Last night I was a guest speakers at the premier screening of the Oscar winning documentary, The Cove. It was a privilege to support David Oosthuizen’s efforts, a man who had the foresight to secure the film for South Africa way before it was even nominated for the Oscar. The premier screening was held at…
Monthly Archives: Mar 2010
27
Mar
Mar
Tonight 60 AfriOceans Warriors from Muizenberg High School under the leadership of AOCA’s Head of Education Terry Corr, and with the support of Deputy Principle, Leonie Jacobson, participated in Earth Hour on Muizenberg beach. Along with other supporters, and while holding candles in the dark, they formed a symbolic figure 60 on the beach. Much…
25
Mar
Mar
Leonard and I had to catch an early flight out of Doha today and missed the last day of CITES, which perhaps was a good thing – the disappointment of the porbeagle success being overturned is great for all of us: The porbeagle previous success was reopened in a motion by Singapore and was voted…
25
Mar
Mar
CITES ends today but not before plenary and the potential of the porbeagle being overturned. My colleagues from the Shark Research Institute had this to say about CITES:
24
Mar
Mar
The party is not over until the fat lady sings!(or something like that!?) The victory of the porbeagle shark is not cast in cement until plenary tomorrow and the last vote. This was a huge shocker when we thought it was done and sealed, but not so, tomorrow the Japanese are likely to request another…
23
Mar
Mar
I arranged a screening of my award winning film, Sharks in Deep Trouble, at CITES and was honoured to have the renowned Dr Sylvia Earle, who is the Honorary president of the Shark Research Institute, attend the screening. She was very impressed by the film and later during a camera interview I asked her what…
23
Mar
Mar
Lesley Rochat LIVE FROM CITES: Vote for spiny dogfish proposal to be listed on Appendix II: For=60 Against=67 Abstentions=11 PROPOSAL REJECTED! It could have been worse if the porbeagle shark didn’t make it… I’m going to go with Len, Marie, Ed and Jupp, all from the Shark Research Institute, and other marine NPOs for a few…
23
Mar
Mar
Lesley Rochat LIVE FROM CITES: Vote results for porbeable shark to be listed on Appendix II secret ballot so we won’t know what the different countries voted: For=86 Against=46 Abstentions=8 THE PROPOSAL IS ACCEPTED!!! Many didn’t think we would be successful after the defeat of the hammerhead and the oceanic whitetip, myself included, but we are…
23
Mar
Mar
The hammerhead proposal has been rejected and so has the oceanic whitetip. The secret vote results for the hammerhead are: for:75, against:45, abstentions:14 (missed by 5 votes) and the oceanic whitetip are for:75, against:51, abstentions:16. This defeat is a massive blow for shark conservation as we had hoped that by listing them onto CITES Appendix…
22
Mar
Mar
Some good things have come out of CITES despite all the disappointments, like the elies today, and the little frogs the other, and then making new friends who support what you do. This cartoon was done for me by Shujaat Ali, a gifted political cartoonist for Aljazeera Network who came to the screening of Sharks…