The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 5: October 1995
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Chairman's Farewell Message
Samuel H. Gruber
It was with great reluctance that on 15 July 1995 I resigned as chairman
of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG). Looking back on my tenure,
I see a mixed record. From the very beginning when Species Survival
Commission Chairman George Rabb nominated me as SSG Chairman,
I questioned whether I was the right choice for the job in as much as I
had no formal training or practical experience in conservation biology
nor did I know the players or understand the rules of the international
conservation scene. Still I forged ahead, in some ways re-inventing the
wheel, and under George's authority established the IUCN SSG at the
1991 Sharks Down Under meeting.
Over the past five years the all-volunteer SSG has been instrumental
in changing the public's perception of sharks from a hellish, nightmare
fish to a sophisticated creature that must be allowed to exist to complete
the delicate balance of life in the sea. The proof of this is the unprecedented
priority given to sharks at the last CITES Convention.
Over this period the Group has also been reasonably productive.
The highlights have been: the meetings at Sydney, New York and
Bangkok; the production of a slide series and pamphlet on shark
conservation; consultation on two CD-ROMs about sharks, one of
which led to funding the Bangkok meeting; establishment of a quarterly
newsletter Shark News; funding of a shark project under the Darwin
Initiative; funding of the SSG Action Plan by the Peter Scott Foundation;
outlawing of long-line fishing gear in the waters of the Commonwealth
of the Bahamas; the unprecedented resolution passed at the 1994
meeting of Parties to CITES; and, most importantly, the writing of the
conservation action reports by our volunteer Vice Chairpersons. I think
it is a record that we can be reasonably proud of.
On the other hand, because of my personality and style of leadership,
I tend to set my personal goals too high. In the case of the SSG perhaps
I set them unrealistically high. First, I felt unable to establish regular
communication with the membership. Email went a long way towards
rectifying this but still communications were not what I would have
liked. This was compounded by the lack of Vice Chairpersons in several
ocean areas.
Most frustrating and personally disappointing was my inability to
raise funds to support the work of the Group. One of my primary
objectives in establishing the SSG was to identify and prioritise key
conservation research projects and fund the prioritised projects. I regret
that I was not able to even begin to identify research priorities.
Over the past several years as research budgets in the United States
began to shrink, pressures at my University mounted as more requests
came in for me to write research grant proposals and increase my
teaching load. This put me in direct conflict with my volunteer position
as Chair of the SSG. Was I to raise money for shark conservation to
support the SSG or get grants for the University of Miami and my
research station at Bimini? It was thus that I had to make a hard choice
and tendered my resignation.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the SSG
who worked so hard to make shark conservation more than an obscure
footnote in the International Conservation Community. I especially
want to thank Sarah Fowler and Merry Camhi for bringing together the
efforts of the membership and translating these into tangible results:
newsletter, slide set, grant proposals, funds etc.
I will miss the excitement and action of leading dedicated scientists
and conservationists in the good fight of trying to reverse the ever-escalating
slaughter of cartilaginous fishes in the world's oceans. I will
miss it even more as I read about the inevitable successes of the SSG now
that we are on a roll. Again let me express my deepest gratitude to
the members and wish for your continued success in this important
task.
Sincerely yours,
Samuel H. Gruber, immediate past Chairman, SSG
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