Shark fishing ban in the Bahamas

6 July 2011 Last updated at 04:13 GMT Some 40 species of sharks inhabit the waters of the Atlantic Ocean archipelago The Bahamas has banned shark fishing in its waters and prohibited the sale, import and export of shark products.

The new law will effectively turn all 630,000 sq km (243,000 square miles) of the nation's territorial waters into a shark sanctuary.

The ban was approved by Agriculture Minister Larry Cartwright in the capital, Nassau, on Tuesday.

The archipelago joins Honduras, the Maldives and Palau in outlawing shark fishing.

The government also increased shark-fishing fines from $3,000 (?1,900) to $5,000.

Sharks are considered at risk due to demand for their fins in Chinese cuisine - some 73 million of the sea predators are killed each year, environmentalists say.

Needing protection

In 1993 the Bahamas banned long-line fishing, which limited shark fishing and protected 40 species of sharks inhabiting its waters.

But shark fishing was not banned outright, and when a local seafood company announced last year that it planned to export shark meat and fins to Hong Kong, activists called for a new law to be introduced.

Environmentalists welcomed the ban. Neil McKinney, president of the Bahamas National Trust, which manages the country's resources, said sharks played an extremely important role in balancing the ecosystem.

"They desperately need protection if we're not going to drive them to extinction," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Tourism is a major industry in the Bahamas, and shark-diving earns it $80m a year in revenue, according to a recent survey.

The country's main island, New Providence, is home to Jaws Beach, where one of the Jaws films was shot. Last year, the remains of a boatman who had disappeared off the beach were found in the stomach of a tiger shark caught by an investment banker.

The US-based Pew Environment Group said each reef shark brought some $250,000 to the archipelago's economy.

Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette said he did not think the ban would affect relations with China, which has increased trade with the Bahamas in recent years.

"This is in keeping with the government's commitment to pursue conservation policies and strategies in order to safeguard the marine and terrestrial environment," the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

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Longline fishing killing seabirds

8 June 2011 Last updated at 09:56 By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature Albatrosses will dive to reach food just under the surface Up to 300,000 seabirds are killed every year by longline fisheries, according to a study.

This new global estimate of seabird bycatch was carried out by scientists from the RSPB and Birdlife International.

Commercial longlines can be hundreds of kilometres long, with more than 1,000 bait hooks along the line.

Continue reading the main story Albatrosses are extremely efficient flyers, using up more energy when landing and taking off than they do while in the airThe tubenoses is an order of seabirds which contains the albatrosses and various families of petrels. They get their name from their prominent nostrilsSeabirds, including endangered albatrosses, often dive for the bait and become ensnared by the hooks.

Dr Orea Anderson from the RSPB, who led the study, told BBC Nature that the study took four years to complete.

She and her colleagues compiled all the available data on seabird bycatch from fisheries throughout the world.

This pinpointed some fishing fleets that were particularly problematic.

One Spanish longline fleet on the Gran Sol grounds off the coast of Ireland, for example, could be responsible for killing about 50,000 birds annually, according to the review.

The Japanese tuna fleet was also highlighted; it is estimated to have claimed 20,000 birds each year and to have had the largest impact on albatrosses.

Longline fisheries claim an estimated 300,000 seabirds annually Simple solution

The numbers of seabird deaths are unsustainable at the moment," said Dr Anderson.

"All we need to do to reduce that mortality is use bird scarers where the lines enter the water," she said.

"Or weight lines so the bait hooks are beyond the reach of a seabird's dive."

The RSPB has called on regulators to make the use of these methods mandatory for longline fisheries.

Dr Cleo Small, senior policy officer for the Global Seabird Programme and co-author of the review, commented: "With the UK's Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic holding a third of the world's breeding albatrosses, the UK has a major responsibility to ensure seabird-friendly fisheries.

Albatrosses often dive for bait on the line and become ensnared on the hooks

"The findings of this review (also) place a heavy onus on the forthcoming EU Plan of Action for Seabirds to deliver a robust set of remedial measures capable of reducing the impact of longline and other fisheries on seabird populations in EU waters and beyond."

Dr Andy Clements, director of the British Trust for Ornithology commented: "The importance of the UK Overseas Territories, holding such a significant proportion of the world's breeding albatrosses, means we have a special responsibility to take notice of these scientific findings, and to seek funds for further research work to support global seabird conservation."

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