On July 14, environmental groups worldwide marked Shark Awareness Day, in the middle of Shark Awareness Week—yes, in honor of an animal that has long been demonized as a mindless killer, since the days of “Jaws,” when the blockbuster film led to the killing of millions of sharks.

(Incidentally, the book’s author, Peter Benchley, realizing the damage he had done, spent the rest of his life advocating for marine conservation and the protection of sharks until his death in 2006. As a spokesperson for the Oceans Program of the American leadership forum, National Council of Environmental Defense Fund, he was quoted as saying, “The shark in an updated ‘Jaws’ could not be the villain; it would have to be written as the victim, for, worldwide, sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors.”)

So why should we care about these “evil” creatures? “Protecting sharks in the Philippines is in our best interest,” reads the campaign by Save Sharks Network Philippines (SSNP), a coalition of organizations from the country’s scientific, nongovernmental organizations and tourism communities, to pass the Shark, Ray and Chimaera Conservation Act. (See signature campaign here: bataris.org.ph/petitions/revise-senate-bill-905-pass-the-shark-and-ray-protection-act.) “An Act Regulating the Catching, Sale, Purchase, Possession, Transportation, Importation and Exportation of All Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras and any Part Thereof in the Country,” also known as the Philippine Shark Conservation Bill, was first introduced by Sen. Risa Hontiveros on July 4, 2017 (Senate Bill No. 1863), and again by Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on July 9 (House Bill No. 7912), during the 17th Congress of the Philippines in 2017.

Now, SSNP is pushing for the bill to be made law during this 18th Congress, and before elections roll around.

Shark-based tourism

“Their presence is beneficial to both our economy and ecosystems,” the statement continues. “Fisheries on sharks have been historically practiced in the Philippines, with municipal dominating over commercial fisheries. Shark-based tourism contributes to the local economy, as well, such as in Donsol in Sorsogon and Malapascua Island in Cebu. Tourism supports networks and job opportunities for the locals and businesses. Ecological benefits of sharks include keeping coral reefs and seagrass beds healthy, fish populations robust and nutrient cycling in the seas functioning. Healthy shark populations mean healthy seas.”

Unfortunately, sharks remain constantly threatened, victims of marine debris, habitat destruction, irresponsible tourism, and the most meaningless death of all, finning, where their fins are chopped off to make expensive soup, and the animals thrown back into the water to die. It doesn’t help that sharks also have a low reproductive rate compared to other species.

There are over 1,000 species of sharks in the world’s oceans, with some 200 found in the Philippines, from the elegant whitetip reef sharks to the big, gentle whale sharks that have put the country on the biodiversity map. Several shark species have been protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and the Convention on Migratory Species, but only 25 species are protected in the Philippines.

On July 14, two member organizations of SSNP, Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines (MWWP) and Save Philippine Seas (SPS), in partnership with Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc. (PRRCF), Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP) and the Department of Tourism (DOT), held “A Virtual Dive with Sharks,” a streaming event that allowed nondivers to see what scuba divers see when underwater in Tubbataha in Sulu Sea and Danjugan Island in Negros Occidental.

Streamed on the Facebook pages of MWWP and SPS, the online experience, hosted by Chris Ng, featured Kaila Ledesma Trebol of PRRCF, which takes care of Danjugan; Angelique Songco, protected area superintendent of the TRNP, and Maria Retchie Pagliawan, TRNP research officer; SPS executive director Anna Oposa; and DOT’s Assistant Secretary Rica Bueno, Region 6 officer in charge Christine Mansiñares, and Region 4B representative Faye Reyes.

Tomorrow’s conservationists

Trebol shared videos of the blacktip shark pups swimming in the shallows of Danjugan, a renowned sanctuary that has long been the venue for marine and wildlife conservation camps for youth as well as adults, until the pandemic put a temporary halt to such visits. Trebol assured that such activities would continue when borders open again: “After all, today’s youth are tomorrow’s conservationists.”

Oposa, in a scuba mask, led the virtual tour of Tubbataha, pointing out a number of sharks and rays found in the famed World Heritage Site. Songco, meanwhile, revealed how scientific study in Tubbataha continued despite the absence of tourists, while Pagliawan recounted how a 3-meter tiger shark showed up during their last monitoring trip to the reefs, 150 kilometers from Puerto Princesa City, just two weeks earlier.

SSNP is lobbying for the public to help push for the aforementioned bill, which will work for the sustainable management of shark populations, as a total ban would also negatively impact subsistence fishermen.

What can you do? Sign this petition and share it on your social media networks. Get involved in shark projects and research (get in touch with MWWP and SPS for leads; check out their Facebook pages). Do not buy any items made of sharks, rays and their byproducts and derivatives—yes, that includes accessories made from exotic skins and shark’s fin soup. Report sightings of sharks and rays in wet markets, shops, or restaurants to SSNP (visit savephilippineseas.org).Most important, educate yourself. More people die from dengue mosquito bites, wars, random shootings and even fallen coconuts than shark attacks. Understand that if these magnificent apex predators disappear, the oceans will collapse—and with that, life on this planet. INQ