The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 10: January 1998
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Editorial
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Sarah Fowler and Jack Musick, Co-chairs
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It has been another extremely busy six months since preparing the
last issue of Shark News, and we apologise for the long wait between
publications. This issue is also a bit shorter than usual, due partly to
difficulties obtaining funds for printing and distribution (suggestions
for potential sponsors for the next issue would be most welcome).
As the last issue was going to press, we were about to leave for
the two-week CITES meeting in Zimbabwe, in June, where sharks
were among the more controversial issues up for debate. The results
of this meeting are described on page 5. While disappointing in some
respects, the outcome has resulted in considerable Shark Specialist
Group (SSG) activity associated with the FAO Consultation on the
conservation and management of sharks. Members of the SSG are
participating in the regional workshops (see below) which are being
held in advance of the main Technical Working Group meeting
scheduled to take place in April 1998 in Japan, before the main
Technical Consultation planned for October or November 1998.
The CITES meeting was followed almost immediately in July
by the international Seminar and Workshop in Sabah, Malaysia,
marking the end of the UK Darwin Initiative-funded project on
Elasmobranch Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, headed
by SSG Co-chair Sarah Fowler. This was attended by nearly 60
participants from 14 countries, including many SSG members,
with many of the overseas participants funded by a World Bank
Small Grant Program award. The proceedings of this meeting are
currently in preparation.
The following month saw Co-chair Jack Musick chairing a two-day
American Fisheries Society symposium on Long-lived Marine
Animals during the AFS annual meeting in Monterey, California. In
addition to papers on shark fisheries and population genetics, species
covered included sea turtles, groupers and other K-selected teleosts,
cetaceans, seals and long-lived marine molluscs. These proceedings
will also be published in due course.
Back in Europe, Sarah Fowler was heavily involved in the
preparation for the September launch of the newly established charity,
the Shark Trust (UK member of the European Elasmobranch
Association). Both of these organisations are being run from Sarah's
office for the next two years.
Preparations then began for the 5th Indo-Pacific Fish Conference,
held in Noumea, New Caledonia, in November. This was attended by
several SSG and some TRAFFIC network members, many of whom
were assisted financially by IUCN funds allocated to the work of the
SSG by the US government. We were therefore able to hold a Shark
Specialist Group meeting (the minutes of which will be available
soon, including the revised and agreed SSG Terms of Reference and
membership policy) and contribute to the first of several two-day
regional workshops supporting the FAO consultation process (see
page 5). The Noumea meeting covered the Indo-Pacific region, and
was followed by December meetings in Florida and Monterey for the
western North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific regions.
Meanwhile, back in the office, the IUCN Species Survival
Commission's membership package has finally arrived. This
has enabled us to begin the process of reconstituting the
membership of the SSG for the current triennium, which ends in
2000. Regional Vice-Chairs are currently reviewing their
membership lists, deleting inactive members, confirming those
who should be reappointed, and identifying new members. Once
this process has been completed, SSG membership invitations
will go out, along with a complete list of the Shark Specialist
Group membership for the next few years. Active members
will receive their invitations to rejoin shortly.
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