On July 14, environmental teams around the world celebrated Shark Awareness Day, in the middle of Shark Awareness Week, yes, in honor of an animal that has long been demonized as a stupid killer, since the days of “Shark,” when hit movie led to the killing of millions of sharks.
(By the way, the book’s writer, Peter Benchley, knowing the damage he had caused, spent the rest of his life protecting marine conservation and shark cover until his death in 2006. ‘Forum, the National Council of the Environmental Defense Fund, was quoted as saying, “The shark in an updated ‘Shark’ may simply not be the bad guy; it deserves to be written as the victim, because, the world, the sharks are much more oppressed than the oppressors. »)
So why are we worried about these “evil” creatures?” Protecting sharks in the Philippines is our most productive interest,” reads the crusade by Save Sharks Network Philippines (SSNP), a coalition of scientific, non-governmental and tourism organizations in the country, to pass the Shark, Stingray and Chimera Conservation Act. (See the signature crusade here: bataris. org. ph/petitions/revise-senate-bill-nine05-pass-the-shark-and-ray-protection-law. ) The transportation, import and export of all sharks, rays and chimeras and any component of them in the country”, also known as the Shark Conservation Bill of the Philippines, was first introduced through Senator Risa Hontiveros on July 4, 2017 (Senate Bill 1863), and back through Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the ninth of July (House Bill No. 7nine12), in the 17th Congress of the Philippines in 2017.
Now the SSNP is pushing for the bill to be in this XVIII Congress and before the elections.
“Their presence is favorable for our economy and our ecosystems,” he continued. “Shark fishing has been practiced at all times in the Philippines, with municipalities dominating advertising fishing. Shark-based tourism also contributes to the local economy, as in Donsol in Sorsogon and Malapascua Island in Cebu. Tourism supports networks and employment opportunities for citizens and businesses The ecological benefits of sharks come from maintaining healthy coral reefs and seagrass beds, physically powerful fish populations, and functioning nutrient cycles in the seas. populations mean healthy seas.
There are more than 1,000 species of sharks in the world’s oceans, totaling about two hundred in the Philippines, from sublime whitetip sharks to giant whale sharks and treats that have put the country on the biodiversity map. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the Convention on Migratory Species, but only 25 species are found in the Philippines.
On July 14, two SSNP member organizations, Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines (MWWP) and Save Philippine Seas (SPS), in partnership with The Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc. (PRRCF), Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP) and the Ministry of Tourism (DOT), organized “A Virtual Dive with Sharks”, a broadcast occasion that allowed non-divers to see what divers see underwater at Tubbataha in the Sulu Sea and on danjugan Island in the Western Blacks.
Streamed on MWWP and SPS’s Facebook pages, the experience, hosted through Chris Ng, featured PRCF’s Kaila Ledesma Trebol, who handles Danjugan; Angelique Songco, TRNP Superintendent of Protected Areas, and Maria Retchie Pagliawan, TRNP Research Officer; Anna Oposa, executive director of SPS; and DOT Undersecretary Rica Bueno, Region 6 Chief Christine Mansiñares and Region 4B Representative Faye Reyes.
Trebol shared videos of blacktip shark hatchlings swimming in the shallow waters of Danjugan, a famous sanctuary that has long been the site of conservation camps for youth and adults, until the pandemic temporarily ended those visits. when the borders opened up again: “After all, the young people of today are the environmentalists of tomorrow.
Oposa, wearing a diving mask, led the virtual tubbataha tour, highlighting a number of sharks and rays discovered at the World Heritage site, while Songco, meanwhile, revealed how clinical examination in Tubbataha continued despite the absence of hikers, while Pagliawan recounted how a 3-meter tiger shark appeared on his last reef tracking trip , 150 kilometers from the city of Puerto Princesa, just two weeks before.
The SSNP is pushing for the public to help move forward on the aforementioned bill, which will contribute to the sustainable control of shark populations, as a general ban would also have a negative impact on subsistence fishermen.
What can you do? Sign this petition and percentage it on your social media Worry about shark projects and studies (contact MWWP and SPS for clues; check their Facebook pages) Don’t buy pieces made of sharks, rays and their by-products and derivatives, yes, this includes accessories made with exotic skins and shark fin soup. Report shark and ray sightings in rainforest markets or restaurants to the SSNP (visit savephilippineseas. org). More importantly, look for more. More people are killed by dengue mosquito bites, wars, random shootings and even fallen coconuts than by shark attacks. Keep in mind that if those magnificent predators disappear, the oceans will collapse and with it, life on this planet.
current. dynamics. insider.