Living Waters


Any view in any direction reveals a myriad of life forms, so varied in size, colour, and appearance, that even the water seems to live.

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On the gestation period of the blackfin reef shark, Carcharhinus melanopterus in waters off Moorea, French Polynesia

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Originally published in the Journal "Marine Biology" at: http://link.springer.de   Abstract Underwater visual and photographic observations, over a four year period, monitored the presence of mating wounds on female Carcharhinus melanopterus . Mating begins in November and continues until the end of March as each female follows her own temporal cycle. Correspondingly, parturition begins in September and continues until January. Each female again mates 1.5 to 2.5 months after parturition, thus completing an annual reproductive cycle. The gestation period is 286 to 305 days, with slight individual differences. All resident sharks under observation followed this pattern. Evidence of reproductive events presented by transient females conformed with the pattern of the residents. Introduction The few studies postulating a gestation period for the reef blackfin shark Carcharhinus melanopterus have varied greatly in their conclusions. Based on an examin
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Letter to the Discovery Network

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To the Discovery Network: Members of our Internet shark discussion forum, SHARK-L, have been asked by your marketing representatives to help promote your famous Shark Week sequence. This letter, signed by list members and friends, is our formal response to the request from your grass roots agency, New Media Strategies, for our support of the programming. How can we support Discovery Channel when we are fighting for shark conservation, and its biggest obstacle is the monster image given to sharks by the media, including Shark Week programs? Further, some of us who have been directly involved in the production of your documentaries feel disgusted at the way that our interviews were censored and our words twisted around. Our group is comprised of scientists, researchers, educators, media companies, and many NGO's, lobbyists and others. In aggregate we represent a strong network of influence that can help or hurt the efforts of any Shark related programming or initiatives. In
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Misinformation Spread by the Shark Fishing Industry

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  Misinformation is being spread around by the shark fishing industry in an effort to take the focus off the dangers of the shark fin trade and see that The Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act is not passed. This Act would make the fin trade illegal in the USA, and conservationists consider it to be an important step towards weakening the lethal trade and working towards lessening shark mortality worldwide. But the shark fishing industry intends to continue to sell its fins, and is promoting The Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act. T h e Sustainable Shark Alliance, which is an allian ce of shark fishermen, processors and dealers, argues that it will solve the problem of shark depletion and render the complete ban on shark fins unnecessary. But though the catch word “sustainable” makes it sound attractive, it would be impossible to supply the demand for shark fins from sustainable fisheries, if you actually look at the numbers. For many reasons, this Act
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