Including photographs of Palau's much-loved sharks and rays. Photographs by Simon Rogerson
Tiger Shark
Eagle Ray
Grey Reef Shark
Oceanic White Tip Shark
Silky Shark
Black Tip Reef Shark
Whale Shark
White Tip Reef Shark
The Pacific nation of Palau is to create the world's first shark sanctuary, banning all fishing of sharks and stingrays in its territorial waters. Shark conservationists are hoping the move will create a domino effect, leading other nations to create similar sanctuaries.
The country's leader, President Johnson Toribiong, announced Palau's environmental plans when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, bringing the shark-finning issue to the attention of the political elite.
'Palau will declare its territorial waters and extended economic zone to be the first officially recognized sanctuary for sharks,' he said. President Toribiong called for a global moratorium on shark-finning and an end to unregulated bottom trawling on the high seas.
Palau's shark sanctuary encompasses 240,000 square miles, including its exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 miles from its coastline. The sanctuary will shelter more than 130 species of elasmobranches - including hammerheads, leopard sharks, oceanic sharks and white and black tip reef sharks, in addition to stingrays and other elasmobranches.
The brutal irony is that while Palau is the nation with the greatest commitment to shark conservation, it has scant resources to enforce its rules. There is only one boat available to patrol the massive area, in which international illegal fishing vessels have thus far operated without restrictions.
A recent aerial survey counted 70 illegal fishing vessels inside Palau's waters. 'We'll do the very best we can, given our resources,' President Toribiong said. 'The purpose of this is to call attention to the world to the killing of sharks for commercial purposes, including to get the fins to make shark fin soups, and then they throw the bodies in the water
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