Sharks Pacific was born in the Cook Islands in 2012 while our founder Jess Cramp was co- championing the Cook Islands Shark Sanctuary project alongside a team of impassioned local people.
Their effort was part of the Rarotonga-based Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI) and resulted in the 772,000 square mile shark sanctuary, which is almost three times the size of Texas. The sanctuary legislation afforded protection from fishing and trade to all sharks and rays within Cook Islands waters.
While extremely proud of what they’d accomplished throughout the eighteen-month campaign, Jess understood that the sanctuary alone wasn’t going to reduce mortality of threatened sharks and rays, especially for the migratory species that may leave the bounds of the sanctuary and swim into the high seas where industrial fishing is largely unmonitored and unregulated. She recognized significant scientific data deficiencies in her own campaign, as well as a lack of local involvement, gaps and inaccuracies in the communication plans of many other shark and ray conservation efforts.
She felt that these gaps and inaccuracies precluded effective protection of sharks and rays. It also meant they were missing important opportunities for increasing stewardship and literacy for sharks as well as fisheries, the marine environment, and the people who depend on it.
A need emerged for an organization that conducted applied research that informed policy alongside locals, while understanding advocacy and the policy process. It was also critical that the organization be a platform capable of developing and communicating culturally-sensitive, scientifically-accurate, inspiring stories from the field.
Formalized in 2015 as a fiscally-sponsored project under the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)—a New-York based 501c(3) organization—Sharks Pacific’s mission is to understand the importance of sharks in Pacific communities, and to advocate for the conservation and responsible management of sharks and the related marine environment through research, outreach, and advocacy.
Through strategic outreach and efforts to highlight our work in the Pacific, we endeavor to educate and inspire stewardship and pointed action for sharks and their marine environment throughout the world.
