Thanks to the enthusiastic support and determination of its supporters, Bite-Back has inspired the developers of the Facebook Food List Challenge app (100 foods to eat before you die) to remove shark from the list.

Already more than half a million people have used the app to chart their adventurous eating habits against a list of 100 curio foods. However it was the inclusion of shark, at number 85 on the list, which horrified Bite-Back and its fans.

According to Bite-Back, the last thing dwindling shark populations needed was a challenge for 500,000 people to eat shark. After all it is the over-consumption of shark and shark-related products that has seen many of the world’s big sharks populations plummet by 90% in the past 60 years.

Consequently fishing boats are now chasing the last 10% of sharks on the planet. This fact has prompted scientists to predict that 20 species of sharks could be wiped out by 2017.

Campaign director of Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “This Facebook app was a clear example of a powerful communications tool in the wrong hands. The inclusion on shark was irresponsible and ultimately detrimental to the planet. Thankfully our supporters backed our ambition to remove it from the list.”

Once the alarm was raised, hundreds of Bite-Back supporters around the world took the time to send a measured request to the developers for shark to be removed.

Within 36 hours the developers had responded by dropping shark from the list.

Graham Buckingham said: “This victory for the oceans is further evidence that Bite-Back supporters can motivate and inspire change on a UK and international level. The result belongs to everyone who took part in the campaign and who held the belief that sharks belong in the oceans and not on the dinner table.”

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