A pocket guide

to helping
sharks

FOCUS ON
FINNING

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 Did you know..?
Home sweet home!
The sea around your country is home to up to 130
different types of sharks and their cousins the skates,
rays and chimaeras.
Shark attack?
In 2007 only one person was killed by a shark worldwide.
Tens of millions of sharks, skates and rays are killed by
people each year.
Too much fishing!
One third of European shark populations are threatened
with extinction. 

Fantastic Fins
Sharks use their fins to help them glide through the
water, but...
• Shark fins are used to make an
expensive Asian soup.
• Some fishermen slice off the sharks’ fins and
discard the bodies at sea. This practice is known
as “shark finning” and has been banned in most of
the world’s oceans. But Europe’s ban is one of the
weakest in the world.

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 How to help sharks
• Ask your friends and family to sign the enclosed
petition.
• Organise a shark awareness day at your school.
• Write a letter to your Member of European
Parliament and ask for better shark protection
including a stronger finning ban.

Fascinating facts
• Even before dinosaurs roamed the earth, sharks
hunted through the oceans! In some form, sharks
have been around for about 400
million years.
• Many people eat the meat from endangered
sharks without knowing it. Did you know that the
shark Spiny Dogfish is sold in British fish and chip
shops as “Rock salmon” or “huss”?
When eating fish, ask if it has come from a
sustainable source.
• Most sharks are smaller then you are! The Pygmy
Lantern Shark would fit in the palm of your hand,
but the Basking shark is as long as a bus!

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 Porbeagle
Porbeagle sharks, close
relatives of great whites
and makos, are among
the fastest sharks in the
Sawfish
Atlantic. Still, they’re not
The “saws” (snouts) of sawfish
fast enough to out-swim
are sold as souvenirs. In 2007,
fishermen seeking to sell
most international trade in
their valuable meat and fins.
sawfish was prohibited,
but the ban came
too late for European
sawfish, which are now
assumed already extinct.

Angel
Angel sharks, so-called because of their
angelic shape, look like flat sharks and
hang out on the ocean floor, where they
are too often scooped up by trawls.

A special class About 130 different species of sharks

live in European seas. Here are some o

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 Hammerhead
The hammerheads’ unusual
head shape gives them extra
surface area with which to detect prey.
agle
Hammerhead fins are highly valued for
, close
Chinese “shark fin soup”.
whites
among
in the
’re not Thresher
t-swim Thresher sharks use
to sell their extra long tails to
nd fins. help stun and kill prey.

Spurdog
Female spurdog are pregnant
for nearly two years- a record
among animals.

Giant Devil Ray

These rays filter plankton from the
water passing through their
gills as they swim. The species
is now rare in the Mediterranean.

cies of sharks and their cousins - the skates, rays and chimaeras -
Here are some of the most endangered.

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 Shark Art!

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 You can draw your own underwater world here

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 PROTECTED

Made sick
KIN

by pollution

Killed
accidentally
in fishing
gear
Illegally finned for
shark fin soup

Life cycle disrupted

by climate change

Over-fished for
shark meat market

Can you help this porbeagle find its way home?

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 ED

or

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Focus
LINDA PITKIN
on finning

European
Shark Week
It’s time 9-17 October 2010
Focus
to strengthen the EU finning ban... on finning

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23/09/2010 10:08
 23/09/2010 10:08
Dear Madam/Sir:
I urge you to help conserve sharks by signing the
Written Declaration in support of strengthening the
European Union ban on shark ‘finning’ – the wasteful
practice of slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the
body at sea.
Sharks, vital predators in our ocean ecosystems, are
at great risk from overfishing. Roughly one-third of
European species are considered threatened.
Finning is driven by high demand for the Asian delicacy
shark fin soup. The EU finning ban is among the Please fill in your name/country and write your own message:
weakest in the world, but is at last being revised by the
European Commission.
Now is the time to close loopholes in the EU finning ban
by prohibiting, without exception, the removal of shark
fins on-board fishing vessels.
Please send a strong message to the Commission about
your commitment to shark conservation and ocean
health. Add your name to this Written Declaration and
encourage your colleagues to do the same.
Thank you.
The Written Declaration was initiated by a group of MEPs in
cooperation with the Shark Alliance, a coalition of more than
www.europeansharkweek.org
100 conservation, scientific and recreational organisations

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dedicated to conserving sharks.
More information on www.sharkalliance.org
ESW2010_postcard_FINAL48.indd 2 21/09/2010 17:23
 Dear Madam/Sir:

Want to know
or do more?
You can find the address for your MEP at:
www.europeansharkweek.org
Find out more:
The Shark Trust www.sharktrust.org
Project AWARE www.projectaware.org

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 European
Shark Week
9-17 October 2010
Focus
on finning

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©2010 Shark Alliance. Illustrations & Design by Archipelago.co.uk

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