The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 6: March 1996
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SBEEL Holds Founding Meeting
George H. Burgess, Florida Museum of Natural History
The Sociedade Brasileira Para O Estudo De Elasmobranquios (SBEEL)
held its inaugural meeting on 20-24 November 1995 during the VII
Reuniao do Grupo de Trabalho Sobre Pesca e Pesquisa de Tubaroes
e Raias no Brasil in Rio Grande, Brasil. Hosted by Carolus Maria
Vooren and the Fundaçao Universidade do Rio Grande, the meeting
was attended by nearly 100 scientists from Brazil and several foreign
countries. Sixty papers were given at the meeting; in addition a large
number of posters was presented and several workshops were
conducted. Subject matter covered a wide range of subjects from
systematics and zoogeography to life history and conservation.
Ninety-six founding members voted in elections of officers on 24
November, resulting in the election of Carolus Maria Vooren as
Director, Alberto F. Amorin as Secretary, Fabio Hissa Vieira Hazin as
Treasurer, and Otto Bismarck Fazzano Gadig (4 years), Rosangela
Lessa (4 years), Sergio Macedo Gomes de Mattos (2 years), Everaldo
Lima de Queiroz (2 years), and Ricardo de Souza Rosa (2 years) as
Deliberators. Director Vooren appointed members to two committees.
The Conservation Committee is composed of Ricardo de Souza Rosa
(Chair), Rosangela Lessa, and Everaldo Lima de Queiroz. The Shark
Attack Committee consists of Otto Bismarck Fazzano Gadig (Chair),
Nayra Sanches Ficher, Fabio Hissa Vieira Hazin, Everaldo Lima de
Queiroz, and George H. Burgess. An Editorial Committee will be
appointed at a later date.
Members overwhelmingly passed several resolutions concerning
conservation issues. Resolutions to be forwarded to IBAMA, the
Brazilian governmental agency responsible for natural resources,
include a call for prohibition of gillnets greater than 2.5 km in
Brazilian waters, the prohibition of finning (no fins can be landed
without carcasses), cessation of the issuance of new regional permits
for drift gillnets, placement of observers aboard vessels using drift
gillnets, and reclassification of existing permits so that they specify
the type of net and intended target species.
SBEEL membership dues are USA $20, payable on 31 December
each year. Interested elasmobranch biologists can join by sending
cheque payable to SBEEL to: Fabio H.V. Hazin, Universidade Federal
Rural de Pernambucu, Departmento de Pesca, Laboratorio di
Investigaçao Pesqueira Marinha, Recife, PE, CEP: 52171-900
BRAZIL.
George H. Burgess,
International Shark Attack File, Florida Museum of Natural
History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Email: gburgess@flmnh.ufl.edu
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