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Friday, March 29, 2024

Cebu leads call for national protection of sharks

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CEBU CITY—About 100 Cebuanos, advocates, members of non-government organizations and fisherfolk joined the festive shark parade here Tuesday to call for the city’s commitment to protect shark species.

From Pasil Fish Market the shark parade participants in colorful shark costumes headed to Cebu City Hall. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña immediately signed an executive order ensuring the protection of shark and ray species.

The announcement from the City Government means the whole of Cebu Island now has local ordinances that seek to protect sharks.

Cebu LGUs, along with environmentalists, scientists and interest groups, are now calling for the protection of sharks and other marine species at a national level through the creation of interconnected ocean sanctuaries.

Vince Cinches, Oceans Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and co-founder of Save Sharks Network of the Philippines, said: “The decision of Mayor Osmeña is important as it turns the whole of Cebu into a shark and ray sanctuary.

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“This is a very welcome development, as we just concluded the country’s 2nd Shark Summit, where an agreement was made toward the protection of all shark and ray species. But our gains in Cebu and the implementation of the Cites listing will only work if we take this to the national level.”

The 2nd Shark Summit, led by Save Philippine Seas, Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines, and Greenpeace last Nov. 10 and 11 in Dumaguete, builds on the successful listing of thresher, mobula and silky sharks for protection under Appendix II of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).

The listing doubled to 20 percent the proportion of sharks targeted by the fin trade now regulated internationally.

This also means the species are automatically protected in the Philippines under Section 102 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Philippine Fisheries Code.

Bimbo Fernandez, Executive Assistant of the Office of the Mayor on Special Concerns and former Undersecretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government, said “despite Cebu being a highly urbanized city, the local government always put the protection of key marine habitats within our jurisdiction as a priority.

“We strongly believe market intervention is crucial to the overall efforts of protecting sharks, rays and the marine environment, and we call on our national counterparts to legislate a bill to sustainably manage shark and ray species, so that all our efforts will not go down the drain. Cebu City agrees that we need to go beyond protecting species listed in Cites.”

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