Lemon sharks aggregate off the East Coast of Florida every winter. They are an enormously popular attraction for scuba divers, giving a welcome boost to Florida's struggling recreational diving industry. But commercial fishermen are gearing up to target lemon sharks now. The primary purpose for this harvest is for their fins, which is a cruel and wasteful use for this animal. We need your support to stop the slaughter! Research with satellite tags shows that the lemon sharks' winter aggregation is composed of individuals from up and down the Eastern Seaboard and the Bahamas. These large gatherings occur in a relatively small area off Palm Beach, close to shore and within a highly predictable time frame. This makes them easy targets, and scientists studying Florida's Lemon Shark Aggregation fear that commercial fishers can wipe out the lemon sharks in just one or two seasons. Till now the commercial lemon shark fishery has been tiny -- less then 15,000 lbs annually nationwide. The Sandbar Shark, which is now protected, has had a commercial annual quota of 2 million pounds. Because of the new protections for Sandbar Sharks and other fish, commercial fishers have clearly stated their intention to re-direct fishing effort to lemon and other large sharks. Large coastal sharks, including lemon sharks, hammerheads, bull sharks and tiger sharks, have already suffered massive declines of over 90% in the past 30 years, and are badly in need of protection. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is seriously considering adding Lemon Sharks to the Prohibited Species List and your support is absolutely critical!! If you value sharks and want to help save these beautiful and ecologically important animals, please sign this petition. And if you will be in Florida on October 19th - 20th, please attend one of the FWC Public Lemon Shark Workshops . Everyone is welcome to attend! Oct. 19th - Fort Myers, FL - 6pm - 8pm - Joseph P. D'Alessandro Office Complex, 2295 Victoria Ave. Oct. 20th - Dania Beach, FL - 6pm -8pm - IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum, 300 Gulf Stream Way.
Lemon sharks aggregate off the East Coast of Florida every winter. They are an enormously popular attraction for scuba divers, giving a welcome boost to Florida's struggling recreational diving industry. But commercial fishermen are gearing up to target lemon sharks now. The primary purpose for this harvest is for their fins, which is a cruel and wasteful use for this animal. We need your support to stop the slaughter! Research with satellite tags shows that the lemon sharks' winter aggregation is composed of individuals from up and down the Eastern Seaboard and the Bahamas. These large gatherings occur in a relatively small area off Palm Beach, close to shore and within a highly predictable time frame. This makes them easy targets, and scientists studying Florida's Lemon Shark Aggregation fear that commercial fishers can wipe out the lemon sharks in just one or two seasons. Till now the commercial lemon shark fishery has been tiny -- less then 15,000 lbs annually nationwide. The Sandbar Shark, which is now protected, has had a commercial annual quota of 2 million pounds. Because of the new protections for Sandbar Sharks and other fish, commercial fishers have clearly stated their intention to re-direct fishing effort to lemon and other large sharks. Large coastal sharks, including lemon sharks, hammerheads, bull sharks and tiger sharks, have already suffered massive declines of over 90% in the past 30 years, and are badly in need of protection. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is seriously considering adding Lemon Sharks to the Prohibited Species List and your support is absolutely critical!! If you value sharks and want to help save these beautiful and ecologically important animals, please sign this petition. And if you will be in Florida on October 19th - 20th, please attend one of the FWC Public Lemon Shark Workshops . Everyone is welcome to attend! Oct. 19th - Fort Myers, FL - 6pm - 8pm - Joseph P. D'Alessandro Office Complex, 2295 Victoria Ave. Oct. 20th - Dania Beach, FL - 6pm -8pm - IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum, 300 Gulf Stream Way.
We signed the "Urgent Help Needed to Protect Lemon Sharks!" petition!
# 4,802:
4:29 pm PST, Nov 20,Danielle Cureton, Florida
The decline of sharks affects the entire ecosystem.
# 4,801:
9:45 am PST, Nov 20,Homer Gaines, Florida
# 4,800:
9:05 am PST, Nov 20,George Irwin, United Kingdom
# 4,799:
3:56 am PST, Nov 20,Berangere Rabourdin, France
for the love of all sharks
# 4,798:
11:25 pm PST, Nov 19,Ron Roberts, Florida
# 4,797:
7:17 pm PST, Nov 19,Cheryl Fan, Singapore
# 4,796:
6:24 pm PST, Nov 19,Melanie Wolf, Florida
# 4,795:
3:36 pm PST, Nov 19,Mary Perdue, Florida
# 4,794:
3:13 pm PST, Nov 19,Liz Arnold-Smith, United Kingdom
# 4,793:
11:53 am PST, Nov 19,Jane Burgess, United Kingdom
# 4,792:
10:50 am PST, Nov 19,Mariska Stolk, Netherlands
# 4,791:
7:25 am PST, Nov 19,Maria Fongaro, Italy
# 4,790:
4:04 am PST, Nov 19,Jenny Porter, United Kingdom
There is no excuse for torturing and killing innocent animals. It's time we learnt that we don't own the planet and that there will be consequences for the damage we're doing.
