Friday, May 29, 2009
Blog moved
http://oceanicdefense.blogspot.com
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Sharks Murdered for Ego and Bragging Rights
Sarasota, Florida May 15-17, 2009
The despicable act of killing sharks for no reason came to the shores of Sarasota Florida in this annual ego stroke. The Sarasota Shark Tournament sees entrants fish and kill sharks for nothing more than a trophy and bragging rights.
In our opinion this is even LOWER than the shark fin trade because this sharks are completely wasted. 100% of their bodies are discarded once they are weighed.
Oceanic Defense will form a page on Facebook and create a petition to get the organizers of this barbaric tournament to cease the useless killing of a species in danger.
If you are interested in signing our petition please visit our page:
http://www.ipetitions.com/
Join us on Face Book:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=871615706&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=43644118201
Photo by: Todd
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Canadian Politicians Sink to All-Time Low
It has come to our attention (thanks Marlene) that in the wake of an overwhelming vote by the EU to ban all Canadian Seal Products that federal officials continue to swing their political hakapiks suggesting that our Olympians wear seal products to support their country and its "heritage" during the 2010 winter games in Vancouver.
The image above is the results from a poll that is running on CKNW Vancouver. There is a resounding 85% vote against the proposed plan.
Cast your vote by going here: http://www.cknw.com/ and look on the right hand side of the homepage for the poll. You can vote once every 24 hours.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
VICTORY FOR SEALS!
STRASBOURG (AFP) — The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to endorse an EU ban on products derived from seals in protest at hunting methods despite threats from Canada to complain to the World Trade Organization.
The move, backed by much of the European public and animal rights groups, was approved by 550 votes to 49 against at the parliament in Strasbourg. The ban will enter force for the next commercial seal hunt season in 2010.
The decision to ban products derived from seal hunting, especially pelts, comes on the eve of a visit to Prague by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to launch free trade talks with the European Union.
The Canadian government maintains that the 350-year-old hunt is crucial for some 6,000 North Atlantic fishermen who rely on it for up to 35 percent of their total annual income.
Ottawa authorized the slaughter of 338,000 seals this year, insisting the hunt does not threaten the species. But a slump in pelt prices has meant fewer hunters on ice floes off Canada's Atlantic coast.
Canada hopes that requiring training for sealers on how to humanely slaughter seals, legislating standards for seal products and taking measures to safeguard the species will silence critics of the hunt.
The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner.
"After many years of campaigning by European citizens I welcome the regulation which bans seal products from entering or being traded in the European Union," EU Environment Stavros Dimas said in a statement.
"By upholding the highest standards the new legislation addresses EU citizens' concerns with regard to the cruel hunting methods of seals," he said.
The commission said the new measure, already endorsed by EU nations and the bloc's executive body, would eliminate disparate national rules and consolidate the fragmented European market in seal products.
But it underlined it would allow trade in seal products derived from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other indigenous communities and which contribute to their subsistence.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Call for fishing ban in a third of oceans
A third of the world's oceans must be closed to fishing if depleted stocks are to recover, scientists and conservation groups have warned. Such a measure could "set the clock back 200 years" and reverse the decline in fish populations, after which responsible fisheries management could regenerate the industry.
Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York, has reviewed 100 scientific papers identifying the scale of closure needed. "All are leaning in a similar direction," he says, "which is that 20 to 40% of the sea should be protected." Friends of the Earth, the Marine Conservation Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds all support the idea of a 30% closure. "What we would see is a flourishing of life," Roberts says. "In 20 years, we could get to a point where a lot of species are in a far more productive state."
The proposal comes in the wake of a green paper calling for radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, which EU ministers admit has failed. It reveals that 88% of EU stocks are overfished (against a global average of 25%) while 30% are "outside safe biological limits" – meaning they cannot reproduce as normal because the parenting population is too depleted. In the North Sea, 93% of cod are fished before they have had a chance to breed.
The European Commission suggests a reduction in fleet size and a dramatic cut in fishing effort among its raft of measures, but Roberts believes these will not work without the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). "Just cutting fishing effort is not enough," he says. "If we are ever going to have sustainable fisheries, MPA networks are an essential, indispensable part of any rational management package."
In Iceland, Canada and the US, the creation of MPAs has "brought real increases in fish populations and real recovery of seabed habitats", Roberts says. "Populations of exploited species have increased five-, 10- or even 20-fold within five, 10 or 20 years."
The most convincing example is New England, where stocks of ground fish were "in a dreadful state" in the 1990s. Off Georges Bank, an area of nearly 20,000 square kilometres – a quarter of the fishing grounds – was closed to vessels, and fishing effort was reduced by "a draconian 50 per cent". In the past 10 years, Roberts says, there has been "a spectacular recovery" of key economic species.
As stocks within MPAs recover, the eggs and larvae of fish are carried on ocean currents to fishing grounds, Roberts explains. This helps replenish commercial fisheries. Fish also leave the protected areas, emigrating to places where they can be harvested legally.
Off Lundy Island in Devon, one of only three No-Take Zones (similar to MPAs) in British waters, the lobster population is eight times higher within the reserve. "We have already seen benefits in the lobster fishery immediately outside it," says Giles Bartlett, fisheries policy officer at the environmental charity WWF. In the Isle of Man, where a No-Take Zone for scallops has been created, "there have been significant increases in catches on the boundary of the reserve", he adds. "There, a limited size of reserve is supporting the whole fishery. If you scale those reserves up, you are going to see similar results for demersal [bottom-dwelling] fish stocks. We feel European seas would benefit from this kind of management."
The fishing industry is less convinced, saying pressure on stocks just outside a protected area can "mitigate against the impact" of the MPA. "It almost creates a bull's-eye for fishermen, who know the area on the periphery isn't protected," says Tom Rossiter, research and development manager at Seafish, the UK seafood industry body. "If you shut off an MPA, it will move the fishing effort somewhere else."
Phil MacMullen, head of environment at Seafish, says a distinction must be made between MPAs created to conserve habitats and biodiversity, and those created for fisheries management purposes. "If you are very lucky, you may find an area designated for conservation also gives you fisheries benefits," he says, but the likelihood is low. Seasonal closures at spawning times, and around specific areas such as nursery grounds, are already used effectively by fishermen.
Currently, there are 4,000 MPAs covering just 0.8% of the world's oceans. New Zealand has already closed 30 per cent of its Exclusive Economic Zone – offshore fishing grounds – to trawlers and Australia is considering a similar move. Under the Marine Bill, the UK Government has committed to designating a coherent network of new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) by 2012, though there is no mention of a percentage target.
Article originally appeared in The UK Observer. by: Andrew Purvis
Friday, April 24, 2009
EU nations agree! Ban on seal products coming!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Plans to protect sharks set to receive backing
They will also discuss an EU shark action plan that was published by the European Commission in January.
originally posted here: http://www.sharktrust.org/content.asp?did=32651