ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Costa Rica bans hammerhead fishing
Fishing for hammerhead sharks is finally illegal in Costa Rica , thanks to the signing of a new executive decree by President Rodrigo Chaves Robles . The decree prohibits the capture , transportation , storage or sale of hammerhead sharks
or their byproducts , such as fins and teeth . Banned species include the smooth hammerhead Sphyrna zygaena , scalloped hammerhead , Sphyrna lewini and great hammerhead Sphyrna mokarran .
Despite being critically endangered — and protected under international trading convention , CITES - hammerhead sharks have been bought and sold in Costa Rica for years . The animals are prized for their fins , which are often sent to the Far East to be used in shark fin soup . “ This is too late and it ’ s way too little ,” said Randall Arauz , a biologist with Marine
Watch International . “ Of
“ This is too late and it ’ s way too little ” course I ’ m happy they banned hammerhead shark fishing . But hammerhead sharks were listed under CITES by initiative of Costa Rica in 2013 and it was their obligation to ban hammerhead shark fishing commercialization , extraction , everything . That ’ s been our battle for the last ten years .” In that time , Arauz said hammerhead shark populations in Costa Rica have declined by around 90 per cent .
PHOTOS : PARKS CANADA
Erebus gives up her mysteries
Archaeologists recovered a further 275 artefacts from the wreck of the Erebus , one of the two 19th Century exploration vessels that sank during the famous search for the Northwest Passage . Parks Canada , the agency overseeing wreckages of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror , has completed its latest excavations of the former Hecla-class bomb vessel in the waters near Gjoa Haven . Researchers unearthed 275 artifacts , including a leather folio believed to contain scraps of the crew ’ s own writing .
“ HMS Erebus and HMS Terror are some of the best-preserved wooden wrecks in the world ,” Parks Canada said . “ But reduced
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