Shark Congress, has been postponed
International Shark Congress, planned for October, 2017,
has been postponed
The largest underwater protest dive ever planned, which was planned to include over 500 protest divers and to take place during the international shark congress in Eilat, Israel, on October, 2017 – has been held off and will be rescheduled to later date. The reason: a heap of cancellations by congress guests planned to arrive from abroad due to the deteriorating security situation in Israel.
“Ever since riots began around the Temple Mount, we have been receiving more and more cancellations of guests who were planned to arrive from abroad, whether they’re divers who initially signed up to take part in the protest dive or specialists and activists specially arriving to participate in the congress”, says David Pilosof, producer of the event. “I’ve been working intensively on this project for over two years, supported by a wonderful team of friends and colleagues. Together we’ve managed to initiate the Silence of the Sharks event, aimed to increase public awareness to the terrifying reality of sharks in the oceans nowadays.
We are now only two months away from the scheduled event, but the rough situation in Israel has seemed to result with a heap of cancellations, as well as great difficulties to raise the support of international sponsors. Therefore, we have decided to postpone the event for two years and to reconsider our plan. I would like to thank all those many good people who have followed the idea and supported it.
As for the sharks, all is left is to ask for their forgiveness. We will definitely return in the future with great efforts to increase awareness to this most important matter.”
Important Notes
• The Children Posters Competition continues and the winner will be announced on September 10th.
• The shark conservation research workshop, sponsored by the University of Haifa and the Eco-Ocean association and planned to take part during the International Shark Congress in Eilat, hosting some of the greatest and most known shark activists from all over the world, will take place in a different location - to be announced shortly.
