Be a Hero for Sharks in five minutes or less:

To read bout the NOAA’s proposed changes to shark protection laws, click here.

Click here to tell the NOAA not to weaken U.S. state protections for sharks!

Here are my comments:

The Shark Conservation Act of 2010 should move ahead as planned. The state laws that place further restrictions on the selling and trading of shark fins must remain untouched.

Simply put: Sharks are going away.

The statistics are grim:

Hammerheads and bull shark populations in the Atlantic have declined by as much as 99%

Oceanic White tip sharks, once the most common large species in the Atlantic, are 99% gone.

Sharks face pressures from pollution. Millions are tossed away as useless “bycatch.” Sharks are targeted by sportsmen and long-line fishermen. They suffocate in nets. Most senselessly, they’re slaughtered so that their fins can add thickness and “prestige” to a bowl of soup.This is not simply an “animal” issue.

Human destiny is linked directly to the health of the seas and the health of the seas are maintained in large part by sharks.

I am asking that the NOAA become a force for shark  preservation, not yet another factor driving these invaluable apex predators to extinction.

Sincerely,

Jocelyn Heaney