The campaign objective is two-fold:
To stop selling of shark products in supermarket chains, restaurants and hotels. Through delivering 10,000 petitions from public on demand for sustainable seafood and on request for no selling of sharks and through promoting the WWF seafood guide to consumers.
To stop promotion of shark consumption in national TV stations. Through delivering 10,000 petition from public on demand for sustainable seafood and on request for no promotion of shark culinary on TV shows
Aside from collaboration with the Ministry many Indonesian celebrities and personalities support this campaign. I copied my colleague Dewi Satriani the leader of the campaign for further questions.
The report, An Overview of Shark Utilization in the Coral Triangle Region, examines the catch, trade, and management of sharks in waters of the six Coral Triangle countries, plus the neighbouring countries of Vietnam and Fiji and remains available via http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/coraltriangle/publications/?206126/AN-OVERVIEW-OF-SHARK-UTILISATION-IN-THE-CORAL-TRIANGLE-REGION .
Shark Campaign Background
As number one shark fishing country according to FAO, Indonesia contributes 15% of global sharks catch. In 2007, based on export statistics from MMAF, there are 800 tons of exported dried shark fins products worth USD 7,302,529. But this revenue falls short of providing a better livelihood for fisher groups. Shark fishermen remain mostly poor. And the shark fin production seems to decrease under a lack of shark fisheries management. In 2012 there were only 434 tons of dried shark fins products exported. Many scientists concluded that the decrease is caused by overfishing of sharks.
In many areas, the economic value of shark meat and products is less than could be earned from shark related ecotourism enterprise. In 2011, the Australian Institute of Marine Science conducted a study on Shark diving in Palau. The result is shocking: the shark diving in Palau was responsible for the generation of the annual tax revenue of US$1.5 million to the government and US$1.2 million per year in salaries to the local community. In a nut shell, it becomes increasingly clear that the short term economic benefit of shark fishing do not weigh up to long term benefits of a healthy balanced population that includes such apex predators.
This campaign is part of WWF Indonesia’s Sustainable Seafood Campaign, with specific target to reduce consumption of shark species. As the largest archipelago country in the world, Indonesia should to take part in global movement of sharks conservation efforts. This campaign is held in Jakarta. It will make Jakarta a pioneer among big cities in Indonesia to support shark conservation through consumers’ perspective.
Jakarta will join other big cities such as:
1. California, Washington, Oregon, Illinois where possession, sale and trade of shark fins was prohibited.
2. Ontario, Toronto also ban the possession, sale or consumption of shark fin products.
3. Mexico where shark finning is prohibited and also banned shark fishing several months each year.
4. Beijing (Chinese Government) which prohibit to serve shark fin soup in state banquet.
5. And Taiwan where shark finning in domestic fleets is prohibited.
Please sign the petition, we need more signatures so it would be great if you could motivate your colleagues and friends to do the same.
Our website: www.wwf.or.id/sosharks
Facebook fanpage: facebook.com/wwfsosharks–
