The Shark Research Institute created the Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Awards to honor the memory of the late Peter Benchley, and ensure continuation of his conservation efforts on behalf of sharks. Sharks are critical to the balance of the ocean ecosystem -- the life support system of our planet. But sharks are disappearing from the world's oceans at an unprecedented rate; it is estimated that as many as 100 million sharks are being killed each year. Most are being slaughtered for their fins -- a tasteless ingredient of sharkfin soup, a status symbol and a dish whose popularity is being driven by the shadowy underworld of the sharkfin industry. The Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Awards call attention to the plight of sharks and spotlight those who are working internationally to protect sharks as valuable ocean resources.

On May 8, 2007, the Peter Benchley Shark Conservation Awards will be presented at the Explorers Club, 46 East 70th Street, New York. The Awards will be presented in three categories: media, scientific research and advocacy. The 2007 recipients are Sharkwater, a documentary film; and Ecocean, a computer program which utilizes the body patterns of whale sharks to catalogue and track the global movements of individual animals. Sonja Fordham is receiving the award for her outstanding efforts as an advocate for shark conservation at national and international forums.

• Sharkwater, an internationally-acclaimed documentary film by Rob Stewart, is visually stunning. The film takes viewers into the most shark rich waters of the ocean, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. To protect sharks, Stewart teams up with conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and the two men risk their lives to show viewers that what is happening in the world's oceans can no longer be ignored. Sharkwater, which has been compared to March of the Penguins, will premiere in theaters in the USA in September 2007.

• Ecocean, a web-based project, utilizes a pattern-recognition algorithm to identify individual whale sharks based on their body patterns, much like fingerprints. Winner of the Rolex Award for Enterprise, this non-invasive, yet highly accurate and unique research tool monitors the global movements and population size of these highly-migratory and threatened sharks, and encourages public participation. The Ecocean Whale Shark Photo-identification Library is a joint project developed by programmer Jason Holmberg, marine biologist Brad Norman, and NASA scientist Zaven Arzoumanian.

• Sonja Fordham, Shark Conservation Program Director for the Ocean Conservancy, Policy Director of the Brussels-based Shark Alliance and Deputy Chair for the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Shark Specialist Group, works to bridge the gap between shark scientists and policy makers. A tireless advocate of shark conservation for the past 15 years, Fordham serves as an advisor to state and federal governments and has led efforts to ban finning and limit shark catch in US waters and adjacent seas.
  "Peter Benchley was much more than the Shark Research Institute's benefactor, a colleague and friend, he was an eloquent advocate for shark conservation," says Stan Waterman, President of the Shark Research Institute and Peter Benchley's best friend.. In the 1970s, Benchley's fictional best-seller, JAWS -- which Spielberg made into a blockbuster movie -- generated a fear of sharks simply because so little was known about them. By the 1980s, that fear had given away to curiosity, resulting in an unprecedented amount of research on sharks. "In the 1990s, as sharks became target species for Asian markets, scientific data were available to combat threats to sharks -- data which existed because of the fascination in sharks that Peter had sparked," said Marie Levine, Executive Director of the Shark Research Institute. Throughout his life, Peter remained a spokesman for sharks and an ardent shark conservationist."

The Shark Research Institute (SRI) is an international multidisciplinary non-profit organization headquartered in Princeton that sponsors and conducts research on sharks and promotes the conservation of sharks. SRI works to correct misperceptions about sharks and halt the slaughter of up to 100 million sharks annually. One conservation method used by SRI is creating value for sharks as sustainable natural resources for the tourism industry, particularly in developing countries. By so doing, steady revenue streams are generated for local fishers that might otherwise slaughter the sharks for immediate gain. SRI has the oldest and largest whale shark tracking program in the world. Other programs include satellite and radio telemetry, behavioral and DNA studies of sharks, environmental advocacy, publications and public education.

For more information contact Marie Levine at 609.921.3522, or email: marie@sharks.org web: www.sharks.org