Shark depletion

[scottyb 0]

Bob, I think it is fair to say that most of us here share in your disgust of the photos and news programs that we see concerning this topic. It is as grotesque as killing a rhino for it's horns or a gorrilla for it's hands or an elephant for it's ivory. It seems like you have to stop the demand before you can stop the supply and that has to come from governments. Since the demand, in this particular cause is so far away, most of us feel almost powerless to help other than being good ambassadors and spreading our knowledge about this creature. I, for one, am behind you 100% but feel that my resources are very limitted. It would help if we had a little direction in ways that we could support that were feasible given our current situations in life.

[Cybergoldfish 1]

Thanks Scotty,

 

Todd has supplied a useful link via Jim which is quite interesting and can offer us a more direct route to voice our concerns...

 

Big thanks to Jim for this info.

[Dave H 0]

Just to show a bit of support for the sharks, I have attached an image that was taken about 3 years ago of a grey nurse shark off the east coast of Australia. Anyone notice what is wrong with the poor critter?

 

Oh yeah, the grey nurse shark is completly protected in Australian waters and is Australia's most endangered marine species. Some fishers just don't get it :angryfire:

[Dave H 0]

and this was the final straw for the poor shark. After swimming around for almost 3 years without any fins the shark was incidentally caught on a setline.

 

It is commonly known as bycatch...

[Cybergoldfish 1]

That's an amazing story of survival against all odds, and quite sickening - Wrong place, wrong time, on two occasions.

[kweller 0]

Sign up at Sharktrust

 

SHARK PROTECTION LEAGUE

I'm one of the 'Knew about it - done nothing' votes. That's not because I don't care, I do - I am disgusted by the sight of de-finned sharks being thrown back into the water - but because I had (have?) no idea what I can do about it.

 

Spurred on by your comments I went to look at a couple of the urls you quoted. First up was the Shark Protection League where a single page entry told me about work they had done in 1995 - what happened after that? Next I tried the Shark Trust which was a much nicer site full of interesting news but I couldn't find anything that told me what they actually did with the money they collected or, come to that, what they have actually been doing at all (lots of news about what other people are doing).

 

So, I'm listening and I'm interested. What do these people do and where can I view their accounts on line? If I am convinced they are doing something worthwhile with the money they collect Lyn and I will sign-up tomorrow.

 

Kevin

[Cybergoldfish 1]

Hi Kevin,

 

Thanks for your interest... Not too sure what has happened on the SPL site, I'll try and contact them tomorrow.

 

The Shark Trust fights the cases for sharks and rays to be entered into protective custody so to speak, they have got the Basking Shark listed already. Then there is the ongoing battle to bring legislature into the European arena for protection of all sharks entering our waters during migration (Blues); awa the ever deminishing residents, that include the Port Beagle - I have only ever seen 1 of these in all my life.

 

There is also a lot of work done by ST towards CITES listings of endangered species.

 

The ST is funded by public donation.

 

You could always give them a call as they are not too far from your location, they will send you out an information pack. email

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Gwangi 0]

Hi everyone,

 

Just got on this tread. Way I have to said might be said before...

 

Anyway in Malaysia, it very hard to get people to understand the shark problem, first, everyone think that shark is a problem and should be gotten rid of. Is I will have to blame the medias for this views. They only print headlines about sharks attacking people and not highlighting the status of the falling global sharks population. I have videos and pictures of the sharks and every time I show it to some non-divers and they thinks I'm nuts getting into water with all this sharks around.

 

Second, shark fins soup is a status symbol. Most formal chinese dinner must have shark fin soup, to save face for the host. I have proven to lots of people the the soup is the same if that is no shark fins in it. It's in there just to thicken the soup. I have boycotted lots of dinner because they are serving the soup. Did not go well with my relativites and my bosses but a least they know now why I do not take shark fins soup.

