Sharks help to maintain a dynamic ecological balance in Our Ocean. Gross over-fishing of sharks can causeexplosive increases in their normal food species, which in turn, can create a catastrophic collapse of other fisheries and destruction of countless other marine organisms. Some facts about finning....

• Sharks that are caught and their fins cut off are not always dead when their bodies are thrown back into the sea. Without its fins the shark simply sinks to the bottom of the ocean where it drowns.
• Shark fins, once they are harvested, are then dried to be sold in global markets to individuals and restaurants to be made into shark fin soup!
• Shark fins add little nutritional value or taste to “Shark fin soup”, with chicken, mushrooms and pork added for flavour!
• High levels of toxic mercury have been found in shark fins. At the top of the food chain, sharks consume many smaller mercury carrying species, having the effect of accumulating mercury every time they eat. Source: USA's Food and Drug Administration

Did you know? Shark finning stills occurs right here in NZ, with more than 50,000 killed in our very own waters annually. Say NO to shark finning!

4th June , 2007: Sharkwater - a "Must see!" at the 2008 New Zealand International Film Festival!

"An eye-opening film...visually stunning... this movie will change the way you see our oceans."
- Bonnie Laufer, Tribute Magazine

For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth.

Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.

Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives.

Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth's history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed.

Stewart's remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world's sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind. www.sharkwater.com

Festival dates around New Zealand
Auckland Jul 10 - 27
Christchurch Jul 31 - Aug 17
Dunedin Jul 25 - Aug 10
Gisborne Nov 6 - 19
Greymouth Oct 2 - 8
Hamilton Aug 14 - 31
Levin Oct 28 - Nov 12
Masterton Oct 15 - 29
Napier Aug 20 - Sep 7
Nelson Sep 11 - 24
New Plymouth Sep 4 - 17
Palmerston North Aug 7 - 24
Queenstown Oct 23 - Nov 5
Tauranga Aug 28 - Sep 10
Wellington Jul 18 - Aug 3
Whangarei Nov 13 - 26

New Zealand Film Festivals

3rd June, 2008: 76% of Oceanic Shark Species Endangered
Taste for Shark Fin Soup Is Dooming Species

Scientists have turned up some grim new figures about the state of oceanic sharks: of 21 species of pelagic sharks and rays, 16 are in danger of extinction primarily due to overfishing. That's 76%.

The international study, organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is the first to determine the global threat status of these 21 species, and the results were published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.

The biggest threat to these sharks comes from the fin soup market, though bycatch – inadvertently catching sharks while targeting other fish – is also a problem for some species.

The rise in China's wealth has been described in many ways – an increased demand for automobiles, increased consumption of oil, increased standard of living. But it also means increased demand for an Asian delicacy, shark fin soup. At present, there are simply too many sharks being caught, their fins sliced from their bodies, their carcasses discarded and their fins cooked up in broth.

“The current rate of biodiversity loss is ten to a hundred times greater than historic extinction rates, and as humans make increasing use of ocean resources it is possible that many more aquatic species, particularly sharks, are coming under threat,” said Nicholas Dulvy from the Centre for Environment, Fishers and Aquaculture Science at Lowestoft Laboratory in Lowestoft, U.K. “This does not have to be an inevitability. With sufficient public support and resulting political will, we can turn the tide."

The group made recommendations to governments to better manage fisheries to protect sharks. Individuals can focus on finding other forms of soup to enjoy.

Animal Welfare to investigate shark finning
30 Nov 2007

Animal Welfare says they will be looking into an incident in Nelson where sharks may have been tossed back into the sea alive, after having their fins cut off. A Department of Conservation worker discovered around 30 mutilated sharks, some still alive, in Nelson waters on Tuesday, with a fishing boat in marine park waters nearby.

Cutting fins off sharks, for use in the Asian delicacy of shark fin soup, is legal in New Zealand but under the Animal Welfare Act the fish must be killed. Animal Welfare's investigation manager Greg Reed says if any of the sharks were de-finned while still alive, an investigation would take place to determine if there was any breach of the Act.

U.S. Leads Efforts to Strengthen Global Shark Conservation
21 Nov 2007

At the urging of the Department of State-led U.S. delegation to the United Nations, member states last week agreed to strengthen protections for vulnerable and endangered shark populations around the world.

The agreed language calls on individual nations and international fisheries organizations to take immediate and concerted actions to improve shark conservation and management and to better enforce existing rules on shark fishing, including bans on shark finning.

The resolution calls for, among other things, establishing limits on shark catches, improved assessment of the health of shark stocks, reducing the unintended capture of sharks, and limiting shark fisheries until management measures are adopted.

Ensuring effective conservation and management of sharks is a high priority for the United States. Sharks are particularly susceptible to overexploitation because they are typically long-lived, slow-growing, and produce few young.

Many shark species are apex predators and are vital to the health of the ecosystems they inhabit, so their conservation is an integral part of ecosystem-based fisheries management. Sharks are currently taken in fisheries directed for sharks, and are also caught incidentally in fisheries directed for other species.

Sharks are also subject to the practice of "finning," which is the removal and retention of shark fins and the discard of shark carcasses at sea. One key aspect of the language agreed at the UN negotiations is the call for improved compliance with current bans on shark finning, including measures requiring that sharks be landed with fins attached.

The language will be included and considered during the week of December 10 as part of a larger annual UN resolution on fisheries.

The United States intends to build on the success achieved at the UNGA by promoting shark conservation in other multilateral fora, including the U.S.-led Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking and appropriate Regional Fisheries Management Organizations. Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz

Australia, the United States, Canada, the European Union, and international fisheries agreements around the world ban shark finning. New Zealand is out of step with international practice.

“Shark finning is barbaric, hugely wasteful and is devastating shark populations in the Pacific. Sharks are a vital part of the ecosystem as well as being important in themselves. It is also very probable that a lot of the time the sharks are in fact still alive when finned and dumped even though it is against Government policy.[4]

The New Zealand Fisheries’ Ministry position that finning is ok if they are killed first is clearly the result of pressure from the fishing industry. Kiwis will be shocked to hear that the New Zealand government has allowed officials to put fishing industry profits from this barbaric practice ahead of species survival, ethical practice and environmental health of the sea.”

“ECO calls on New Zealand to oppose all shark finning except where the whole animal is landed. This is the international compromise position that was agreed at the 2004 World Conservation Union international meeting of governments and non-governmental organizations, at which various fishing industries including the New Zealand fishing industry were represented. Source: http://www.eco.org.nz