Urge the U.S. Government to save sharks from extinction at CITES!
My name is Mike Coots. I live in Hawaii and I am a surfer, photographer, and shark encounter survivor. I lost my leg to a tiger shark while riding the waves in Kauai in 1997, but now I'm at peace with sharks and fighting to keep them from going extinct. I hope you will join me in calling on the U.S. Government for more shark protections.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is an international treaty that protects species threatened with extinction. The upcoming Conference of Parties (CoP) in September 2016 will be an opportunity for CITES to adopt trade restrictions for shark and ray species that are in desperate need of protection. The proposed species are silky sharks, three species of thresher sharks, and nine species of mobula rays.
The United States has championed shark protections in the past and now we need to make sure they do so again. Please join me in contacting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and asking them to vote in support of all shark and ray proposals at the CITES Conference of Parties in September!
Dear Mr. Ashe and Ms. Sobeck,
As a United States resident, I am writing to urge you to support the proposed Appendix II listings for silky sharks, three species of thresher shark, and nine species of mobula ray at the upcoming Conference of Parties (CoP) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). I applaud your co-sponsorship of the mobula proposal and I hope the United States will extend this support to all the shark proposals. I urge you to make the United States' support for these proposed listings public to demonstrate U.S. leadership on shark conservation and build momentum worldwide.
These species have experienced significant declines in their populations due to overfishing, illegal and unregulated fishing and bycatch. Given these declines, regulating the trade in fins and other products from these species is strongly warranted.
The United States has been a global leader on implementation of the 2013 CITES shark listings. I hope that you will continue this legacy of leadership in shark conservation by supporting all the shark listing proposals this September 2016 at the CITES CoP.
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Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
