In early October, Amos Nachoum, alerted Shark Research Institute (SRI) to grim news from Tahiti. Some 56 new licenses are being issued for long lining operations in Tahitian waters. French tour operators attending the Antibes Film Festival called an emergency meeting to establish a unified front to approach the government of Tahiti to hold off on the longline permits, citing the irreversible damage that uncontrolled long lining fishing would cause to the marine wildlife, and to sharks in particular, and highlighting the loss of income to people in Tahiti who depend on tourism.  

SRI member Peter Benchley has been investigating the problem to determine the best course of action. SRI lacks field offices in Tahiti and nobody is certain who is actually in power these days (Tahiti currently has two governments, two presidents, etc), but Tahiti wants to increase tourism by 200%.  He suggests that all SRI members (and divers) send emails to Tahiti’s Department of Tourism, asking them to raise strong objections to long line fishing in their waters because it will irrevocably destroy their marine environment, cause devastation to their shark population, put an end to dive tourism in Tahiti and result in loss of revenue to Tahitians who depend on tourism for their income.

After you’ve sent the emails, forward them to everyone in your email address book, asking them to do the same, and so on, and so on – as we did with the MasterCard Campaign last year. Here are email addresses of Tahiti’s Department of Tourism in the USA, Tahiti and elsewhere: 
tahitilax@earthlink.net,
tahiti-tourisme@mail.pf
info@tahiti-tourisme.co.uk
info@tahiti-tourisme.co.nz
info@tahiti-tourisme.es
info@tahiti-tourisme.dk