Worlds largest shark sanctuary in the Cook Islands
Cook Islands' shark sanctuary creates world's largest shark sanctuary
As shark numbers fall, otherspecies further down the food chain are put at risk.
The Cook Islands has approved a shark
sanctuary in its waters, making for the largest such sanctuary in the world.
The South Pacific island chain declared a 1.9 million-sq-km sanctuary,
contiguous with one established last week by neighbouring French Polynesia.
That sees a ban on shark fishing and possession or sale of shark products in
an area now totalling 6.7 million sq km - nearly the size of Australia.
As top predators, overfishing of sharks disrupts complex oceanic food
webs.
And about a third of ocean-going sharks appear on the
internationally-recognised Red List of Threatened Species
"We are proud as Cook Islanders to provide our entire exclusive economic
zone... as a shark sanctuary," said Teina Bishop, Cook Islands minister of
marine resources.
"We join our Pacific neighbours to protect this animal, which is very vital
to the health of our oceans, and our culture."
Other island nations with sanctuaries also include Palau, the Maldives,
Tokelau, Honduras and the Bahamas.
Last week's move by French Polynesia overtook the Marshall Islands' area,
outlined in late 2011, as the world's largest - and the Cook Island's claim adds
40% more area to that title.
As with the Marshall Islands' declaration, the Cook Islands' effort was with
the help of the Pew Environment Group, which advocates island nations'
involvement because of the vast scope of their territorial waters.
Pew worked for more than a year with the Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative
ahead of Thursday's announcement.
"This is hopeful news for the world's sharks and our efforts to protect
them," said Jill Hepp, director of shark conservation for the Pew Environment
Group.
"We are thrilled to see the Cook Islands become part of this global movement
during a time when so many shark populations are threatened."
Recent comments