Article Summary:

The Tribune reports that at the Marina Operators of the Bahamas annual general meeting and training session in the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort on 31 June, Minister of the Environment, Mr Earl Deveaux said:

“The government of the Bahamas has addressed the Attorney General’s Office to formally complete the regulations to ban the export of sharks from the Bahamas.”

The announcement follows ten months of intensive campaigning by Bahamas National Trust and the PEW Environment Group to make the Bahamas a sanctuary for sharks. The proposed legislation has yet to be ratified into law and has several stages to be completed before it is enforced, but the outlook is positive that it will be.

UPDATE: From Pew Environmental group.

“Sharks in The Bahamas can breathe more easily after the nation’s government announced today that all commercial shark fishing in the approximately 630,000 square kilometers (243,244 square miles) of the country’s waters is now prohibited.”