Ilaitia Turagabeci
Source: The Fiji Times
November 7, 2011

"SHARKS that lure tourists back to our waters in a multi-million-dollar industry are seeing red.

Ten species of sharks highlighted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ICUN) on its Red List, which gauges the level of threat against endangered wildlife species, have been identified as top-of-the-range in Fiji's fin trade.

And among the ICUN's "near threatened" and "vulnerable" red-listed sharks are the country's main attractions in shark-related tourism activities.

A study on the shark fin trade in Suva conducted by Dr Demian Chapman, the assistant director of science at the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, Stony Creek University in New York, shows that a large amount of sharks killed for their fins are those that frequent dive spots which tourists visit for shark encounters."

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