In deep trouble…
For more than 400 million years sharks have dominated the oceans. These magnificent creatures are widely, and unfairly, regarded as predatory ‘eating machines’ that do not discriminate between fish or humans. This inaccurate fear has earned sharks a reputation as being dangerous and worthy of contempt.
As a result, sharks have taken on trophy-like qualities for the people that hunt and eat them. This lust for money and a taste for the exotic has landed sharks in deep trouble.
Right now, sharks are among the most valuable and vulnerable animals in the sea.
Massive consumer demand for shark fins and other shark related products have created an industry motivated by high return. Shark fins have become one of the world’s most precious commodities reaching figures of up to $256 per pound.
It is barely surprising then that more than 125 countries around the world now trade in shark products contributing to an uncontrollable surge in the number of shark taken from the oceans. In a little over 50 years the slaughter of sharks has risen 400 per cent to approximately 800,000 metric tons per year.
By 2017 it is anticipated that 20 species of shark could become extinct due to hunting, indiscriminate fishing techniques and, ultimately, man’s greed.
Currently more than 100 million sharks are taken from the seas each year – a rate at which they simply cannot survive.
They cannot survive this onslaught because, unlike many other fish, most large sharks don’t reach sexual maturity until seven years old or even later, and then only give birth to a few pups each year.
Right now, they are simply being caught and killed faster than they can reproduce.
When we stop buying shark meat and fins, they’ll stop fishing for it.
If you like to learn more about shark biology, behaviour and the threats to them, head to Thresher Shark Divers on Malapascua Island in the Philippines and take the PADI Reef Shark Awareness Specialty course…
Check these links to find out how you can help:
“If I have one hope, it is that we will come to appreciate and protect
these wonderful animals before we manage, through ignorance, stupidity and greed,
to wipe them out altogether.”
– Peter Benchley (author of ‘Jaws’)