WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following tip sheet was released today by the U.S.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following tip sheet was released today by the U.S.

Pew applauds APIL resolution to protect threatened species WASHINGTON, June, 22 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of Pacific Island Legislatures (APIL) issued a resolution last week stressing the need for additional actions to protect sharks. The resolution, reached at APIL's general assembly conference in Palau, states that the association agrees with "protective legislation in Palau, Hawaii, CNMI [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands] and Guam." The approved language asks "all member legislative assemblies of APIL to adopt similar legislation for a unified regional ban prohibiting the possession, selling, offering for sale, trading or distribution of shark fins, rays and ray parts." "Pacific islanders are again taking the global lead in initiatives to safeguard sharks from overfishing," said Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group.

SAIPAN, Northern Marianas Islands, Jan.

Researchers from the University of Washington say the Mariana crow, a forest crow living on Rota Island in the western Pacific Ocean, will go extinct in 75 years.