Please Sign & Share !!! No to the granting of 8 million Euros from the European Union to the French State to kill sharks in the Reunion Island Already 17446 signatures ! The French government and the local authorities are about to ask for European funds in order to finance until 2020 a shark slaughter in the Reunion Island; the budget asked for to Europe is of several millions of Euros per year. On site, the shark slaughter has started. The stated objective is to “regulate” the sharks, even though no scientific studies have ever proven any sort of “proliferation”. Two “regulation” programs, Valo Requins, for “valorisation of sharks (requins)” and Cap Requins, for “capturability of sharks (requins)” are already under way. The so-called study named Valo Requins is actually killing bulldog and tiger sharks under the initial claim of reviving its consumption with the stated objective of “regulating” their numbers and allegedly guaranteeing the safety of activities such as surfing or swimming. The pretext has been demolished by the food safety agency: human consumption has been declared impossible because of the high concentration of heavy metals and dangerous toxicity levels; dozens of people have died in the area, in Madagascar, after eating those sharks. And as it has been recently proven, the sharks swim freely between Madagascar and the Reunion Island. Given the impossibility of human consumption they have even thought of manufacturing dog food with the shark meat. After that new fanciful pretext had fallen too they continued to kill the sharks pretending this time to study the opportunity of transforming them into handbags and lipsticks; this pretext proved just as unrealistic. Valo Requins should have stopped. However, prisoner from the lobbies, the French government didn’t give in. They still continue to kill sharks whose consumption will never be authorised, under new claims of scientific research… just like the so called scientific whaling Japan carries out in the Antarctica whale sanctuary. Our governments cynicism towards sharks is not worth much more. Another program: Cap Requins is actually being rolled out. It consists in setting up shark lines, called “drum lines”, in front of the different surf spots all around the island, even in coral zones or zones classified as marine reserve. The goal is to catch as many bulldog and tiger sharks as possible, without any concern for consequences nor precautionary principle, in order to “protect” the surf spots. To find itself a scientific justification, Cap Requins is providing shark carcasses “for study” to the now barren program, Valo Requins. However, at the same time France is setting up its drum lines at Reunion Island, Western Australia, with far more experience in this field, is giving up on them as they have been judged ineffective for users’ safety and dangerous for the environment and the marine wildlife. These irresponsible programs capture and kill harmless, endangered or protected sharks, like the hammerhead sharks, recently classified by CITES who provided a study proving that survival rate after being freed was nil. Nurse sharks, reef sharks, guitar rays and other fish, turtles or dolphins are all potential drum lines victims. In order to divert the attention from the burden of those victims, a new program, just as misleading, is already scheduled; the stated ambition is to study them in order to know them better and therefore protect them better. Yet, it’s by letting them live in peace in their ecosystem that these “bycatches” will have the best guarantee to survive and therefore let their population numbers raise. Whales can also fall victims to these drum lines that are set up on their travel routes. During the 2014 season, a whale was spotted dragging one of those fishing displays. Hence, the humpback whale, iconic animal from the Reunion Island, is now threatened in its own reproduction and calving zone in the heart of the austral winter. As a reminder, no study has ever demonstrated the security interest of such fishing campaigns, proof of a total contempt for wildlife but also a deep misunderstanding of how the marine ecosystem works. These programs are kept out of sight from the world. The only observers authorised on board the boats are shark fishing supporters or close relatives from the fishermen. The group of observers mandated by Sea Shepherd for these two programs has never been authorised on these drum line fishing campaigns. The Valo Requins and Cap Requins programs have cost France over 1,3 million Euros in 2014. The extension of such programs will cost millions of euros each year. Because killing sharks is very expensive, the French government is now asking for European funds to finance this shark slaughter in the Reunion Island. With Sea Shepherd, refuse to see the European funds go towards the fishing and slaughter of sharks in the Reunion Island. Sign the petition and send this letter to Jean Claude Junker, president of the European Commission [email protected] : Mr President of the European Commission, I cannot understand or accept that European development funds should be granted to France to fish and kill sharks under a misleading scientific pretext, with sole purpose of reducing the numbers of these iconic animals, gravely endangered throughout the world. The programs carried by France are unworthy of Europe and civilised nations. I would therefore respectfully ask you to refuse to grant these European funds to France who wishes to use them to support the shark slaughter in the Reunion Island. petitions.seashepherd.fr/Petitions/Sign/1?lang=en
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 22:53:58 +0000
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