Protecting the innocent: Marshall Islands shark sanctuary

Image Credit: Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna lewini) swimming over reef © Qldian

The President of the Marshall Islands, Jurelang Zedkaia, declared the world's biggestshark sanctuaryon October 2nd. The parliament or Nitijela unanimously passed a law prohibiting commercial shark fishing in the two million km²piece of ocean surrounding the Pacific islands.

Several legislative moves have recently affected shark fishing. In particular, the monitoring of all vessels that forces them to land their catch at one of the country's ports should help the cause of many species of sharks and光线. In July, a complete ban on鲨鱼钓鱼和fin removalwas announced in all the islands.

Image Credit: Marshall Islands National Shark Sanctuary Map © Pew Environment Group

马特·兰德（Matt Rand）是皮尤（Pewbetway必威官网平台）的鲨鱼保护总监，该总监始于20年前，当时是一家慈善机构，其资金从Pew of Sun Oil Fame的资金中获得。他对麦克罗尼亚和全球许多成功的最新评论是：“我们向马歇尔群岛共和国颁布了最强大的立法来保护我们所看到的鲨鱼。”马歇尔采取此类行动的原因之一是鱼猎者显而易见的原因。当地人声称，礁鲨控制着环礁上的鱼数。如果不吃较大的鱼，则食物链会受到小鱼大屠杀的影响。这些鱼是在食品金字塔底部进行的工作。藻类搭配对于maintain coral; plankton-eaters prevent blooms of the ocean plant life. And the people who eat their fish suppers locally love their favourite species. They could all disappear if the sharks can't do their job.

图片来源：鲨鱼鳍©Jeff Rotman

Palau, the Maldives, Honduras, the Bahamas and Tokelau have also declared shark sanctuaries, while Mexico, inspired by Palau's initiative in 2009, are banning shark and ray fishing as from next year and Colombia is waiting to implement similar laws. Chile has already banned the landing of sharks whose fins are not attached 'naturally' to the animal.

鲨鱼钓鱼的历史没有对动物的正常保护，这也是重要的资源。作为海洋，射线，冰鞋，天使鲨和开放水种的最有用和显而易见的是遍布整个海洋生态系统的各种各样的生态位。这些物种是最古老的鱼类群体之一，非常适合其栖息地，有些人已经成功地生存了4亿年。即使在海中，这一成就几乎是无与伦比的。

Image Credit: Shark fin soup can cost US$100 © Michael James Kavanagh

鲨鱼鳍开始被几个世纪前拍摄，因为中国人认为这几乎是无味的汤。最近，这项贸易的巨大增长促使了许多措施防止某些物种灭绝。例如，扇形锤头（Sphyma leweni）人口已减少98-99％，使其容易受到任何气候或人类变化的影响。成功取决于这些措施的有效性以及其他有多少国家将加入运动，以防止对自然资源的不负责任态度。

麦塔比罗斯特里斯is the largest ray, but only recently revealed it is in fact two separate species. Work is urgently needed to find the specific differences, in case one species is in danger. Rays are among the most popular fish in aquaria because of their adaptive "tameness."

图像：麦塔雷; Credit: © Fiona Ayerst

The useful bottom-dweller called the angel shark is rarely seen, especially with such beautiful camouflage, except when dredged up, but has many species which are critically endangered. You may never see one, without gigantic efforts on our protection of marine habitats.

Image Credit: Angel Shark © Philippe Guillaume

Apart from the magnificentHammerhead spp., other sharks in need of rapid help are the blue shark and even the biggest sharks - thewhale shark(rhincodon typus）.

Image Credit: Whale Shark © DJ Mattaar

和Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus), which are harmless plankton feeders. The tourist dollar is very well invested in these last two, as tours form in order to follow progress when their huge forms are sighted in many countries. Let's hope fervently we will see sharks again, for if 400 million years can disappear without trace, then the portents can be read for the rest of our natural resources.

图像：Basking Shark © Greg Skomal/SWFSC-NOAA

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Topics:鲨鱼/Endangered Species