Decline in Shark Population Worldwide
25 June 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- A new report released this week by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) expressed an urgent need to put an end to shark fishing worldwide.
The data revealed that 35 out of 64 known pelagic shark and related ray species are currently facing a threatened, or near threatened, extinction worldwide. The shark fin trade is the direct cause of their endangerment, since shark fins are highly sought after in the Asian market.
"Up to 70 million sharks are killed around the world every year for the shark fin market, virtually all of which are caught in areas where there is no management regime in place to ensure their sustainability," said Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group. "This is a staggering number. Unless this situation is soon reversed, large numbers of shark species will disappear altogether."
During their first joint meeting in 2007, regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) agreed that the problem of declining shark populations needs to be addressed. However, none have set any viable limits on the number of sharks that can be caught within their jurisdictions.
The IUCN report was released just days prior a joint meeting of the world's fishery managers in San Sebastian, Spain, and it states that overfishing is the primary reason why a number of sharks in U.S. waters are now threatened.
The list includes two species of thresher sharks, basking sharks, great whites, shortfin and longfin makos, porbeagles, oceanic whitetip sharks, dusky sharks, sandbar sharks, and three species of hammerheads.
Pew is expected to join the San Sebastian meeting of the world's fisheries managers along with other conservation groups in order to discuss immediate measures to halt shark fishing worldwide. Among the measures Pew will propose are establishing catch limits, ways to reduce fishing pressure on globally vulnerable shortfin mako sharks, placing a cap on catches of near-threatened blue and silky sharks until safe catch levels are determined, and ending all shark finning at sea.
In addition, Pew plans to suggest that retention of particularly vulnerable and/or depleted shark species taken in tuna fisheries, including hammerheads, threshers, porbeagles and oceanic whitetips be prohibited.
In March, the House unanimously passed the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (S. 850/H.R. 81), which was introduced by Senator John Kerry (D-MA). S. 850/H.R. 81 would require that all sharks be landed with their fins naturally attached, promote the conservation of sharks internationally and eliminate loopholes and strengthen enforcement in the current U.S. shark-finning law.
Shark meat is said to less in demand and that shark bodies only takes up more cargo space, which is why fishermen only fin the animals. For the sake of cost-efficiency, a shark is only captured by a fishing vessel before having its fin sliced off. Its body is then dumped back into the ocean.
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