It’s all very well fighting to get
people in power to listen to what you’re saying and put a stop to shark culling
but even if they agree, they have no physical ability to stop the daily goings
on of fishermen and individuals who want sharks killed. In my opinion focusing
on politics is not the answer: prevention is better than cure.
In order to stop sharks being
needlessly killed we need to look at why it is happening and why people are allowing
it and that all comes down to perception. People see sharks as evil, monsters
and man eaters. This is fuelled and sensationalised by the media, so in order
to prevent sharks being killed we must change people’s perception of sharks and
in turn their acceptance of this happening.
I believe that in the future people
will look back on shark killing and question how on earth it was ever allowed
to happen. In the same way that we now look back on slavery, world wars, capital
punishment or frontal lobotomies and ask how it was ever possible for mankind to
be so short sighted and deem such activities acceptable. I just hope that by the
time people finally see sense, it isn’t too late, the damage isn’t irreversible
and we aren’t faced with the extinction of sharks.
I could preach all day about why needlessly
killing them is so inhumane and wrong and why we need to save sharks and how valuable
they are as apex predators which control equilibrium in the ecosystem, but instead
I will share some facts, courtesy of Project Aware.
Nearly one
out of four shark and ray species is classified by the IUCN (International
Union for Conservation of Nature) as Threatened with extinction. That doesn’t
even include almost half of all sharks and ray species whose population status
cannot be assessed because of lack of information.
Why do we worry about shark populations? A healthy and
abundant ocean depends on predators like sharks keeping ecosystems balanced.
And living sharks fuel local economies in some places, like Palau where sharks
bring in an estimated $18 million per year through dive tourism.
They may rule the ocean, but sharks are vulnerable. They grow
slowly, produce few young, and, as such, are exceptionally susceptible to
overexploitation.
Overfishing is driving sharks to the brink -
with many populations down by 80 percent. Tens of millions are killed each year
for their meat, fins, liver, and other products.
Bycatch– or catching sharks incidentally
while fishing for other commercial species – poses a significant threat to
sharks. At the same time, new markets for shark products are blurring the line
between targeted and accidental catches.
Finning– Shark fins usually fetch a much
higher price than shark meat, providing an economic incentive for the wasteful
and indefensible practice of “finning” (removing shark fins and discarding the
often still alive shark at sea). Finning is often associated with shark
overfishing, especially as keeping only the fins allows fishermen to kill many
more sharks in a trip than if they were required to bring back the entire
animal.
Shark
fishing continues largely unregulated in most of world’s ocean. Yet the future
of sharks hinges on holding shark fishing and trade to sustainable levels. The
best way to ensure an end to finning is to require that sharks are landed with
their fins still “naturally” attached. Fishing limits must be guided by science
and reflect a precautionary approach while trade must be controlled and
monitored. We must also invest in shark research and catch reporting, and
protect vital shark habitats. And last, but most definitely not least, if you
choose to eat seafood, refrain from a purchase unless you can be certain that
it's coming from a sustainable source.
