Shark and Marine Conservation   Shark conservation Team Effort Making Waves Bite-Back in 60 seconds     Bite-Back's new approach to Shark Conservation Never before has there been such an urgent need for shark conservation. Shark populations are being decimated at a rate of 270,000 sharks each day across the world simply to keep up with consumer demand. It is a rate that can no longer be sustained without fear of stocks collapsing, forcing the potential extinction of some shark species closer by the day. Whilst it is hard to believe that Britain has any fascination with eating shark, the UK’s fastest growing shark and marine conservation organisation, Bite-Back, has revealed that 3290 tonnes of shark is consumed across the country each year. To give it some perspective, that’s roughly the equivalent in weight to 2200 Ford Fiestas. Perversely, against this backdrop, shark meat is being popularised by ‘celebrity’ chefs, trendy restaurants and even supermarkets and, as such, Britain is compounding the worldwide problem of over-fishing, the single biggest threat to the marine environment. Over-fishing is decimating shark populations Over-fishing is decimating shark populations. Put very simply, the fishing industry is being forced to catch sharks faster than they can reproduce, purely because more people want to eat it. The problem is so out of control that marine scientist Ransom Myers recently announced that stocks of some sharks have plummeted to just 10% of levels recorded in 1950. Yet it is crucial to Bite-Back’s success to remember that over-fishing is a phenomenon that only exists because too many people are eating too few popular fish. Traditionally shark conservation groups have attempted to tackle the issues of over-fishing for shark by lobbying government. Bite-Back is disappointed to argue that shark conservation might never reach the top of a political agenda. Bite-Back is looking to establish a different agenda. It is an agenda that encourages retailers and consumers to actively manage the oceans, by choosing not to sell or buy shark meat and fins and therefore altering the dynamics of the supply and demand principle. Whilst Bite-Back is not the only shark conservation organisation to encourage consumers to avoid eating shark meat and fins, it is the first organisation to directly challenge its inclusion by retailers on menus and fish counters. Shark Conservation must happen now to save sharksBite-Back believes the way forward for shark conservation efforts is to harness the support and passion of the diving community and concerned consumers and together apply pressure on the restaurants and retailers that sell shark, to stop. By simply removing shark from menus and fish counters, the retail industry can ease the pressure on vulnerable species, promote shark conservation and help manage the oceans responsibly. Bite-Back has proved that this new and upfront approach to shark conservation can capture the imagination of the diving community and concerned consumers and deliver high profile results. Only last year Bite-Back inspired 550 Holland & Barrett stores to stop selling shark cartilage capsules along with eight restaurants in London's Chinatown dropped shark fin soup (including the world's only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant - Hakassan).  Earlier campaigns have resulted in 24 restaurants in the Wagamama chain removing shark from the menu and ASDA de-listing shark steak in 190 stores across the UK - all as a result of intervention by Bite-Back and its supporters. If sharks are only being killed at a rate of 11,250 an hour to keep up with consumer demand, then the answer for shark conservation in 2009 is to remove demand and the option to buy shark meat and fins and the first place. It can be done. Bite-Back is doing it.