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2010回顧,善待鯊魚的一年

2011年01月13日
摘譯自2011年1月6日ENS美國,華盛頓特區報導;洪美惠編譯;蔡麗伶審校

儘管有許多鯊魚物種仍面臨滅絕的風險,去年世界各地的鯊魚保育卻有進展。美國總統歐巴馬在華盛頓簽署「2010年鯊魚保護法」,此法可防止漁民割下鯊魚鰭之後,再將鯊魚扔回海中任其死亡,以增加對鯊魚的保護。

在香港出售的魚翅。圖片節錄自:Vivian Chan相本。 身為魚翅湯的珍貴材料,鯊魚鰭成為許多船隻的獵捕目標。新法將可防堵「2000年禁捕鯊魚鰭法」的漏洞,只要不是在船上割鰭,舊法允許船隻運輸非法獲得的鯊魚鰭。

2008年7月,美國國家海洋暨大氣管理局開始要求,被捕鯊魚進港時要附著魚鰭,但這些規定只適用於大西洋、加勒比海和墨西哥灣的美國漁業公司,而在太平洋不適用。新法則延伸這條規定到太平洋。

2010年5月,夏威夷州長林格爾簽署了全國首個鯊魚保護法案。從2010年7月1日起,在該州擁有或出售鯊魚鰭便屬於非法行為。

潛水員餵鯊魚。圖片來自:Macorig Paolo相本。去年2月,高達113個國家簽署了聯合國所支持的野生動物保護條約以保護遷徙性鯊魚,這是保護瀕絕鯊魚物種的重要里程碑。各國政府代表在馬尼拉「遷徙性野生動物物種保育會議」中簽署鯊魚保護協議。協議中涵蓋7種鯊魚物種,包括,大白鯊、姥鯊、鯨鯊、鼠鯊、白斑角鯊、灰鯖鮫和長臂灰鯖鮫。

11月份,印尼宣布了面積17,760平方英哩的拉賈安帕群島為鯊魚保護區。

12月份,北馬里亞納群島聯邦參議院投票取締魚翅貿易。

1年多前,太平洋島國帛琉宣佈其專屬經濟水域區為鯊魚保護區,有超過63萬平方公里為鯊魚禁獵區。

當鯊魚受到過度捕撈時,其族群特別脆弱,因為牠們可以存活100年而生長非常緩慢。如果遭受過度捕撈,因其繁殖率較低,以致恢復的可能性極小。

根據2010年IUCN瀕危物種紅皮書,世界上1044種鯊魚有17%面臨滅絕的危險。然而目前為止,人類對於47%的鯊魚所知有限,甚至無法評估他們是否受到威脅。

 

Globally, 2010 Was a Good Year for Sharks
WASHINGTON, DC, January 6, 2010 (ENS)

Although many shark species are still at risk of extinction, around the world shark conservation advanced last year. In Washington on Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed into law the Shark Conservation Act of 2010, which increases protection for sharks from the practice of shark finning, by which fishermen cut the fins off sharks and throw them back into the sea to die.

Many vessels target sharks for their fins, prized as an ingredient in shark fin soup. The new law will close a loophole in the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 that allowed vessels to transport fins obtained illegally, as long as the sharks were not finned aboard that vessel.

In July 2008, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began requiring that sharks be landed with their fins attached, but these regulations applied only to U.S. fisheries in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico, not the Pacific Ocean. The new law extends that rule to the Pacific.

In May 2010, then Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle signed the nation's first shark protection bill into law. As of July 1, 2010 it became illegal to possess or sell shark fins in the state.

In February 2010, a landmark agreement to protect shark species threatened with extinction was reached as 113 countries signed up to a United Nations-backed wildlife treaty to conserve migratory sharks.

Government representatives signed the shark protection agreement in Manila at a meeting of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. They agreed to include seven shark species in the agreement - the great white, basking, whale, porbeagle, spiny dogfish, shortfin and longfin mako sharks.

In November Indonesia declared a Shark Sanctuary for the entire 17,760 square miles of the Raja Ampat archipelago.

In December, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands' Senate voted to outlaw the shark fin trade.

It has been just over a year since the Pacific island nation of Palau declared the waters within its exclusive economic zone to be a shark sanctuary, banning shark fishing over a 630,000 sq km area.

Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they grow slowly and can live as long as 100 years. Their relatively low reproductive rates give sharks little chance to recover if they are overfished.

According to the 2010 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17 percent of world's 1,044 shark species are threatened with extinction. Currently, human knowledge of about 47 percent of shark species is too limited to even assess whether or not they are threatened.

全文及圖片詳見:ENS報導

作者

蔡麗伶(LiLing Barricman)

In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.