The law, signed into effect by Lawrence S. Cartwright, the agriculture and fisheries minister, bans all commercial shark fishing in the country’s 243,000-square-mile territorial waters and prohibits trade in shark products.The Bahamas on Tuesday joined the growing global movement to protect sharks, betting that the endangered animals are worth more to visiting divers than they are to fishers.
The Caribbean nation, a renowned diving destination, is famed for its shark encounters.
While the country banned long-line fishing gear 20 years ago in another boon to shark populations, said Eric Carey, executive director of the Bahamas National Trust, ‘‘there were no specific laws in the Bahamas for sharks, the crown jewels of ocean health.’’
The new regulations will ‘‘ensure that that sharks can continue to thrive for generations in our waters, one of the world’s best places to see sharks,’’ Mr. Carey said in a statement.
The new regulations will ‘‘ensure that that sharks can continue to thrive for generations in our waters, one of the world’s best places to see sharks,’’ Mr. Carey said in a statement.
As I noted in a post here on June 24, the shark protection movement has been gathering momentum, particularly in countries that see a close link between sharks and dive-tourist dollars, even though the economics are not always that clear-cut. Honduras, the Maldives and the Micronesian nation of Palau are other diving destinations that have announced shark-friendly polices recently.
‘‘These countries have responded to the research showing that sharks are more valuable alive than dead, so they’re more aggressively protecting them,’’ said Michael Skoletsky, executive director of Shark Savers, a nongovernmental organization based in New York. Jill Hepp, a shark conservationist with the Pew Environment Group, said that 2011 was ‘‘fast becoming the year of the shark.’’
Pew has been among the most active organizations encouraging governments to create shark sanctuaries. It worked with the Bahamas National Trust to drum up public support for shark protection after a company in the islands announced plans to begin exporting shark fins, which are prized for soup.
Some 73 million sharks are thought to be taken each year for their fins, and many are dumped back into the ocean while still alive. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that up to one-third of all the cartiliginous fishes in the world, a group to which sharks belong, are threatened with extinction.
Conservationists hope that the momentum will help them carry the day in California, where a bill banning the possession and sale of shark fins passed the state house but stalled June 28 in the Senate.
The state Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water passed the shark fin bill, but on condition that it be amended to make it more palatable to Chinese-Americans and restaurateurs, who had complained that it was discriminatory in its construction, unfairly singling out Chinese cuisine. Opponents have lined up powerful lobbyists and may be able to water the bill down enough to defeat its purpose, Mr. Skoletsky said.
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