The Fisheries Minister Norman Moore has revealed charges have been laid over a shark slaughter on the north-west coast.Photos recently released to the media showed the mutilated remains of sharks scattered across 80 Mile Beach, they had been killed for their fins and dumped.
The photos were sent to the Department of Fisheries 10 months ago but the then Minister Jon Ford decided not to release them, fearing a backlash against the local fishing industry.
However the new Fisheries Minister Norman Moore has told the ABC a number of charges have been laid
"There is a listing for Broome Court sometime in February when this matter will come to trial," he said.
"I thought it was dreadful that someone could catch that number of sharks and simply dispose of them dump them on the beach.
"What offended me most was the wanton waste, of these fish, that they'd been left on the beach and not even buried."
Two WA fishermen operating in the area at the time of the offence have already had their licences revoked by the Department.
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December 4, 2008 -- Irin News - Kenya
Coastal communities in southwestern Madagascar, who risk their lives travelling long distances in dugout canoes to supply a lucrative demand for shark fins, face an uncertain future as unsustainable fishing practices threaten the survival of the marine resources on which they depend.
People in villages along the southwestern coast are reporting a dramatic decrease in all marine resources. "Around 2000 the decline really started here. The octopus catch fell and sea cucumbers disappeared. Some fish species also disappeared," Roger Samba, in the village of Andavadoaka, in Toliara Province, told IRIN.
"It is difficult to catch enough fish to sell. People go far away, fishing from early in the morning until late at night, to catch not even 10kg or 20kg of fish - just 5kg."
When shark fisherman Zoffe loads his nets into his pirogue (a dugout canoe, often with a sail) in the morning and sets out from his home in the coastal town of Morombe into the deep waters of the Mozambique Channel, he knows that he will be lucky if he catches anything.
"It is really hard to catch shark now," Zoffe told IRIN. "Things are not like they used to be; before, there used to be shark very near the shore - just five metres below the surface of the sea - now they are only found very far away, and are very deep. They are very difficult to catch."more
November 30, 2008 -- Brisbane Times - Australia
MARINE conservationists say the interception of a Papua New Guinea fishing boat laden with four tonnes of "de-finned" sharks in Australian waters shows illegal shark fishing has become a worldwide enterprise and the Great Barrier Reef could be its next target.
On Thursday, Australian Customs authorities escorted an illegal fishing boat to Cairns after it was spotted 6.6 nautical miles east of Ashmore Reef an Australian Nature Reserve west of Darwin.
The boat was first detected by a Customs Coastwatch aircraft last Sunday and was intercepted.
A search a revealed about four tonnes of sharks, with their fins cut off.
Twenty shark jaws, 20 tuna and 20 assorted large fish were also allegedly discovered on board. Customs could not confirm whether the vessel's 15 crew members had been charged.
Marine conservationist, researcher and Fox Shark Research Foundation director Andrew Fox said a shark finning industry in Papua New Guinea had previously been unheard of and the fact the vessel was from the region showed the industry had become truly internatio
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