Sharks feature in eco-tourism proposals

From Cerf Resort  http://www.cerf-resort.com/sharksecotourism.html

15.01.2008

They have greater value alive, say experts
Seychelles is among countries that are considering using sharks more for eco-tourism rather than consumption.

Local and international fisheries experts said this recently when representatives of 40 countries met here to seek a suitable option to save sharks, under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).

Stressing on the importance of sharks in maintaining ecological balance, the experts, who are still working on an agreement on the conservation of sharks, said that sharks may be of greater value alive than dead.

Their gathering took place at the Plantation Club Resort and Casino, and the effort to come up with a global agreement is being supported by the CMS secretariat, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France and the UK.

“We have to look at the best way to utilize sharks as a resource. We either fish it out of the water and kill it, or invite people to look at the shark and they pay for it,” Presidential Adviser on the environment, Rolph Payet, told Seychelles Nation and the international media.

He said that there is potentially a lot of money that can be made from such and related activities and there are times individuals pay US 0 each to observe sharks.

“If you look at the Great white shark in South Africa (SA), for example, it earns the SA ecotourism industry a lot of money every year,” he said, adding that Seychelles has been working over the last three years towards developing the whale shark’s ecotourism.

He said that specialists are looking at the various impacts such activities would have on the sharks, noting that ecotourism could interfere with feeding habits and that research needs to be carried out to find out what the sharks do during the day, how they migrate, feed and reproduce, so as to minimize the impact of human intrusion into their circles.

“We are working on policies that will offer guidance on for example, how many people can swim around the sharks, the kind of equipment they can use and the kind of noise they can make,” he said.

Asked why there is so much concern over maintaining a healthy population of sharks, Dr Payet said that the animals have hardly any predators or natural enemies except man, and that being at the top of the food chain, they help control the fish they themselves eat, thereby maintaining a balance of the ones lower down in the chain.