Sea Shepherd's longstanding partnership with the government of Gabon, a country on the coast of Central Africa, has taken on a new dimension. During the broadcast of Koffietijd on Thursday, October 17, Sea Shepherd Netherlands director Geert Vons was completely unexpectedly surprised with an award of the incredible €1,980,000 for a unique Sea Shepherd project to protect sharks and rays; Africa's First Shark Sanctuary!03 / 04Photo: Rebecca Griffiths / Sea ShepherdPhoto: Rebecca Griffiths / Sea ShepherdPhoto: Rebecca Griffiths / Sea ShepherdPhoto: Rebecca Griffiths / Sea Shepherd

Working since 2016 Sea Shepherd Working closely with the Gabon authorities to stop illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in Gabon's coastal waters. Sea Shepherd's Campaign Director, Peter Hammarstedt, explains: “To combat IUU fishing, Sea Shepherd has entered a fourth year of providing the Government of Gabon with a civilian offshore patrol vessel that supports Gabonese law enforcement agencies through joint patrols at sea. To date, this successful partnership between Sea Shepherd and Gabon has resulted in the detention of ten illegal fishing vessels, many of which have been arrested in marine protected areas”.

In 2018, Sea Shepherd expanded its support to Gabon by providing policy guidance through its legal department – Sea Shepherd Legal (SSL). Following a series of joint capacity-building workshops in early 2019, SSL and officials from Gabon's national parks agency ANPN (Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux) recognized that Gabon is exceptionally well placed to become the first country on the African continent to provide full protection for sharks and rays. Thus was born the dream of creating Africa's first shark sanctuary.

With this Extra Project funding, the dream of establishing Africa's first shark and ray sanctuary has become a reality. We are very grateful to the Dutch Postcode Lottery for recognizing the enormous value of this project. We are also extremely grateful to partner with Gabon – a country that has had the vision and determination to establish an extensive network of terrestrial and marine protected areas and understands that sharks and rays face unprecedented threats. Those threats have led to a decline of 90% in shark populations worldwide.

Catherine Pruett, Sea Shepherd Legal's Executive Director

Drawing on the most successful features of existing shark sanctuaries from other jurisdictions, ANPN and SSL will ensure that the new sanctuary will include three key elements for success: a strong legal framework, robust enforcement and comprehensive biodiversity monitoring. Pruett noted, “Thanks to the Postcode Lottery, Sea Shepherd can not only help Gabon establish a pioneering shark sanctuary, but we can now extend this vision further to the many other countries where we work.”

Since 2007, Sea Shepherd has received €17.4 million from the National Postcode Lottery, funds that benefit Sea Shepherd's worldwide campaigns.
Sea Shepherd's dream in 2015 was to end poaching in the Southern Ocean. Sea Shepherd received 7.5 million euros for this Postcode Lottery Dream Project. The Swedish and UK Postcode Lotteries also contributed, providing Sea Shepherd with a total contribution of 8.3 million euros.

About the National Postcode Lottery 
The National Postcode Lottery was founded in 1989 to support charity. Currently, 3 million Dutch people participate in the lottery and can win hundreds of thousands of prizes every month. At the same time, participants support important charities, as half of all ticket sales are distributed among 107 beneficiaries.

The Postcode Lottery supports charities in various ways. 107 charities receive a fixed annual contribution. These organizations may also qualify for an extra donation for a special project or a contribution from the Dream Fund. This fund is intended to give courageous, pioneering initiatives a chance. In addition, a number of organizations receive a one-off contribution every year.

Since the inception of the Postcode Lottery, more than €5.8 billion has been donated to charities. The Postcode Lottery operates in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Norway. In the Netherlands, the Nationale Postcode Loterij works together with the BankGiro Loterij and the Vrienden Loterij. Novamedia / Postcode Lottery is the third largest private donor to charities in the world.