The Ocean Realm Society will spearhead an email campaign, initiated by noted underwater shark photographer Wolfgang Leander, opposing the business practice of the online trader Alibaba.com, which provides shark traders with a method to buy and sell shark body parts.

David Lockwood
October 22, 2006

SWIMMERS beware - shark sightings have reached record highs with more expected this summer.

There were 171 shark alarms in NSW in 2005/06 compared with 124 in 2004/05, figures from Surf Life Saving NSW show.

The data also reveals more sharks were sighted last summer off Sydney beaches since shark-sighting records have been kept.

Brigitte Weidlich
Windhoek

A REGIONAL organisation for the protection of marine resources along the coastlines of Namibia, Angola and South Africa has banned shark finning.

It has also placed a moratorium on all fishing in several areas for the next four years.

The bans come into effect immediately.

The South Eastern Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (Seafo), which is based at Walvis Bay, adopted several urgent conservation measures during its third annual general meeting in Windhoek last Thursday.

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
     

A public meeting will be held tomorrow night in Hale'iwa to discuss possible federal restrictions on shark-viewing operations in Hawai'i.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will hold the informational meeting from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Hale'iwa Elementary School cafeteria. The council will solicit comments on options to manage shark-viewing tours not just on the North Shore, but in all federal waters from three to 200 miles off Hawai'i.

BASKING sharks are "dramatically shifting" north from waters around the south of England to seas off the coast of Scotland, a conservation group said today.

Nearly 300 of the massive fish have been spotted in Scottish waters in the last six months, prompting calls for the species to be granted greater protection.

A university marine scientist is hoping to unlock many of the secrets surrounding the large migratory fish species that cruise the New Zealand coastline.

"There's a dearth of information on these species. We have very little idea of numbers, where they come from, where they congregate or where they go after leaving our waters," says Dr Steve Cook of AUT, co-researcher of the Bigfish project.

By Jim Westhoff

Every week is shark week for David McElroy.

Tucked away in a corner of Lewes, near the Coast Guard station, the young scientist has been conducting research on brown sharks, or Carcharhinus plumbeus.

By Dianne Hawker and Leila Samodien

Shark attacks are damaging the surfing industry but they may be good for the cage-diving operators.

Cape Town Tourism general manager Mariette du Toit said there was a notable increase in cage-diving inquiries each time there was a shark encounter.

MIAMI, Florida (26 August 2006) -- With the dog days of summer approaching, the winner in the battle of man vs. shark this year will most certainly be the 'humans' -- by a tidal wave.

"All in all, it's been a relatively quiet year [for shark attacks] from both the standpoint of the summer in the United States, but also a worldwide," said George Burgess, director of the Shark Research Center at the University of Florida, who keeps the world's most accurate list of shark attacks.