German scientists say sharks, long considered as just aquatic killing machines, apparently have feelings too and are more likely to mate if the right music is played to them.

James Last, Justin Timberlake and Salt-N-Pepa are among the artists who get the sharks in the mood for love beneath the waves but Britney Spears left them cold.

The experiment, conducted by 10 Sea Life centres in Germany was launched because of a slowdown in the breeding of captive sharks in the country.


Read full article: 'How do you make a shark mate?'

(AP) An international conference on endangered species banned almost all trade Monday in sawfish _ large shark-like rays whose long snouts bristling with teeth are in high demand among collectors.

All seven species of sawfish are listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union due mainly to overfishing.

They are highly valued for their fins, meat and snouts known as rostra which can be up to 6 1/2 feet long. They also are caught and traded as live animals for aquaria and parts of their bodies are used in traditional Asian medicines.


Read full article: 'Trade Banned For Endangered Sawfish'

WEST OCEAN CITY, Md. – The nation's largest animal rights group wants to end the Ocean City Shark Tournament, saying shark fishing techniques are barbaric and the tournament harms dwindling populations of thresher, blue and mako sharks.
The Humane Society of the United States has purchased newspaper ads and banners and begun a letter-writing campaign to the Ocean City mayor and City Council, seeking to end the tournament after this year.


Read full article: 'Humane Society targets Eastern Shore shark tournament'

By Richard Black

Attempts to restrict trade in two threatened shark species through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have failed.

Delegates voted down EU proposals to limit trade in the spiny dogfish, sold in UK fish and chip shops as huss or rock salmon, and the porbeagle.


Read full article: 'Shark trade restriction bid fails'

San Diego, California (Jun 10, 2007 19:08 EST) Isla Guadalupe, Mexico has become the internationally recognized destination for divers seeking unprecedented encounters with Great White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias.) The 90 square mile island located in the Pacific is also home to many rare endemic species of animals and plants.

In 2005 Mexico declared the island a Bio-Sphere Reserve under the watchful eye of CONANP the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas. As is the case with many watch dog and eco enforcement organizations world wide, long term funding for actual on site protections of this resource and the Great Whites that seasonally inhabit these pristine waters do not exist at this time.


Read full article: 'Groups Team Up To Launch GuadalupeFund.Org'

Some 450 million years ago, sharks and humans shared a common ancestor, making sharks our distant cousins.

And according to recent research, this kinship is evident in our DNA, as at least one shark species possesses several genes that are nearly identical to those in humans.


Read full article: 'Humans have a bit of shark in them'

By Russell Drumm

The Humane Society of the United States and the East Hampton Group for Wildlife are asking the Town of East Hampton as well as the County Legislature to help close down Montauk’s annual string of shark tournaments.

The first of the 2007 season is scheduled to be held from the Star Island Yacht Club for two days starting on June 14. Tournament organizers contend that the economic and educational benefits of the tournaments outweigh any negatives.


Read full article: 'Ban Shark Tournaments?'

CORPUS CHRISTI - After he files some paperwork, Corpus Christi fisherman Randall Rickerson will be the new state record holder in the bull shark category. But the monster he pulled out of Aransas Bay might not last long at the top. Bigger predators now have a highway into our local bays.

Dr. David McKee has been fishing for and studying sharks in Corpus Christi for 50 years. But when the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi professor heard about a potential state record bull shark caught in Aransas BaY, one word tells the story.

"Wow," McKee said.


Read full article: 'Large sharks new, dangerous presence in local bays'

By Diane Ako

HONOLULU (KHNL) - At a lengthy meeting Friday, with many impassioned testifiers both for and against the issue, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources gave federal scientists permission to kill Galapagos sharks that have been attacking and killing young seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Federal scientists say killing the sharks will save the endangered Hawaiian monk seal from extinction. There are only 1,200 seals left in the world. The board will allow the killing of The 5 sharks this summer inside the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

George "Bud" Antonelis, protected-species division chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Islands Region, heads the shark culling effort. His

request was approved by all three co-managers of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument: NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Source - KHNL

Boston, Massachusetts (May 29, 2007 14:06 EST) Sharks are known to have a keen sense of smell, which in many species is critical for finding food. However, according to new research from Boston University marine biologists, sharks can not use just their noses to locate prey; they also need their skin – specifically a location called the lateral line. The lateral line is an organ used by all fish to detect, with exquisite sensitivity, movement and vibration in the surrounding water. According to the research team, this is similar to how humans can sense air flow with the small hairs on the face. Until now, it had not been demonstrated that the lateral line also aids in the tracking of odor plumes.


Read full article: 'Sharks Use Their Nose, Special Skin To Locate Smells'

LAS BARRANCAS, Mexico - Year after year, beach season brings accounts of harrowing shark attacks as people around the world plunge into the surf to escape summer's heat.

But the reality is that these fearsome predators kill an average of four people worldwide every year, while humans kill anywhere from 26 million to 73 million sharks annually, according to recent calculations by an international team of scientists.


Read full article: 'Fish story's new reality is that man bites shark'

Federal scientists desperate to save the endangered Hawaiian monk seal from extinction want permission to kill Galapagos sharks that have been attacking and killing young seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

With just 1,200 seals left, "the seals are globally endangered while the sharks are not," said Dan Polhemus, state Division of Aquatic Resources administrator.


Read full article: 'NOAA eyes shark kill'

Claims there are fewer than 500 grey nurse sharks on the east coast have been used by the State Government to justify locking anglers out of reefs along NSW.

But a photograph, taken recently at Seal Rocks on the Mid-North Coast, is of a congregation of at least 60 grey nurses. This would mean 20 per cent of the entire NSW population of sharks was in the one small reef complex.

"To have 20 per cent of the population in one place is not mathematical or logical, especially when we claim we don't know where their habitats are," a NSW Fisheries source told The Daily Telegraph.


Read full article: 'Warnings over shark numbers don't add up'

Female hammerhead sharks can reproduce without having sex, scientists confirm.
The evidence comes from a shark at Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska which gave birth to a pup in 2001 despite having had no contact with a male.

Genetic tests by a team from Belfast, Nebraska and Florida prove conclusively the young animal possessed no paternal DNA, Biology Letters journal reports.


Read full article: 'Captive shark had 'virgin birth''

CANBERRA, Australia, May 11, 2007 (ENS) - Habitat for a harmless shark that is one of Australia’s most threatened marine species was protected today by a new marine reserve in Commonwealth waters off Australia's east coast.

The Australian government announced the creation of a 300 hectare reserve to protect grey nurse sharks at the Cod Grounds, a key aggregation site about four miles off the New South Wales coast, near Port Macquarie.

The Cod Grounds Commonwealth Marine Reserve will come into effect on May 28, said the Department of Environment and Water Resources, DEWR, in a statement.


Read full article: 'Australia's Newest Marine Reserve Safeguards Sharks'