Cook Islands create vast sanctuary for Sharks

Protected area in the South Pacific equals the size of Mexico

December 2012. The Cook Islands has banned the possession, sale, and trade of shark products and end commercial shark fishing in more than 1.9 million square kilometres (756,000 square miles) of ocean. The Cook Islands declaration follows the recent announcement by neighbouring French Polynesia, creating the world's largest contiguous shark sanctuary of more than 6.7 million square kilometres (2.6 million square miles). The Pew Environment Group applauds the Cook Islands for this decision.

"This is hopeful news for the world's sharks and our efforts to protect them," said Jill Hepp, director of shark conservation for the Pew Environment Group. "We are thrilled to see the Cook Islands become part of this global movement during a time when so many shark populations are threatened."

"We are proud, as Cook Islanders, to provide our entire exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area of 1.9 million square kilometres as a shark sanctuary," said the Honorable Teina Bishop, Cook Islands Minister of Marine Resources when he made the announcement. "Together with our Polynesian neighbour, Tahiti Nui (French Polynesia), we have created the largest shark sanctuary in the World. We join our Pacific neighbours to protect this animal, which is very vital to the health of our oceans, and our culture."

Size of Mexico
The sanctuary, encompassing an area the size of Mexico, is the result of a partnership between the Pew Environment Group and the Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative and the support of many local community and political leaders. Hundreds of signatures were collected on a local petition, and students submitted letters and drawings bearing the message "Akono Te Mango (Protect Our Sharks)."

"We're very proud to stand together today in celebration for sharks and for the community," said Stephen Lyon, director of the Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative. "It further establishes the Cook Islands, which has already declared both a whale sanctuary and a marine park, as a world leader in marine protection."

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cook-islands-sharks.html

Cook Islands' shark sanctuary creates world's largest

As shark numbers fall, other species further down the food chain are put at risk

The Cook Islands has approved a shark sanctuary in its waters, making for the largest such sanctuary in the world.

The South Pacific island chain declared a 1.9 million-sq-km sanctuary, contiguous with one established last week by neighbouring French Polynesia.

That sees a ban on shark fishing and possession or sale of shark products in an area now totalling 6.7 million sq km - nearly the size of Australia.

As top predators, overfishing of sharks disrupts complex oceanic food webs.

And about a third of ocean-going sharks appear on the internationally-recognised Red List of Threatened Species.

"We are proud as Cook Islanders to provide our entire exclusive economic zone... as a shark sanctuary," said Teina Bishop, Cook Islands minister of marine resources.

"We join our Pacific neighbours to protect this animal, which is very vital to the health of our oceans, and our culture."

Other island nations with sanctuaries also include Palau, the Maldives, Tokelau, Honduras and the Bahamas.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20709853

Marine park 'the size of the Moon' takes shape in Pacific

An ambitious plan to link marine parks across a vast swathe of ocean — whose surface area would equal that of the Moon — is slowly coming together piece by piece, say conservationists.

 

Former international rugby league player turned environmentalist Kevin Iro is a driving force behind the part of the park that will encompass the Cook Islands — a nation whose combined landmass is barely bigger than Washington DC.

 

"When I was a kid, this was all alive," said Iro, grimacing as he scooped up a lump of dead, grey coral while walking the white sands of a Cook Island beach in the Pacific.

 

"There were tracks in the coral and if you walked off them you could hear the coral crunching. Now there's no coral here, basically."

 

The Cooks' Prime Minister Henry Puna formally unveiled the 411,000 square mile reserve when he hosted the Pacific Islands Forum last month, vowing to protect the ocean for future generations.

 

Puna said the commitment by the tiny nation of 15 islands was its major contribution "to the well-being of not only our peoples, but also of humanity."

Continued:  http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/marine-park-the-size-of-the-moon-takes-shape-in-pacific

Cook Islands unveils world's largest marine park

Covering over one million square kilometres - 1.06 million km2 - the park will be three times the size of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

Courtesy of BirdLife International   

September 2012. The world's largest marine park has been launched in the Cook Islands located in the Pacific Ocean. Covering over one million square kilometres - 1.06 million km2 - the park will be three times the size of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and twice as large as the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean that topped the list of marine protected areas (MPAs) for two years.

The ambitious undertaking is being pushed by an alliance of government agencies, conservation NGOs - including Te Ipukarea Society (BirdLife in the Cook Islands) - and the tourism industry. The marine park's formal establishment marks just the beginning of a process likely to take years..

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cook-islands.html