Elasmobranch Protection in Fiji!

Nice!

Schedule 1 of Fiji's Endangered Species Act has been amended to include the Sharks and Rays listed at the top. This is on top of all species listed under CITES, i.e. the Sawfishes under Appendix 1 and the Basking, Whale, White, OWT, Porbeagle, Hammerhead, Silky and Thresher Sharks, and the Mantas and Mobulas under Appendix 2.

Yes I know I know.

It is not perfect - but it is certainly considerable progress. 

After the the failed Shark sanctuary campaign and especially, Andersen's ruinous Operation Requiem, others have had to pick up the pieces and try to re-establish trust, credibility, and a meaningful dialogue - and this may well be an indication that things are slowly looking up.

Baby step by baby step - and no, we definitely do not need your help!

CITES - the hard Work starts now!

 

Top 20 ‘Rays, stingrays, mantas nei’ catchers, 2002-2011 (total capture, tonnes, FAO Fishstat). All countries reporting catches of ‘Giant manta’ (M. birostris) and ‘Mantas, devil rays nei’ are also included - click for detail!

 Any takers? :)

“There was great elation when these sharks and manta rays were listed in CITES this March, but although it was a significant moment for the conservation world, now comes the task of making these listings work in practice as time is running out for some of these species,” said Glenn Sant, TRAFFIC’s Marine Programme Leader.

“CITES listings do not take away the need for comprehensive fisheries management, they represent one critical part of that management through aiming to control trade and prevent international trade in products of these species being sourced from unsustainable or illegal fisheries.”

 “Key to implementing the CITES regulations will be the establishment of chain of custody measures to facilitate enforcement and verification that harvest is legal,” said TRAFFIC’s Research Officer, Victoria Mundy-Taylor, co-author of the new study.

Indeed!

You may want to reserve a good chunk of time to download and then read this remarkable document by Traffic, and big kudos to them for having done an extremely good job. It is as long and comprehensive as it is frustrating, and it illustrates the monumental challenge that is the implementation of the decisions taken this March.

And there are many surprises, like the unmasking of the Maldives as a major Shark fin exporting nation, page 5 which begs the question, how does that dovetail with the Shark sanctuary?

May this be yet another conservation scam like the PIPA?

But I'm digressing as always.

I was particularly interested in Part III, page 27ff.

Read it! It talks about the challenges of implementing the provisions, this especially in those developing nations whose resources are simply not adequate for performing those tasks.

But is that the only solution?

Why is it that everybody assumes that e.g. the Non-Detriment Findings must be financed out of public coffers and conducted by public officials, and not by those who make the money, ie the Shark exporters? Those findings are akin to ecological impact assessments - and those are usually paid for by the applicants and performed by independent contractors, not the authorities!

Is there any rational and legitimate, and for the matter, legal reason why this cannot be applied to Fisheries?

Please re-read this - and this!

Yes those paradigms need to be changed - especially now that the trade has become so big and so lucrative!

Opinions?

Manta Ray of Hope - Publication!

This is as good as it gets!
I've been a big fan of Manta Ray of Hope since its inception and this brilliant document only reinforces my initial enthusiasm. It addresses exhaustively all my questions and shows a clear way forward, i.e. science-based legislative measures, tourism and most importantly, enforcement - and yes, education, too!
Required reading for anybody wanting to talk about the subject!

Big Kudos!
This is how you do it, including having succeeded in uniting the world's most prominent mobulid researchers and conservation advocates behind this brilliant initiative - and wouldn't this also be the perfect template for Shark conservation!
Yes I know, and pigs will fly! :)

For once, I really got nothing to add.
Synopsis here.

Manta Rays - the next Battlefield!

Heartbreaking - dead Mobula, pic by Shawn Heinrichs

Good on these people.
They are finally shining a light on a massacre that has been happening away from the public eye and in the shadow of Shark fishing, the indiscriminate slaughter of Mantas (yes that would be a plural!) and Mobulas.
The project is called Manta Ray of Hope and you can learn about it here.

Shame on me, actually.
The fact is, I've known about it for many years but have frankly totally underestimated its scope.
I've actually even eaten Manta Ray (and not liked it) back in the 80ies in La Paz, Baja where it was being served in all of the restaurants - and apparently still is. Back then, I've also witnessed alot of Mobulas being landed by the native Sperm Whale fishermen of Lamalera and more recently, I've discovered it in a Filipino recipe for a faux Shark dish, and I've even posted disheartening Elasmobranch fishing statistics from 2009 featuring a marked rise in Manta Ray and Mobula landings.
Totally mea culpa for not having caught on to it.

Now, it appears, things have escalated to new dimensions.
Watch this.



More here in an interview with Shawn.

So, apparently, Manta gill rakers are the new fad in Chinese medicine.
I really know way too little about this to venture an educated opinion, apart from the fact that it behooves us all to do whatever we can to try and save these wonderful animals.
I have learned that Mantas only have a single offspring every several years and from that fact alone, it appears unequivocal that any commercial fishing for them is undoubtedly completely unsustainable and simply devastating - maybe even more so than that for Sharks!

Being my usual me, I still would like to raise a couple of points.

• Big Kudos for this initiative!
  BUT, is this more than a mere media-based awareness campaign, i.e. are there real people on the ground pursuing real, tangible pro-Manta conservation measures - and how successful has that been so far?
  Strategies?
  How can we help?


• Is the gill raker trade really driving the fishing, or is it merely a by-product of it?
  I'm asking this because of the shocking population explosion in the lesser developed countries where millions, if not billions of small subsistence fishermen are wiping out the marine resources through veritable protein mining all the way down through the trophic levels and laterally, by consuming what were previously considered to be "junk fish", like Sharks (and here). The answer to this question will likely determine the best way to proceed, see below.
  


• This is most certainly a supply limited fishery.
  Like in the Elephant ivory trade (and that for Shark fins!) where the Asian demand will always be high enough to justify poaching the last Elephant, the demand for those damn gill rakers will always be high enough to wipe out the last Manta. Yes the demand for gill rakers may be a recent, and maybe reversible fad - but let me warn against only trying to re-educate the consumer via a media campaign.
  Like I never cease to repeat, supply limited fisheries need to be tackled where the fishing takes place, i.e. through local fishing bans, MPAs and Sanctuaries.


• One suggestion.
  What about expanding the current Shark sanctuaries to include the protection of Mantas and Mobulas. As far as I know, none of those countries has any active Manta Ray fishery so it should be relatively uncontroversial? Anybody talking to the unequaled team at Pew?

OK, enough wisdom, or whatever.
This is really a great undertaking and timely wake up call, and I totally support it and will do whatever I can to be of assistance.
Seriously, anytime - just say the world.
Again: Kudos!

And because they are so lovely, here's another video.
It depicts Mantas being cleaned by the beautiful endemic Mexican Clarion Angelfish. Hat tip: DNS.
Enjoy!