COLE BAY–St. Maarten Shark Week starts on Saturday and ends on Sunday, June 11, and will feature numerous activities aimed at awareness demystifying sharks.
A day of children’s activities will be held on Saturday from 3:00pm to 6:00pm followed by a party at 8:00pm at Buccaneers Beach Bar. Organizer Nature Foundation will have shark-related children’s activities such as a shark game, movies, colouring, goodies, selfie challenge and shark face painting.
At the party, the Foundation will also release the latest updates about the exciting shark tagging research being done on St Maarten. Tickets will be sold to a raffle to win prices, such as a day of shark tagging, scuba diving, flow boarding, and dinner.
Dutch celebrity and ‘Save our Sharks’ ambassador Jörgen Raymann will be the special guest at the event.
Participants can also go Scuba Diving with one of the St Maarten Dive Schools to count the friendly sharks and participate in the Kingdom Shark Count. This activity on Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11, is for certified scuba divers. Participants will contribute to the Foundation’s shark sighting research to monitor shark abundance in St. Maarten waters. Register for the dive at Scuba Fun, Dive Safaris, Dive Adventures or Ocean Explorers.
The activities are all aimed at showing the importance of sharks for the reefs, ocean, island and tourism. Sharks, as top predators, play a crucial role in maintaining balance and health within our aquatic ecosystem.
“Occasionally shark bites do happen, however, no unprovoked attack has been ever recorded on St. Maarten. It is more likely that you get killed by a coconut falling on your head than by a shark,” said Melanie Meijer Zu-Schlochtern, Foundation’s “Save our Sharks” Programme Project Manager.
Sharks are the most misunderstood species on the planet as they are repeatedly displayed as villains and being dangerous; however they are actually the victims of humans poaching, finning, overfishing and coastal development activities.
Worldwide over 100 million sharks are killed per year; as a result half of all shark species are threatened or endangered. It is important that we work together to ensure the survival of the shark populations, therefore Nature Foundation is trying to bring this awareness to the public via Shark Week.
Nature Foundation will also visit primary schools during the week to bring shark awareness to the youth.
St Maarten Shark week is a part of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance ‘Save our Shark’ project funded by the Dutch National Postcode Lottery.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/66498-shark-week-starts-on-saturday
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