To coincide with the High Level Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to review the Millennium Development Goals, which include a target for preserving global biodiversity, President Johnson Toribiong of the Republic of Palau and President Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the Republic of Honduras issued a challenge to other world leaders to work together to save the world’s sharks.

The two Presidents are calling on coastal countries to establish shark sanctuaries in their waters, where no shark fishing is permitted, and for all fishing countries to end shark finning and the global overfishing of sharks.

“We have done what we can in Palau’s waters to save these magnificent masters of the sea,” said President Toribiong of Palau, who announced the world’s first national shark sanctuary at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly session in 2009. “We have found that healthy shark populations keep our marine environment healthy and our tourism industry thriving. However, if unregulated overfishing of sharks throughout the world’s oceans continues, small island states such as ours will lose a vital resource, and the oceans on which our very lives depend will be irrevocably altered.”

“Our decision to protect sharks was made not just for this generation but for generations to come,” said President Lobo of Honduras, whose government announced a moratorium on all shark fishing in Honduran waters in February of this year. “The price of shark fins for the global trade drives fishermen to skirt or break limits on fishing and finning that would otherwise conserve shark populations. We call on other governments to join us in protecting sharks in their waters, for the sake of healthy coastal marine ecosystems and economic development.”

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