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Welcome to the Free Shark Association website. Located in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, the purpose of our organization is to protect sharks, promote awareness of the marine environment and educate the local people to appreciate their natural environmental heritage. Particular emphasis will be placed on restoring and preserving the reef ecology in the waters of the Verde Island Passage between Batangas on the island of Luzon and Puerto Galera, and to reintroduce the Black Tip Reef Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) to the local waters. Black Tip Shark Nursery Project.
Project goals and ideals have been split into four sections, namely Awareness, Action, Protection and Education. Using the Internet is one way to attract global interest but the best way is actually getting out and about and meeting people to talk about the project. In this way the residents and the local people that live and work in the area can see the reality of the situation and that’s how changes can be brought into effect. Recently, the shark situation has made national press in the Philippines following a presentation seminar held at Batangas University by Professor Simon Oliver from the Thresher Shark Conservation and Research Group, based in Bangor University, Wales, UK. Professor Oliver spelled out his concerns for the dwindling population of Thresher Sharks in Philippine waters to an assembled crowd of nearly 100 people from many important government and environmental institutions, including a representative from the Free Shark Association (Me!) The full story can be found here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=129384
2) Action The project has moved from a simple letter to our Honorable Mayor Hubbert Dolor asking for his help to try and prevent the killing of sharks to the formation of the FSA, our website and forums and the Shark Nursery Project. Local interest is sparking now at many levels. Local fishermen and their families, tourists, hoteliers and dive shop owners and their staff will all benefit from this project, not to mention the sharks and the reefs themselves. The next phase of our project is already underway. Professor Oliver is visiting the dive sites in Puerto Galera to give us the benefit of his experience in identifying prime Thresher Shark territory and to help implement a scientific monitoring system that all the dive shops will have access to, to record sightings of sharks for his research. My friend and colleague in the FSA Peter Lisberg has been raising three Black Tip Reef Sharks in his specially built saltwater tank for release into a larger pen in the open sea. The sharks will spend another five or six months in the sea pen before being released into the open ocean to breed in local waters. This project has inherent costs involved with the purchase, nurturing and release of the sharks. At this moment in time there are three parties involved in fundraising, Peter Lisberg, Alan Nash and myself.
3) Protection The next step of course is the protection of all sharks. Mayor Dolor has agreed that fishing ordnances should be reviewed and is willing to help us with this. The hardest part is changing the ‘habits of a lifetime’ for an ever-growing population of hungry fishermen and their families. One alternative is of course to ask the fishermen to catch the fish that the Black Tip Sharks in the pen will need to eat to grow strong. The shark pen is planned to be quite large (at least 15m x 15m – larger would be better) and Peter estimates that 30 sharks can be cared for in such a pen. Feeding 30 sharks daily with live fish is quite difficult and will provide work for many fishermen in the local area. The Shark Research Institute, USA have offered to tag the Black Tip Reef Sharks as they are released which is amazing and such a bonus to the project. Local fishermen will be rewarded for reporting any shark sightings and providing evidence that if the sharks are caught, they are released. I hope that positive reinforcement of the new fishing ordnances will be handed to the Bantay Dagat (Sea Patrol) under the supervision of the newly formed Puerto Galera Coastguard Auxiliary, in which I am to be a Lieutenant commencing in May of this year.
One of the major factors in changing they way that local people perceive these magnificent fishes is changing their opinions about the them altogether. Through training, seminars, visits to schools and colleges and real hands on experience working with the sharks and recording their sightings we hope to create a positive future for sharks in these waters. The future of sharks here in local waters is dependent on local people embracing the project, realizing the value to their families through shark tourism and understanding the importance of sharks for the reef ecosystem. A positive outcome here will benefit hundreds or thousands of Filipino families for years to come.
Where do the Black Tip Reef Sharks for this project come from? The sharks are purchased from a source in Manila, they are all due to be exported to private collectors in many different countries around the globe. They are usually found in a very poor condition. We are certain that the few sharks that survive their illegal export will not be cared for properly and eventually will also die as the rich aquarium owners to which they are headed will not have the knowledge or expertise to monitor and look after them properly. We firmly believe that in effect, we are ‘rescuing’ them from a bleak future in captivity and certain death.
How do we look after them? Peter Lisberg is a Marine Biologist and knows so much about the well being of these sharks and their requirements for a healthy and long life. The sharks are transported to Big La Laguna in Puerto Galera very carefully. Upon their arrival they are weighed and measured and introduced slowly to the salt-water tank only when they are strong enough to swim in the 5 knot ‘current’ that is circling inside it. As pups, they are fed on boiled shrimps and mussels for all the vital natural vitamins they need to grow healthy once again. They are introduced to very small live fish as early as possible so that they retain a hunting instinct too. In 3 to 5 months when they are fit and healthy again, they are carefully transported to the shark pen in the open sea. They will spend another 5 or 6 months in the pen where they will get used to the ‘smell’ of the surroundings. It is believed that these sharks will stay in local waters where they ‘grew up’. When the sharks are approximately 1.5m in length they will be tagged and released.
Some facts about the Black Tip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus)
These sharks live for approximately 25 – 30 years. They will grow to a maximum size of 1.8m to 1.9m. It takes a Male 9 – 10 years to reach maturity and be ready to breed. It takes a female 8 – 9 years to reach maturity and be ready to breed. Each birth will produce 2 to 4 pups. Breeding takes place only every 3 or 4 years.
Distribution Appearance Diet Reproduction, behavior, and interaction with humans Population decline
**A viviparous animal is an animal employing vivipary: the embryo develops inside the body of the mother, as opposed to outside in an egg (ovipary). The mother then gives live birth. The less developed form of vivipary is called ovoviviparity, which, for instance, occurs in most vipers. The more developed form of vivipary is called placental viviparity; mammals are the best example, but it has also evolved independently in other animals, such as in scorpions, some sharks, and in velvet worms.
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