 

I have not been on any shark dives, but I have seen lots of shark in my dives around Malaysia. Every time I see a shark I am struck by the gracefulness of it in the water. In Sipadan, there are not alot of reef shark around, and they are not very shy of divers but they do not borther any of the divers as long you keep your distant. I do not know if the population is falling as I have started diving only about 3-4 years. Divemasters in Sipadan said the the reef sharks population is okay and think is going up but the ocean going (forgot the word for it) like whales, hammerheads and grays is getting harder to see every years.

 

I don't know if there is any researchs done on sharks around Malaysia but I think it going down the drain.

 

Anyway that my two cents worth....

[Cybergoldfish 1]

Hi Gwangi,

 

There are a lot of misconceptions in South East Asia as a whole about sharks, for generations they have been classed as an evil creature of the deep. One reason why Shark fin soup was held so highly as a status symbol and dished up at special events is just because of it's morbid romance - The great danger involved in capturing the beast against overwhelming odds meant it didn't come cheap. In the days dating back into antiquity this may well have been the case when a fishermans catch was intercepted by a shark. The battle then to land the beast on a tiny canoe and taking it back to the village led to this myth if you like. Fisherman rarely went out to take the shark as the flesh is tainted with urea, which in turn would mar the taste of anything else they had caught. More often than not it was thrown back, but kept if the days catch was slack.

Then there is the debate about the consumption of the soup being an age old treatment or prevention of cancer... mmm'

 

The Malaysian Government has listened to the reasoning from conservationists and dive concerns such as the long established Borneo Divers. When the case was put forwards that sharks disappear if nothing was done. The case was also put forwards regarding diving and eco-tourism and how this would be directly affected too. Now, children as young as 4 are learning about their marine heritage at school and the important part that the shark plays within the marine environment.

 

I was in Sipadan last year and the shark life has decreased 10 fold to what it was in the mid 80's, but we were still able to observe small gatherings of grey and whitetip together with several hammerhead.

 

Northern Sulawesi too was decimated by Taiwanese fishing concerns stretching nets across the Lembeh straits. The death toll here of thousands of sharks was added too by dugong, dolphin, whale shark & turtles. Now you are very lucky if you see anything more than a white tip. In October last during 35 dives we saw just 3 white tips in areas that should have been filled with reef sharks.

 

The only way to remove this deep seated ignorance is by breeding it out - If you try and reason with an established fisherman or ask why he takes sharks he would threaten you with a gaff! One reason why the diveguides stay away from confrontations.

 

Of course money, and in this case millions of dollars a year speaks louder than words, gestures or even the future of our seas. It is good someone like you has stood by their morals, surely but slowly this will spread throughout these younger generations as lifestyles change and become more globally uniform.

In the mean time the shark sadly unbeknown to itself faces oblivion...

[kweller 0]

You could always give them a call as they are not too far from your location, they will send you out an information pack. email

Thanks Bob, I filled out the request for information on their web page.

 

I had a look on the Charities Commission web site to see if either of these bodies were registered charities and was quite surprised to see that neither of them appear to be.

[MikeO 5]

I am very sympathetic to this topic but am curious about something. Last week, a local National Public Radio station had a segment on the depletion of the shark population and invited two experts to weigh in. Both were very clear in making the point that sharks are disappearing and that it is "bad". Interestingly, the moderator kept going back to the same question over and over again, "OK, what is the affect on *us*", explaining that unless people feel a particular personal need to care about something, they won't. This is not a problem with just this issue but it is a problem nonetheless. The response of the experts was to say that there was really no way of knowing what the effects would be -- they even declined to give possibilities. I know, from reading some articles, that the squid population in many parts of the world is increasing, possibly due to the removal of the large fishes from the vicinity. How does one make the people in Iowa, who've never even seen the ocean care?

