Andy Ieads the WWF and TRAFFIC's global shark and ray conservation programme, and oversees its responsible consumption and management strategies. He is the WWF network’s representative among the core partners of the Global Sharks and Rays Initiative, and co-author of Global Priorities for Conserving Sharks and Rays: A 2015-2025 Strategy.
Andy also co-authored – and was instrumental in introducing – Hong Kong’s first sustainable seafood guide, while serving as Conservation Director for WWF-Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. During that time he also led shark-fin advocacy efforts and the “Save Our Seas” campaign, which led to a permanent ban on all trawling.
Prior to this, after gaining his doctorate in reef fishes, Andy worked for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources in American Samoa and taught fish and fisheries-related undergraduate courses at the University of Hong Kong. He is a keen underwater photographer with a long-standing interest in sharks and rays, and has published several papers relating to diet, reproduction and pollutant loadings in bamboo sharks, as well as the field-guide Reef Fishes of Hong Kong.
andycornish@wwf.org.hk
Plugging data gaps to bring sharks back from the brink
By Andy Cornish
It’s hard to save species if you don’t have the right information. This is particularly true for sharks, and why WWF has launched the first-ever Rapid Assessment Toolkit for Sharks and Rays to help address a major gap in efforts by WWF and others to save sharks.
You may read the full blog here
Why we need more protected areas to conserve sharks and benefit people
By Andy Cornish
Well-planned Marine Protected Areas can provide multiple benefits for coastal communities as well as sharks and rays. While the combined area of existing shark MPAs is impressive, there is still a huge potential yet to be tapped.
READ THE FULL BLOG POST HERE
How CITES Is Starting to Drive Improvements in Shark Management and Trade
By Andy Cornish
While regulations on trade such as CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) may seem distinct from fisheries management, they are actually a key component of comprehensive management measures, at least for fishes like sharks whose products are frequently exported. Five years on since the first wave of Appendix II listings for commercially important sharks and rays came into effect, some patterns are beginning to emerge.
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Six Solutions to Save Sharks
By Andy Cornish
Sharks are in deep trouble. Driven mainly by overfishing, their numbers are plummeting, and an alarming number of species are facing extinction. These diverse and necessary species have been evolving for some 400 million years, but now time is not on their side. This Shark Awareness Day, Dr. Andy Cornish highlights the top six things we believe need to happen if the downward trajectories of so many shark populations are to be reversed. These are not in any order of priority — each is essential.
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Ravaged by Fishing — An Oceanic Shark Emergency
By Andy Cornish
Two iconic shark species — oceanic whitetip and scalloped hammerhead — as well as many other sharks and rays inhabiting the open ocean are being pushed toward extinction. Main threat? Overfishing. How did we get here and what can be done to save them?
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The WWF Sharkulator Story
By Andy Cornish
How we can now tell people how many sharks they can save by refusing shark fin soup -- The story behind our brand-new science-based tool allowing to calculate how many of these increasingly threatened marine creatures can be saved based on the number of bowls of shark fin soup not consumed.
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Protecting ocean predators
By Andy Cornish
Recent research on global shark and ray landings highlighted Sri Lanka among several countries that have suffered the greatest declines over the last decade. Reading the findings caused me to cast my mind back to my own experience in that country almost exactly a year ago.
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Sulu Seas shark tourism expedition
By Andy Cornish
One of the more gratifying experiences for a conservationist is seeing the approaches you’ve developed coming into fruition in the real world, and having a positive effect.
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Battle to save the threshers
By Andy Cornish
I saw my first thresher shark back in 2013, 30 metres below the surface of the Visayan Sea, as night turned to day above.
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Working to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and nature.
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