# 4,789:
3:50 am PST, Nov 19,Rökl Stephan, Australia
# 4,788:
1:16 am PST, Nov 19,Hilde Broeckx, Belgium
# 4,787:
12:33 am PST, Nov 19,Jane Elizabeth Munro, United Kingdom
# 4,786:
10:49 pm PST, Nov 18,Name not displayed, Connecticut
# 4,785:
10:29 pm PST, Nov 18,Selina Miles, United Kingdom
# 4,784:
6:16 pm PST, Nov 18,Lauren Stone, California
# 4,783:
5:36 pm PST, Nov 18,Nikki Evans, United Kingdom
# 4,782:
5:25 pm PST, Nov 18,Teresa Olsen, Virginia
# 4,781:
5:24 pm PST, Nov 18,Ash Earle, United Kingdom
# 4,780:
5:20 pm PST, Nov 18,Dianna Lynn Driskell-Knaggs, Barbados
# 4,779:
5:03 pm PST, Nov 18,Wanda Roths, Kansas
# 4,778:
4:46 pm PST, Nov 18,Timothy Mullen, United Kingdom
# 4,777:
4:11 pm PST, Nov 18,Donald McBride, Alabama
# 4,776:
3:59 pm PST, Nov 18,Beverly Bracken, West Virginia
Simply UNNECESSARY to harm animals.
# 4,775:
2:07 pm PST, Nov 18,Janine Anning, Fiji
# 4,774:
12:57 pm PST, Nov 18,Sharon Longhurst, United Kingdom
# 4,773:
12:17 pm PST, Nov 18,Manuel C, Chile
# 4,772:
11:55 am PST, Nov 18,Costanza Troini, Italy
# 4,771:
11:45 am PST, Nov 18,Carrie Craig, Washington
# 4,770:
11:36 am PST, Nov 18,Darren Tortoise Protection, United Kingdom
# 4,769:
11:13 pm PST, Nov 17,Mario Krenmayr, Austria
# 4,768:
10:30 pm PST, Nov 17,Alexander Klein, Austria
# 4,767:
4:56 pm PST, Nov 17,Anne Campbell, Canada
please do not kill anymore sharks.
# 4,766:
1:35 pm PST, Nov 17,Guimera Christelle, France
# 4,765:
1:32 pm PST, Nov 17,Miomir Djivuljski, Slovenia
# 4,764:
11:11 am PST, Nov 17,Heidi L, Austria
Last week I saw a real crual documentation about finning and shark dishes all around the world... I sign cause I want to help to protect innocent animals.
# 4,763:
10:33 am PST, Nov 17,Name not displayed, Austria
don`t kill the fish, don`t kill our live !!!
# 4,762:
9:21 am PST, Nov 17,Kenneth Parker, Florida
As a Floridian and a diver, I realize the economic impact of species such as these as a tourist attraction. I alsorealize the state of the world economy.
Annihilating these species to extinction may help a few areas in the short run, but will injure larger economies permanently.
I am being selfish herfe, yes; I live in area that would be permanently injured by this extinction. But more importantly, I would be deprived of the joy of witnessing these magnificent creatures forever.
Let's look to the long view and protect these marvelous creatures fort future generations.
# 4,761:
8:39 am PST, Nov 17,Christy Yin Yin Loo, Malaysia
# 4,760:
7:42 am PST, Nov 17,Jonathan Densham, United Kingdom
How would they like if we came and chopped off their arms and legs.
Some humans just do not belong on this planet.
# 4,759:
9:10 pm PST, Nov 16,Silvia Blewl, Pennsylvania
No animal should be slaughtered for its fins, fur etc. This is barbaric. Not much different than Michael Vicks dogfights. This would make Florida a host for brutality and animal abuse and no better than the Michael Vicks of this world.
# 4,758:
8:18 pm PST, Nov 16,Steven Hodgkiss, South Africa
# 4,757:
7:40 pm PST, Nov 16,Ramona Bohnacker, Georgia
# 4,756:
1:19 pm PST, Nov 16,Name not displayed, United Kingdom
# 4,755:
10:38 am PST, Nov 16,Chanel Wood, Canada
# 4,754:
8:10 am PST, Nov 16,Rob Hodgkiss, South Africa
# 4,753:
6:33 pm PST, Nov 15,Name not displayed, Malaysia
# 4,752:
1:50 pm PST, Nov 15,Alysia Chayka, Canada
Seriously, every single living creature in life has a very distinct and important purpose. The interfering in natures processes through the systematic and savage removal of entire species will have severe, negative ramifications in various facets of our environment, and therefore our lives. Thinking otherwise, or lack there of, is sheer ignorance. We can not be so nearsighted that we only see the impending dollar sign and not the long term effect of our actions.
