It's not often that you read a truly inspiring newscast from an NGO. Many are laced with propagandist hype and fireside assuage, promising to "work harder next year". More promises equals more requirement for cash. It's not a difficult equation. However, there is a hardened example for all of us to take notice of and inspiration from in the shape of Lesley Rochat. I for one was taken aback by her calm ability to film sharks being finned in front of her aboard a South African longliner last year, which transpired in her film Sharks in Deep Touble. The real lesson to be learned from Lesley Rochat though is her ability to create organic energy from in integration of effort from many sources. She is the founder of the AfriOceans Conservation Alliance which draws together efforts, pooling resources to assist in the fight for true marine conservation objectives. This is not just empty discourse. Lesley's recently published blog about her new initiative 'AfriOceans Warriors' is proof that there is not just talk emanating from the Rochat camp, there is action. Real organic, community integrated action. The crux of the idea around these new ocean warriors is that it they are the ocean guardians of tommorow, that in the inspiring words of her blog they are "fighting for their constitutional right to inherit healthy oceans". I have long been a proponent of the idea that it is our children that we should be looking to to pick up the recently thrown down gauntlet to save our oceans. I posted this video on youtube back in May 08 relating to the same issue, and I am really pleased to see that a major organisation is tackling the essential involvement of our youth in ocean conservation. I firmly believe that when you show the importance of ocean conservation to a child, the change doesn't only happen when the child grows up and gains power as an adult, it happens straight away. The child talks about it to their friends, to their family, they disseminate their new found passion in a way that is more consuming than fire. Yes they are our tommorow, but they are also our today.

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An insert was produced my film Sharks in Deep Trouble, and my lobbying for improved protection for sharks. I was referred to in the production as the 'thorn in the side of MCM (SA fishery department)'. I do not see myself as a thorn in anyone's side, only exposing the truth regarding a resource poorly managed and protected in South Africa. If that deems me as something that pricks or irritates, so be it. Thousands of South African's watch this very popular magazine program and I was inundated with emails from people offering their support and expressing their horror regarding what is taking place off our coast.

Published in the Weekend Argus, 16 March 2009 (Cape Argus/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX)

Shark researchers have appealed to anglers not to remove tags from sharks they catch because crucial information could be lost after a well-meaning angler removed one.

A ragged tooth shark called Lesley was caught a week ago in Struisbaai by an angler who released her but removed her spaghetti tag... meaning researchers will no longer be able to keep tabs on her.

The shark, named after Lesley Rochat, founder of the AfriOceans Conservation Alliance, was first tagged in Struisbaai in 2006 as part of the Save Our Seas Foundation M-Sea Programme, a shark conservation project, which began with the release of a ragged tooth called Maxine from the Two Oceans Aquarium in 2004.  Read more...

LE ROUX SCHOEMAN 16/03/2009 10:33:11PM – (Die Burgher - SA)

Cape Town – The illegal shark finningthat shook Cape Town Harbour this week is only the tip of the iceberg according to Lesley Rochat, shark specialist and conservationist. Rochat, the founder of AfriOceans Conservation Alliance, pleaded that more inspections of fishing boats needs to be made in South African waters. The inspections need to be made to stop the illegal fishing of sharks and the practice of finning were the fins of live sharks are being removed and then just dumped back in the ocean. Inspectors of the Department of Tourism and Environment have during a surprise inspection layed claim to more than 1.6 tons of dried shark fins on a boat called the Chien Jui No 102, that sails under the Taiwanese flag.

The department described this as the biggest catch in the past few years. The boat has since been impounded and a case has been made against the fisherman/crew, on grounds of the number of fins in relation to the number of shark found on board. According to international regulations, the weight of the total amount of fins found on board may not exceed a fifth of the weight of the sharks carcassesfound on board. The reason for this is to prevent fisherman from throwing sharks back into the ocean after finning them. According to ms Carol Moses, a spokesperson of the department, the boat only declared 100kg of fins when they applied for permission to enter the South African waters Exclusive Economy Zone (370km around the south African coast.) They laid claim to 2 tons of dead sharks in the case of the Chien Jui No102.