A huge victory for sharks at CoP17!

Well, CITES is over....all shark and ray proposals were ratified without challenge. A huge victory for sharks at CoP17! Other proposals we’ve championed - the movement of all pangolin species to Appendix I, blocking all trade in African grey parrots, the failure to reopen ivory markets in Namibia and Zimbabwe - were also ratified. Your SRI representatives (https://www.sharks.org/), along with folks from Sea Save (http://seasave.org/), Aquameridian (http://www.aqua-m.org/), Pretoma (http://www.pretoma.org/), Turtle Island Restoration Network (http://seaturtles.org/) and many other groups closed out the CITES conference with a screening of the incredibly powerful film Blood Lions (http://www.bloodlions.org), truly shocking footage of the "sport" of canned lion hunting in South Africa....by all means see this film if you can.  We're heading home now, but will continue working for shark conservation, and keeping you posted at this site, and on Facebook, about our activities.  Thank you  for your support.

Jennifer Schmidt, PhD Director of Science & Research The Shark Research Institute