Project Update of Save Our Seas Foundation M-Sea Programme
About Project update | Project Update
About Project Update
This communication link will provide updates which will include the progress of the Save Our Seas Foundation M-Sea Programme,
including the actual journey of the sharks satellite tagged and released from the Two Oceans Aquarium, and that of the tagged of the wild sharks we tag.
Project Update
Not too long ago divers came to me complaining about sharks being landed at the same slipway from which they launch here in False Bay, South Africa. They were very upset, which is most understandable - the very animals they hoped to see alive on a dive if they were lucky were piled up high, and dead at the slipway where they launched from.
I was asked to 'do something' about it and so I did, and will continue to do so as these battles are not quickly, nor easily won. I initiated an article published in the Weekend Argus newspaper, bringing the public's attention to the problem - raising awareness. Marine and Coastal Management (MCM), the government department responsible for managing our fish stocks, is once again not doing their job adequately, in fact they are doing very little at all and I am beginning to get quite fed up with their excuses and comatose state of looking after our marine resources: there is only one dedicated shark fisheries scientist for the entire coast which is laughable, therefore research is way behind - more money needs to be allocated to more scientists. Then there's of course the old story that compliance, the department responsible for putting inspectors at harbours and to check landings, plus stop poaching, amongst other responsibilities, is also in a state of inertia. What will it take for the South African government, MCM, to wake up and manage our shark resources properly, and our other fish resources? And we can't wait for their minimal research projects to divulge great findings because by the time they have any answers there will be no sharks left. Get your act together MCM!
Warch this space!
Lesley Rochat
Founder, AOCA
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A day's catch landed at slipway and upsetting divers. Photo: Jemma Pellet
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