A week has passed now since the Shark Alliance Conference at the Luso-American Foundation in Lisbon. I had the opportunity and pleasure of being invited by Rémi Parmentier one of the organizers of the event to a lunch prior to the conference. There, I had the opportunity to meet some of the Portuguese NGOs people, also invited due to their proficiency and knowledge on the subject. They also revealed to be very good contacts/sources on whaling matters on the start and get Portugal active on the issue. I arrange to meet some of them this week to see what we can do.
But back to the conference, after a pleasant lunch, we headed for the conference. Good strong presentations, everyone listened carefully and intently. Portuguese Secretary for the Environment, Dr. Humberto Rosa gave a pre-recorded statement to the conference (view video below).

I was quite astonished with some of the facts; the one that stood out more was that Portugal is the third country in EU to kill more sharks. Sharks (much like whales and other mammals) have a slow reproductive cycle and cannot be addressed like a common fish that produces millions of eggs every year. See fact sheet about sharks.

After the last presentation by Rémi Parmentier, the questions and answers part started. This was when the real thing began. At the conference audience were present fishermen, people from the IPIMAR (Fisheries and Ocean Research Institute), that added some spices to discussin. Has Uta Bellion, one of the speakers, pointed out and wisely, this was fantastic because normally we go to conferences and all we do and see is a “priest, preaching to the already converted”, and everyone goes home happy and with their convictions even more reaffirmed. Here we had a good discussion where people spoke and where heard, interacting and searching for answers and ways to address the issue. I think more will come out of this inside the Portuguese community.

video © shark alliance

I also believe this was very positive and now with the Portuguese presidency of the EU there is a momentum for this nation to stand out on environmental questions, shark conservation is only one of them. I hope I may contribute on a positive way to this on my field, whaling. Portugal is to host the IWC (International Whaling Commission) meeting in 2009 at Madeira and I hope we get some historical outcome there.

- Read more about the conference here
- View some photos here (slide show)
- On the TV News SIC