The world’s biggest sanctuary covers about 768,547 square miles, which is roughly the same size as Indonesia, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia, and about 8 times larger than England.
In a recent press release from the Pew Environment Group, the director of global shark conversation Matt Rand has honored the Marshall Islands for developing strict legislation aimed toward protecting sharks that have been hunted to the verge of extinction. He also emphasized safety measures regarding sharks.
The Marshall Islands government passed strict legislation to protect this species. Commercial Shark Fishing is completely banned according this new legislation. The legislation also put a lot of emphasis on prohibiting the sale of sharks.
Major provisions of the new law include:
- Fishing sharks commercially is completely prohibited.
- Any kind of sale of sharks or shark products is banned.
- Any accidentally or unintentionally caught shark shall be set free.
- People who will violate this law will be monetarily punished with fines ranging from $25,000 to $200,000.
- If anyone is found to have shark products they will be fined the market value of the banned item.
- Any kinds of shipping material or fishing gear that are lethal to sharks are completely banned.
The initiative to protect sharks is highly appreciated and warmly welcomed by the foreign world. Tony DeBrum, a respected senator and representative of Kwajalein Atoll, believes that it is very important to protect sharks as they have importance culturally, environmentally and economically. The president of Republic of Marshall Islands, Jurelang Zedkaia, has made many attempts to create the safety measurements for sharks. According to Tony DeBrum, though the Republic of the Marshall Islands is a small country, its water is the safest place for sharks as they are protected here. He also demanded the help and cooperation of Micronesian leaders to join the islands in making a good regional sanctuary. The Marshall Islands have joined with Palau, Honduras, Maldives, Tokelau and the Bahamas to develop a common goal of protecting Sharks and ensure protection of the survival of the sharks.
The attempt undertaken by the Republic of Marshall Islands really deserves some credit. There are many developed countries available who seems to have no intention regarding the extinction process of Sharks. People now started to believe that, some other countries will also work hand in hand to protect this rare kind of spices.
The Republic of Marshall Islands consists of twenty nine atolls and five isolated islands that are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, Nauru, Kiribati, Wake Island and Micronesia. Typhoons visit these islands occasionally. The general climate is hot and humid. It obtained its independence in the year 1986. The Marshall Islands under the German Imperial control during the First World War. Sixty Seven nuclear weapons were tested in these islands just after the Second World War. The national president is elected by the vote of the senators of Nitijela. English is the official language here, though the population is not so fluent.
