The Philippines Gets a Little Safer for Endangered Sharks and Rays

[Omaha Steve]

A giant manta ray. (Photo: David Loh/Reuters)

http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/07/06/philippines-gets-little-safer-endangered-sharks-and-rays?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2015-07-06

JUL 6, 2015 Emily J. Gertz is TakePart's associate editor for environment and wildlife.

Just in time for Shark Week, a town in the Philippines has announced that two renowned diving sites in the Visayan Sea have become the nation’s first sanctuary for sharks and rays.

The mayor of Daanbantayan in Cebu province signed an order on Friday establishing nearby Monad Shoal and Gato Island as safe harbors for both animals, according to a press release from Greenpeace Philippines, as well as an online update from the group Save Philippine Seas.

So, Why Should You Care? Hunters and poachers are decimating sharks and rays worldwide to supply the surging global trade in wildlife parts for luxury foods such as shark fin soup or so-called medicinal products. Both predators fill a crucial niche in healthy marine ecosystems by keeping populations of other fish in check.

The Monad Shoal and Gato Island area is home to “rare, threatened and vulnerable species,” reported the Philippines News Agency, such as “thresher sharks, white tip sharks, manta rays and devil rays.” Monad Shoal, a submarine island, is known to divers and sharks alike as a “cleaning station” that sharks visit daily to let eel wrasses nibble parasites off their skin.

FULL story at link.