Cap Sharks 2 will be deployed this week in Saint-Leu as announced by the regional committee of maritime fisheries and mariculture of La Reunion (CRPMEM). Operations of horizontal longlines and bottom vertical longline catch with alert are being setting up along the coastline of Saint-Leu which becomes the fifth city after St. Paul, Etang Salé, Saint-Pierre and Trois bassins to “benefit” from the experimental program of targeted fishing of coastal sharks. In these four cities, the slaughter of sharks has started since January 4th, 2015. Large sharks, including bulldogs, have been recently massacred.
Cape Shark, “the most outrageous and grotesque water security programs in La Reunion”
Since 2011, more than 3 million have already been distributed to some local fishermen to “secure” the Reunion waters. These caricatures of scientific programs, which protocols are impossible to get, were heavily subsidised.
According to the environmental groups – ASPAS, Longitude 181, Waves, Tendua, Shark integration, Sea Shepherd France and Saving sharks – “Shark Cap is the most outrageous and grotesque of the programs led by the Regional Committee Fisheries. These large hooks with bait supposed to scare the sharks, reinforced the risk of attracting sharks off to the seaside areas. Despite promises regarding “zero risk to catch”, non-target species, and sometimes threatened species are killed, with no access to information about these jacks, the endangerment is accentuated both for humans and for biodiversity, funded entirely by public money.
Moreover, the group said that although this shark fishing program has been in place since January 2014, there are always accidents including two deaths in 2015! This proves the inefficiency and danger of this program!
Learn and respect, the only way to find a harmony between seaside activities and marine wildlife
The associations warn shark accidents, which are more and more publicity and hiding the real dangers that hardly evokes: waste discharges at sea, urbanization, inefficient treatment plants that attract the sharks -bouledogues near the coast … More seriously, the non-compliance with safety rules and common sense by some users of the sea challenge the precautionary measures taken by the authorities.
According to the environmental group, to reduce the risk shark, the real solutions are firstly, to re-establish the ecological balance and to strengthen the Navy reserve for this purpose, and secondly, to learn and accept the rules of the marine ecosystem, as you learn the rules of the road and the city under threat of being killed there very quickly!
Learn and respect are the only way to find a harmony between seaside activities and marine wildlife.
