TS20100721SaveOurSharks

Incredibly, 100 million sharks are killed each year - a jaw-dropping 270,000 sharks fished each and every day. This is pushing many shark species to the edge of extinction. Urgent action is needed by the next Australian Government if this wonderfully diverse, awe-inspiring and threatened group of species is to survive into the future.

Successive Australian governments have shown real fight and global leadership on the issue of whaling. We ask that Australia do the same to safeguard the future of sharks - arguably the most threatened group of species in our oceans.

With an election looming, we ask your parties to make it clear that shark conservation will be a priority for the next term of government by making election commitments to:

1) Introduce a moratorium on the approval of any further exports of shark products. Shark fishing severely depletes target populations and has knock-on effects across marine ecosystems. It is irresponsible and unjustifiable for the Australian Government to approve any further shark product exports as "ecologically sustainable."

2) Phase out targeted shark fishing in Australia. There is not one existing example of a fully sustainable shark fishery anywhere in Australia, or indeed the world. If Australia is committed to sustainable fisheries we need to rethink shark fishing.

3) Establish a Shark Sanctuary in Australia's seas. Australia has the opportunity to join countries like the Maldives, Palau and Honduras in becoming a world leader in conserving marine biodiversity by declaring its seas as a shark sanctuary.

4) Produce a Shark Strategy to drive the process of placing conservation rather than exploitation at the heart of how we view this group of threatened species in Australia, much in the way we changed our national thinking about hunting whales 30 years ago.

In the face of collapsing shark populations around the globe, I urge you and your Parties to make clear election commitments to do all in your power to save our precious sharks.

Yours sincerely,

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