Thank you, very much, for joining us in the work to protect shark and rays from overfishing in the Atlantic and please see attached a response from Dominic Le Blanc, the Canadian Minister of fisheries, to our letter.
At the ICCAT meeting that closed last week Canada has not only co-sponsored the proposal to ban removal of shark fin at sea as we’ve requested, the Canadian delegation has also worked extremely hard to create a meaningful measure for makos. While not a fishing ban that we’ve called for and the scientists advised, if implemented, the measure has the potential to make a real dent in mako mortality in ICCAT fisheries. Here are links to our take on all ICCAT outcomes and the specifics of the mako measure if you’re interested to learn more.
Next year, together with our Shark League partners we’ll keep a close eye on the top mako fishing countries in the Atlantic when it comes to implementation so please stay tuned for future opportunities to be involved.
In the meantime, thank you, again and have a great Holiday season!
Ania (on behalf of the entire Project AWARE team)