(Cape Eleuthera, Bahamas: Press Release) The marine conservation leadership of The Bahamas, which created a shark sanctuary throughout the country 4 years ago, has attracted a delegation of United Nations ambassadors from 10 countries to Cape Eleuthera to learn from research scientists the latest discoveries in shark ecology. The United Nations Shark Sanctuary Coalition gathered together under the chairmanship of His Excellency Ambassador to the UN Dr. Elliston Rahming to learn about the behaviour and life cycle patterns of deep-ocean sharks, bull sharks, reef sharks, and sting rays and the effects of long-line fishing and the implications that the research going on at Cape Eleuthera Institute has for shark conservation on policy making.
Montel Williams (right), the former US naval officer and television personality supported and attended the gathering as the special envoy to the UN Shark Sanctuary Coalition, along with several other shark conservation enthusiasts, dive experts, environmental organizations and government leaders. “We are meant to act as stewards” Williams opened the gathering, “and today is an auspicious day in history. What we are doing here today is getting people excited about protecting the oceans. Our children have a right to see and appreciate the oceans the way they are now. But they won’t see the oceans the way they are now, if we keep treating the oceans they way we have been. The problems we face aren’t 30, 40, 50 years down the road; they are here today. And there are solutions available to us right now, today.”
Not only was there an emotional appeal to get involved, Mr. Williams also shared an economic rationale: “A shark alive in the ocean is worth a million dollars more than a dead shark” said Mr. Williams, acknowledging that tourists pay specifically to come here and appreciate these animals alive in their ocean habitat over and over again.
The representatives attending from Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Suriname and St. Vincent and the Grenadines responded to Mr. Williams’ call to action. “We need more awareness about what is going on in the ocean because our economies depend on it”, shared Ambassador H.E. Menissa Rambally, the representative from Saint Lucia.
The researchers shared their perspective on how to create that awareness and sense of stewardship. “The ocean habitat deeper than 200 metres below the surface is the single largest ecosystem on the planet” said Dr. Edd Brooks, senior shark research scientist at Cape Eleuthera Institute, “and we know so very little about what is happening there where it’s dark, cold, nutrient-poor, and the life cycle of sharks is poorly described. This is what drives our research efforts and that of our graduate students, who support The Island School research projects. We are creating new knowledge together with young people.”
The delegates were able to see first-hand the environment and animals they are charged with understanding and protecting.
The group gathers around to examine a stingray at the sand bar off Cape Eleuthera
Over the past ten years Dr. Brooks, in collaboration with Pew Charitable Trusts, Save our Seas Foundation, and leading private philanthropists, has captured a pioneering glimpse of the life of the top ocean predators. “From some of the first long term satellite-tracking data we’ve collected in this hemisphere on shark behaviour, there are some important regional-scale implications for conservation that we have shared with the United Nations Shark Council who are charged with advancing worldwide efforts to protect them.” Continuing research led by Cape Eleuthera Institute on the economic value of live sharks to the Bahamian economy from dive tourism promises to more deeply understand the impact of shark conservation policies.
“Our nations are not small-island states, they are big-ocean states” said Eric Carey, director of the Bahamas National Trust, which has been at the forefront of Bahamian marine and land conservation for decades. “There are considerable conservation opportunities if we are working together, within the country and at a regional scale. Efforts like these, including the existing prohibition on the commercial harvest or trade and use of any shark fins or parts within the The Bahamas, ensure that sharks can continue to thrive for generations in our waters, one of the world’s best places to see sharks.”
The delegates hold a lemon shark in a sleep state of tonic immobility during a population survey and tagging exercise
