Ca Shark Fin Ban Bill (AB 376) Passed!

The Ca Senate just passed (adopted) AB 376, the Shark Fin Ban bill.

This is a great day for our environment and the food chain... not to mention an animal group fast aproaching extinction / endangerment. Power Scuba's focus group, Shark Protectorate, worked hard to help get this bill passed. Profound thanks to ALL those who made calls, emailed, or otherwise endeavored to help get this measure adopted.

Last hoop to jump through: the Governor's Desk!

Bill Powers

Yeah!!!!!

Thanks to all who helped.


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Bill, you were instrumental in getting divers organized and active in this issue. Thank you! Many others also worked hard to get this legislation passed. Thank you as well.

The continued decimation of sharks is a very sad comment on the state of our oceans. The ecological impact of removing what are in many cases apex predators are just beginning to be realized by the general public. I remember the days when I'd see literally dozens of sharks (mostly blues) from our dive boat as we motored to the next dive site. Within the last decade I only remember seeing one under that scenario. We only rarely offer shark dives these days because it is difficult to attract more than half a dozen during an entire day.

I remember the hysteria after "Jaws" came out with anglers trying to catch and kill sharks of several different species. My high school students participated in this until we put a stop to it.

Given protection, sharks can recover... albeit slowly due to their low reproductive rate. We are seeing more soupfin (tope) sharks in our waters in more locations following their intense overfishing during World War II for vitamins which were later synthesized. It is believed the great white is also making a comeback.

I would love to see blues back in our waters in numbers, but we are realizing that the overharvest of this species in waters elsewhere in the Pacific can have a devastating effect here off California due to what is believed to be their reproductive and migratory patterns.

Bill,

I'm pleased and honored to have played a VERY SMALL part in this process. It was energising and enlightening.

This was a huge grassroots effort and it demonstrates that the residents of a state can indeed make their voices heard in the political process. That's encouraging.

Governor Brown must still sign the bill into law and we're hopeful that will happen very soon.

Bill

And how, Bill. I started diving Blues in '94 or so (with Avalon Aquatics) and even then, when we'd get 10 or 15 in a day, I would hear stories of how they (the Blues) were more plentiful in years past.

drbill:

I would love to see blues back in our waters in numbers, but we are realizing that the overharvest of this species in waters elsewhere in the Pacific can have a devastating effect here off California due to what is believed to be their reproductive and migratory patterns.

Click to expand...

No question about that. I'm referring to the late 60s and 70s when I first started diving Catalina. There were LOTS of blues and we had no problem seeing them right at the surface. No need to chum at all.

We are learning some interesting things about the reproductive and migratory behavior of blues. Over fishing of them in other areas of the Pacific apparently can have a large impact on them here in our waters.

If you ever run across reports or white papers on just that subject... or indeed any of our other local species... mak esure you send a copy my way.

I was very surprised when Mike Bear told me NO studies have ever been done on our local 7-gill population. Or Tope either, I think. (His recent sightings web site notwithstanding.)

How can we tell how they're doing unless we have a baseline? Our anecdotal evidence doesn't always carry much weight.

Bill