 

So what? Well, the two guests avoided the question by saying essentially what Bob has said: "The children will save the sharks." However, pro-shark organizations are against catching sharks for aquarium exhibits, baiting sharks for photography and videography, etc. I guess my question is this: Is there already enough on the Discovery Channel to truly catch the eye of kids today? I live close to the National Aquarium in Baltimore here in the US. My niece, who will turn five soon, was excited to see the sharks there until two neighbor girls explained to here that she would be eaten by them. She tried to run screaming from the exhibit but once she saw that the animals would not hurt her, she instead became very interested. I guess what I'm saying is this: If pro-shark organizations hold firmly to the belief that people people, kids especially, will change their thinking based only on poorly-written, sensationalistic (not that the problem isn't about as bad as it could get), politically-aimed diatribes from pro-shark people, they are deluding themselves. Children need to be instructed by patient, reasonable people and need to make a personal bond with the animals. Though it makes me a bit sick every time I see an exhibit at Sea World, I have to admit that without them showcasing the animals, the fight to save dolphins wouldn't have been as successful -- and dolphins are CUTE! Of course another consequence is that now everyone expects wild dolphins to act like the ones at Sea World . . .

 

Anyway, was just thinking about this so I thought I might as well offer it up. I've got the flame-retardant-bulletproof vest on!

 

Mike

[Dave H 0]

The IUCN shark specialist group are currently here in Australia discussing the plight of all shark species.

 

Here's a link to an article on the meeting:

IUCN Shark Meeting

 

The future looks very bleak for many of our shark species...

[MikeO 5]

Interesting article:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/03/13...tudy/index.html

 

Mike

[kweller 0]

You could always give them a call as they are not too far from your location, they will send you out an information pack. email

Thanks Bob, I filled out the request for information on their web page.

 

I had a look on the Charities Commission web site to see if either of these bodies were registered charities and was quite surprised to see that neither of them appear to be.

...and one would have thought that 3 weeks would have been enough time to send me that information but it would appear not.

 

So just to summarise: - the SPL has a web site that implies they've done nothing since 1995, the ST has a web site that says a lot but doesn't (to me anyway) explain what they themselves have done nor how they spend the money they collect and they don't seem very interested in telling me; neither of them appear to be registered charities.

 

I don't want to be contentious but it's not really surprising people aren't rushing to swell their coffers is it.

[Cybergoldfish 1]

Hi Kev,

 

Sorry for the delay - I was in Egypt, then returned almost straight to the maternity delivery room!

 

I think the problem at the ST presently is due to a change in leadership. The Originator Clive James has stepped down and I am not too sure who has taken his place as yet. I know the packs are in great demand and there is often a shortage as the request base gets global. Did you give them a call?

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[kweller 0]

Sorry for the delay - I was in Egypt, then returned almost straight to the maternity delivery room

Sounds like you're having fun!

 

No, I'm afraid I didn't call them as I thought filling in their form would trigger a response. I think I'll hang loose for a while as perhaps the change in leadership will mean they put something on the site that explains what they do.

 

Kevin

[stotty 0]

As a new member here I'm glad to see this subject getting some much needed exposure.

 

I've been a member of The Shark Trust for a couple of years after seeing them at a Dive Show and going to a seminar about shark conservation at the same show by the guy who runs the Walker's Cay dive centre in the Bahamas.

 

The Shark Trust are a registerd charity - No 1064185, see link below:-

Charity Commission - Shark Trust

 

As for what they've been doing recently - they've put a lot of work into trying to get an EU finning ban - but in the end the legislation was watered down due to the lobbying power of the fishing industry. After all the world's biggest exporter of shark fins is a European country (I think I read that somewhere).

 

They've also put a lot of work into CITES for Whale Sharks and basking Sharks.

 

So don't give up on them - I'm sure they'll be in touch shortly!

 

Cheers,

 

Math Stott

[Cybergoldfish 1]

After all the world's biggest exporter of shark fins is a European country (I think I read that somewhere).

" S P A I N "

[gofigure? 0]

Sent over from Stan Waterman by email:

 

I got this from the Shark Research Institute (www.sharks.org) and

thought I ought to pass it along...

