven to be no more than a shallow platitude, indicative of duplicitous morality. She did not sign the Written Declaration - http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc...amp;language=EN

I feel more than a little aggrieved and I am inclined to put in place an action whereby she is brought to account. Your thoughts on this please...

Well Tim, politicians hardly ever do anything that don't benefit themselves, directly or indirectly. Swinburne is the Welsh rep and from what I remember (my info is outdated obviously), Wales use to have boats which had permits to fin sharks. The lowest count for all countries is Spain, which is not surprising since their fleet has the most permits issued. Perhaps there is some sort of backroom deal among the fishing companies and their contributions to the politicians? Maybe the ECR is trying to curry the fishing constituents?

Either way, unless you raise hell in Wales, I doubt there's much you can do to make her pay. Perhaps you should talk to Paul Kay?

Thanks for that Drew.

Yup, I had a chat with Paul and subsequently with Ali Hood at the Shark Trust. There is a pragmatic postition to take here insofar as a issue made over Swinburne's anomolous reponse may be contra-productinve in the grand scheme of things, as perceived by the Shark Trust. Ali also pointed out that there a number of Conservative MEPs who will not support the parlimentary process of Written Decarations on a point of principle. This may apply to Swinburne. So its a case of allowing sleeping dogs to enjoy their rest...

Whilst takling to Ali she mentioned Gordon Ramsay's Channel Four series on finning. No transmission dates yet but here's the www info:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/gordon-ramsay-shark-bait

Yes, Ramsay, Oliver, Whittingsall and Dawson are all doing a sustainable food source series. I remember Whittingsall was in the Maldives for his episode for sustainable fishing practices.

There is petition for this... End finning in the EU