Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Awards To Honor The Memory Of The Late Peter Benchley

Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Awards to honor the memory of the late Peter Benchley, and spotlight those who are working internationally to protect sharks as valuable ocean resources. The first of the 2008 Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Awards, sponsored by Rolex, was presented by SRI President Stan Waterman and Wendy Benchley to Matthew T. McDavitt on March 29 at an Award Ceremony hosted by Beneath The Sea (www.beneaththesea.org). The ceremony was attended by celebrities and marine conservationists from around the world including Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic photographer David Doubilet, and marine artist Wyland.

Sawfish fins are among the most valuable in the shark fin trade. In US waters, these rays once ranged from New York to Texas. Critically endangered, their numbers have declined by 99%; today they are only found in a few marine reserves in Florida. For more than a decade Matthew T. McDavitt, an estate lawyer from Virginia, worked on his own to gather data on the international sawfish trade. In 2006, his data convinced eBay to prohibit sales of small-tooth sawfish rostra on their website. In 2007, his comprehensive fully-referenced 40-page overview of the trade enabled the USA to successfully propose sawfishes for protection at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), making them the first elasmobranch fishes (and the only Family of elasmobranches) listed on CITES Appendix I.