Dave
December 7th, 2003, 12:03 AM
So the news that a Cornish fisherman has embarked on a massacre of
porbeagles has created a furore amongst conservationists and anglers.
Discussion has broken out on the pages of the The SharkTrust as well as on
the various UK angling websites.
But the fisherman concerned remains unrepentant
Now many people are starting to demand more action to protect the sharks.
URGENT ACTION NEEDED NOW! A REGIONAL SHARK POPULATION COULD BE WIPED OUT
FROM OUR COASTS
(PLEASE FORWARD AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE, WE NEED AS MANY PEOPLE FROM THE U.K.
AND ABROAD TO HELP SAVE THESE SHARKS)
Martin Ellis a fisherman in Cornwall, this week caught and killed
approaching 200 porbeagle sharks! He has encouraged other fisherman to do
the same, as there is a lucrative market for their meat on the Continent and
this further slaughter has already started.
Sharks have been very maligned and do not have the popular image of dolphins
or the appeal of the big sad eyes of baby seals, but I implore you to please
consider the likelihood of the disappearance of yet another animal from our
shores, but with your help this amazing creature could survive another day.
The fishing industry has had special rights to subsidies denied to other
industries and the Government must find them alternative employment, as they
cannot be allowed to wipe out one species after another to extinction to
earn a living. Even those sympathetic to the plight of fishermen, cannot
believe that they should be allowed to do this, which could also adversely
affect the food chain. These sharks are not migratory and will disappear for
good.
For the benefit of the fishermen and the fish, there has to be sustainable
fishing and quotas, sadly even for sharks, which many of us who have had
close encounters, would prefer not to see fished at all.
We cannot be critical of the fin trade in the Far East, when we ourselves
are destroying our own populations.
Please take just a few minutes to email the points below to the following
people:
- Demand that this slaughter of sharks off Cornwall, should be stopped now.
- Also please call for an immediate temporary halt to commercial shark
fishing, so that the situation can be assessed. If these magnificent
creatures are not on the endangered list at the moment, they certainly will
be in a very short time, if the catch itself and the size of the fish caught
is not controlled by sustainable quotas.
email: (Ben Bradshaw MP - Minister)
email: (Dept. for Envir.,Food & Rural Affairs)
email: (Defra office re: Cornwall)
email: (Defra Press Office)
email: Your MP Who is your MP? search:
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm
email: Your MEP Who is your MEP? search:
http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm
I thank you on behalf of these truly magnificent animals!
Zerine
porbeagles has created a furore amongst conservationists and anglers.
Discussion has broken out on the pages of the The SharkTrust as well as on
the various UK angling websites.
But the fisherman concerned remains unrepentant
Now many people are starting to demand more action to protect the sharks.
URGENT ACTION NEEDED NOW! A REGIONAL SHARK POPULATION COULD BE WIPED OUT
FROM OUR COASTS
(PLEASE FORWARD AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE, WE NEED AS MANY PEOPLE FROM THE U.K.
AND ABROAD TO HELP SAVE THESE SHARKS)
Martin Ellis a fisherman in Cornwall, this week caught and killed
approaching 200 porbeagle sharks! He has encouraged other fisherman to do
the same, as there is a lucrative market for their meat on the Continent and
this further slaughter has already started.
Sharks have been very maligned and do not have the popular image of dolphins
or the appeal of the big sad eyes of baby seals, but I implore you to please
consider the likelihood of the disappearance of yet another animal from our
shores, but with your help this amazing creature could survive another day.
The fishing industry has had special rights to subsidies denied to other
industries and the Government must find them alternative employment, as they
cannot be allowed to wipe out one species after another to extinction to
earn a living. Even those sympathetic to the plight of fishermen, cannot
believe that they should be allowed to do this, which could also adversely
affect the food chain. These sharks are not migratory and will disappear for
good.
For the benefit of the fishermen and the fish, there has to be sustainable
fishing and quotas, sadly even for sharks, which many of us who have had
close encounters, would prefer not to see fished at all.
We cannot be critical of the fin trade in the Far East, when we ourselves
are destroying our own populations.
Please take just a few minutes to email the points below to the following
people:
- Demand that this slaughter of sharks off Cornwall, should be stopped now.
- Also please call for an immediate temporary halt to commercial shark
fishing, so that the situation can be assessed. If these magnificent
creatures are not on the endangered list at the moment, they certainly will
be in a very short time, if the catch itself and the size of the fish caught
is not controlled by sustainable quotas.
email: (Ben Bradshaw MP - Minister)
email: (Dept. for Envir.,Food & Rural Affairs)
email: (Defra office re: Cornwall)
email: (Defra Press Office)
email: Your MP Who is your MP? search:
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm
email: Your MEP Who is your MEP? search:
http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm
I thank you on behalf of these truly magnificent animals!
Zerine