Francis Toribiong, pioneer diver and Micronesian Shark Foundation board member told Horizon during the opening of the 7th Annual Shark Week on Sunday that foreign divers came to Palau to see Sharks and it saddened him to know that the number of sharks in Palau is decreasing compared to the previous years.
Toribiong said in his past experience as a diver, there are more sharks to see.“You see a beautiful number of sharks but that is not what it used to be,” he said then added;“Palau became famous because of sharks. If there’s no shark, there is no tourist.”Toribiong said the purpose of the Shark Week is to create public awareness and to make people understand how important it is to save and protect the Shark.More than 50 people, most of them divers came to the opening of the Shark Week on Sunday.The participants and the guests were welcomed by Resources and Development, Tourism and Environment Minister Harry Fritz.Tova Harel-Bornovski, MSF founder introduced the guests and one of the speakers for this week’s lectures, Dr. Mark Meekan of the Australian Institute of Marine Science.Video presentation of past Shark week events and shark footage were shown during the opening.Dr. Meekan will talk on Wednesday and his topic is “Is the World’s largest fish getting smaller?’Minister Fritz said the Shark Week is a good educational program for the community.“The more people will be educated about sharks the better and it will benefit both the human and the sharks. The more we understand about sharks the more we become friendly to them,” Minister Fritz said. President of the Belau Tourism Authority Dr. Minoru Ueki, Senator Adalbert Eledui, Bureau of Marine Resources Director Theo Isamu and Mr. and Mrs. Shokichi Suzuki attended the opening of the Shark Week.The awareness activities will start on March 9 and will end on March 15, 2009.Christine Gstoettner, Vice President of Shark Project was the first speaker of this week’s series of talks.She talked about the danger of eating Shark meat.Tonight at 7 pm, Dr. Eric Verheij from the Nature Conservancy will talk about Conservation efforts in Palau and Micronesia, Senator Eledui will talk about History of environmental protection in Palau and Tiare Holm, Executive Director of Palau conservation Society will talk about community environmental awareness programs in Palau.On Thursday at 7 pm, Tova Harel Bornovski will talk about the Micronesian Shark Foundation and its goals, achievements and projects.A film of Rob Stewart entitled Sharkwater will be showned on Friday at 7 pm at the Barracuda Restaurant and Bar.On Saturday, there will be a wrap-up of the entire activities and the participants will be entertained with raffle draws and video presentations.
