Educational shark project for students of the
senior 3 years of secondary school

Sea First Foundation vzw www.seafirst.be, based in Belgium, is a small but very active ocean conservation-oriented NGO. Founded in June 2010, SFF's primary goal is to raise awareness concerning the oceans' importance, particularly targeting young people and students.

For 2012, SFF is planning a large scale shark awareness campaign. A shark contest will be held in our high schools, for teams of 1-5 students between 15-20 years old. The challenge will be to develop and execute a team project that will make their surroundings aware of the plight of sharks.

We believe that it is important to execute this campaign now. Belgium is the fifth largest shark catching nation in the EU, holds 12 votes in decisions of the Council of Ministers and elects 22 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). On November 21, 2011, a legal proposal to finally close the loopholes in the very weak EU shark finning ban was launched by the European Commission and sent to both bodies for consideration. As our project will coincide with this legal proposal, we believe it could positively influence the votes of Belgian MEPs, the position of our fisheries minister, and possibly even those of neighbouring countries.