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Oceanic Whitetip Shark, Bahamas, 2007

The oceanic whitetip, one of the most abundant sharks just three decades ago, is critically endangered in parts of its range because of relentless demand for its fins. But bans in the Bahamas on the export of shark parts and commercial long-line fishing have made the islands' blue waters a veritable shark sanctuary.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Blue Waters of the Bahamas: An Eden for Sharks," March 2007, National Geographic magazine)

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Photograph by Brian Skerry