Photo Exhibit: Saving Sharks in Chile

Shark finning is legal in Chile, and a serious threat to the estimated 53 species of sharks found in the country's waters. As recently as 2008, Chile exported 36 tons of shark fins to Hong Kong. Lawmakers have realized the need to stop shark finning there, and legislation has emerged to address this.

Max Bello, South American representative of Pew's Global Shark Conservation Campaign, has met with members of the Chilean Senate, Chamber of Deputies and commercial fishermen's associations for the last few months to begin to address shark finning in Chile. On March 1, 2011, Sens. Horvath, Orpis, Gomez, Sabag and Cantero introduced Senate bill 7489-03, The Use and Benefit of Sharks, to end the practice of shark finning and to mandate that all sharks that are landed in Chile be landed with their fins naturally attached.

To go along with the introduction of the bill, I traveled to Valparaiso, home to the Chilean Congress, where our group launched a shark finning photo exhibit in front of the Senate chambers. Max and I also met with the Senate President of the Fishery Commission, the Under Secretary of Fisheries and the Senate President to discuss this important legislation.

Since our meetings, the bill has passed through the Senate, and now awaits a vote from the Chamber of Deputies before it can be signed into law by Chile's president.

Below, you'll find the images featured in the photo exhibit, accompanied by some photos of the surrounding events and speakers. Be careful, though -- while many of these images show sharks' grace and beauty, others graphically depict the truth behind shark finning.

Here is a link to an article on the event and shark finning in general that appeared on the front page of Santiago's La Tercera newspaper.