Yesterday was World Oceans Day, and representatives from WWF and the Wildlife Trust presented a petition of 165,000 signatures to Tony Blair, asking for a Marine Bill to protect the oceans and their wildlife. VICKI GREEN-STEEL joined a shark tagging expedition - one of the many ways that marine wildlife is being monitored and protected...

ITS yellow eyes were almost feline. Its body, although lithe, was deceptively strong and its gaping jaw snapped uselessly at the air.

This was my first face-to-face experience with a shark.

Weighing only 6lb and with no teeth, this starry smoothhound was hardly the stuff of horror films, but it was still impressive to see what is lurking beneath the calm waters of the Solent.

As our skipper, Spike Spears, released the shark back into the water, it gave us a Jaws-esque display of its tiny first dorsal fin.

For the past five years WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund) and Southampton Oceanogra-phy Centre have been running a scheme to tag the shark population living in the waters off the UK coast, as part of their continuing efforts to manage the wildlife beneath the sea.

About 120 anglers from around the UK have volunteered to take part in the scheme.

The sharks are fished as normal, with a line and bait, and when they are caught the angler weighs and measures the shark and a tag is implanted with an individual code number.

The shark is weighed in a sling, its girth is measured, it is sexed and a spike is gently placed into its skin so that a tag can be inserted. The whole procedure is relatively painless and the tag does not interfere with the shark's day-to-day life.

The tagging programme will tell scientists where the sharks go. When a shark has been tagged and when that fish is subsequently recaptured they can tell where it has been, so that they can plot a small migration path for that one fish.

"Results go to the Southampton Oceanography Centre," said Sylvette Peplowski, WWF marine officer.

"We can find out how far they have travelled. One tope shark was caught off the Isle of Wight and it was found 2,000km away in the Azores.

"What we don't know at the moment is where they are going and what they are doing. We know more about the moon than we do about wildlife off our own coast.

"There are a whole range of sharks in UK waters - blue sharks, thresher, starry smoothhounds, common smoothhounds, spotted catfish, tope and many more."

The UK Shark Tagging Programme has been running since 2000. During that time thousands of sharks have been tagged by the anglers taking part in the project.

Spike Spears, skipper of Bessie Vee, takes angling parties out most days from Langstone Harbour into the Solent. Whenever someone catches a shark it is tagged and its details are recorded before it is released back into the water.

"We can tag up to 50 sharks on a good day," Spike said.

"We use crabs and mackerel as bait.

"It is a seasonal thing. The smoothhounds come in late April and they will stay until August, whereas the tope shark comes in mid-May, but by the end of June they start to disperse.

"The attraction of the Solent for the sharks is that it is a shallow breeding ground. The smoothhounds come here because it is safe water for them and it is a good feeding ground.

"I became involved because the sea is my livelihood and we have to do everything we can to protect it and the wildlife."

BILL WOULD HELP PROTECT MARINE LIFE

SO why do we need a new Marine Bill?

Well, the seas around the UK are among the most heavily exploited in the world, providing a multitude of important resources and enormous economic benefits through oil and gas reserves, fisheries, transport, dredged materials, renewable energy and tourism.

In the future they may be further exploited for carbon sequestration and bio-prospecting.

WWF's Draft Marine Bill gives the government a duty of care to conserve important species living in, or travelling through, UK waters.

The government would be required to identify and publicise a list of species and to monitor their status.

The government would also be required to consult stakeholders about species on the list, revising it where necessary.

Where information about the species is lacking, the Bill provides for a precautionary approach.

To ensure that the list is respected by all users of the marine environment, the Bill includes punitive measures against anyone who deliberately or recklessly damages, destroys or disturbs an important feature.

This part of the Bill would give meaningful protection to a wide variety of marine biodiversity, from coldwater coral to basking sharks.

It would encourage all users of the marine environment to consider more seriously their impact on wildlife which is often hidden from view.

THE world's oceans cover more than 70 per cent of our planet's surface and the rich web of life they support is the result of hundreds of millions of years of evolution.

Created in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro - although not yet officially designated by the United Nations - World Oceans Day is an opportunity each year to celebrate the world's oceans and man's connection to the sea.

A range of activities takes place worldwide on June 8 each year involving aquariums, zoos and museums, and there is an ongoing campaign to have the United Nations officially designate June 8 as World Oceans Day each year.