GOVERNMENT will soon introduce a shark moratorium to protect its population in Fiji’s waters.
Fisheries Department director George Madden said a submission would be made to Cabinet seeking approval for the proposed moratorium.
“Our sharks need to be protected and under a national plan, we will make a submission to Cabinet to seek approval,” Mr Madden said. “We are mostly concerned about long line fishing which takes in sharks that it picks up along the way while fishing. Sharks usually bite long line fishing and some of the sharks are young or baby sharks so we need to protect them.”
Mr Madden said certain species of sharks would need special protection.
“These sharks include the white tip, mako and blue species. We will enforce this moratorium once it is approved by Cabinet. We will inform all fishing companies and the public about the moratorium and everyone should respect it.
“We need to save our sharks now and fishing companies will also be asked to release the sharks back into the sea if it is caught during fishing.”
Mr Madden said the moratorium would include strict measures for protecting sharks.
