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SHARK ROUTE successfully arrived to Playa Cuajiniquil

Cuajiniquil, Guanacaste. December 23, 2009

This week the Shark Route was carried out in the coastal community of Cuajiniquil, located in Guanacaste in the North Pacific Costa Rica. This activity was achieved with the cooperation of Cuajiniquil Development Association and the coordination of the Guanacaste Conservation Area of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET) of Costa Rica. Shark Route is an innovative project that seeks to inform students about the importance of coastal marine resources, especially sharks. The purpose of the project is to create a new vision about sharks, and their role in the aquatic ecosystem, and specially let the children know that sharks are not fearful creatures, and that they are in fact, a vulnerable species that accomplish a vital role in the trophic chain of the oceans.

With the slogan “Learning about sharks and our oceans” the Shark Route visited the Cuajiniquil community, where 50 children share experiences and learn about the importance of sharks and the marine resources. This coastal community, like many others, depends on marine resources as the main source of livelihood for its inhabitants. Ilena Zanella, president of Misión Tiburón, believes that this initiative represents an excellent opportunity to stimulate in young students the respect to marine life and, particularly to sharks, vulnerable creatures of our oceans.
The Shark Route is funded mainly by the international organization The Rufford Small Grants Foundation and it was carried out in others coastal communities. To learn more about the projects and the initiatives currently being conducted by Misión Tiburón, please visit the website (www.misiontiburon.org) or write an email to the address info@misitiburon.org

Misión Tiburón is a Costa Rican nonprofit ONG, whose goal is to promote research, management and conservation of sharks and marine life in our oceans.

September 25, 2009

Palau: the World`s First Shark Sanctuary

Last week, the President of Palau`s Republic, Johnson Toribiong, during a session of the United Nations General Assembly announced that the Exclusive Economic Zone of this tiny republic will be converted into a Shark Sanctuary, banning the commercial shark fishing in this waters. The new protected area will cover about 600 000 squared kilometers, that represents the size of France.

In this way, the Palau`s President recognizes the importance of sharks in the marine ecosystems and the dramatic trends of their populations around the world. The sanctuary `s aim is to protect the sharks endangered species that live or visit the Palau's Archipelago waters.

This Republic makes a step without precedent; in fact it is the first country in the world that declares its entire Exclusive Economic Zone as Shark Sanctuary.

SHARKS INTERNATIONAL

The organizing committee of Sharks International extends an invitation to assist to this unique event that will be carried out in Cairns, Queensland, Australia from the 6th – 11th of June 2010. The aim of this conference is to get international elasmobranches (sharks and rays) experts together, and to provide young researchers and students an opportunity to interact with well known Scientifics and exchange experiences and ideas to improve the conservation and management of elasmobranches.

In the last decades, these species have been globally affected by anthropogenic actions and several environmental factors. That`s why common actions and strategies should be created to improve the conservation of elasmobranches’ endangered species. Therefore, this conference is a great opportunity to establish international bonds between researchers of several universities, non governmental organizations, governmental and regional bodies.

The registration and abstract submission for the conference opens November 1st, and if you want more information about the event and how to participate, you can visit the website http://www.sharksinternational.org/.