In 2010, President Porfirio Lobo Sosa of Honduras and President Johnson Toribiong of Palau issued a global challenge to protect sharks from intense fishing pressure. Now, many countries are answering that call.
On September 22, I moderated a high-level event in New York City at which Honduras and Palau hosted representatives from six other coastal and island countries. At the summit, leaders from the Bahamas, Colombia, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, and Micronesia pledged to develop shark sanctuaries totaling up to six million square kilometers, or almost twice the size of India.
Before the summit, Palau, Honduras, the Maldives, and the Bahamas had all declared shark sanctuaries in their waters, and the other countries pledged to do so in the coming months or years. We were all happily surprised, though, when Ambassador Yanerit Morgan of Mexico unexpectedly announced her country's specific plans to declare a moratorium on fishing for sharks and rays in all its waters in 2012.
After the event, shark attack survivors Chuck Anderson and Krishna Thompson presented the representatives with Global Shark Defender awards to express Pew's support and gratitude. Check out the slideshow for pictures of both events and some images of sharks in participants' coastal waters.
Our next update will be an exciting one about the Marshall Islands, so stay tuned.
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Photo Exhibit: Countries respond to global shark conservation challenge at U.N.
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