Author: Cassandra Mason
Source: The New Zealand Herald
December 18, 2012

A Kiwi man's dream to establish a shark sanctuary the size of Mexico has been realised in the Cook Islands.

On December 12, the Cook Islands declared its 1997 million square kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) a sanctuary for sharks and rays - the largest in the world and with the toughest shark conservation regulations to date.

The sanctuary is the product of an 18-month grassroots campaign led by Auckland-born Stephen Lyon, a marine scientist and founder of the Rarotonga-based NGO the Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI).

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