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Asiatic Marine Limited

To: Asiatic Marine Limited

Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 9:21 AM

Subject: MasterCard/Shark Fin Promotion

 

 

Shark Conservationists,

Amongst some of the bad news coming out from Asia Pacific including the

spread of SARS, there is I am afraid another 'atypical' promotion from

Hong Kong for shark fin.

This promotion comes from MASTERCARD, as part of the MasterCard Premium

Selection within Hong Kong.

 

The advert recently seen in the SCMP (Post Magazine) reads-

Proudly presenting our May Programme of fine dining experiences:

Shark's Fin Buy One Get one Free (through one of their merchants) as

well as discounted dining at 2 other local hotels on offer.

 

Earlier this week I emailed MasterCard (HK) and then tried contacting

the respective advertising manager, leaving messages to call me back.

To this date he/she has not acknowledged my email nor returned my calls?

This polite form of response is not unexpected in Hong Kong.

As yet there is also no reply from the Corporations Headquarters where I

cc'd the email to various staff whom I expected might have had something

to add or say. Perhaps they have not had the time.

 

In the meantime before countless fins are given away I personally would

like to see this advert immediately withdrawn before it runs its course

through the month of May and for MasterCard (HK) to issue a statement

that such advertising campaigns might be better researched in the

future, and that using shark fin may not be such a rewarding example of

enticing customers to spend their money.

Having shark fins on offer, in a 'buy one get one free' promotion, is

what supermarkets use to entice customers to buy things like toilet

roll; the fins of the ocean's (a) apex predator and (B) a species that

is already globally threatened by the very shark fin trade does not need

this kind of non-sensical advertising nor to be given away as a

perceived infinite resource.

 

As I sit here looking at my MasterCard, (now seriously thinking what to

do with it) I urge you all over the weekend to write emails to those

concerned. There are plenty of us shark conservationists out there to

make a difference (remember Citibank, Hong Kong Tourist Board and many

other internet campaigns), so forward this email to colleagues & friends

etc as well. Ask those concerned at MasterCard to review their regional

advertising promotions and to be more accountable for the products they

use to attract big/small time spenders.

 

And you might want to think closely about how and on what you spend your

hard earned $$ before handing over your MasterCard for payment.

 

Some of the staff listed below are on the MasterCard website:

http://www.mastercardintl.com/newsroom/med...a_contacts.html

 

Georgette Tan, Vice President, Asia Pacific:

georgette_tan@mastercard.com

Joyce Lau, Staff, Hong Kong: joyce_lau@mastercard.com

Sharon Gamsin, Vice President, Global Communications & Corporate Public

Relations: sgamsin@mastercard.com

Chris Monteiro, Vice President, Global Marketing Communications:

chris_monteiro@mastercard.com

 

Regards,

 

Charles Frew

Asia Shark Watch

Asiatic Marine Limited

[Cybergoldfish 1]

My Mastercards went back several weeks ago after hearing about this... They can subsidise the Stupid Association of Sharkfin Retailers themselves!

[scubababe 0]

I realise that this thread started some time back but I'm new to Wetpixel and am still discovering things on here!

 

Unfortunately since this thread started, the European Parliament took the path of least resistance and made a decision that will undoubtedly make European waters a shark-free zone.

 

Whilst they issued a statement claiming, "MEPs back plans to outlaw shark finning" they have done nothing of the sort! Rather than agreeing to the proposal from last summer, that would have banned shark finning by all boats in the EU waters, they have agreed to a ludicrous compromise, which condones and legitimises shark fishing.

 

The best way to stop shark fishing is to make it unprofitable - and the simplest way to do that is to insist that fishermen bring back the entire shark carcas to shore, not just the valuable fins. Because this takes up too much space on their boats, it is more economical to catch alternative fish species. However, the European Parliament, in their infinite wisdom, have ruled that the cargo of fins can weigh up to 6% of the live weight of the sharks. This means that the bodies of 2 out of 3 sharks can be tossed over board and the fishermen will still have the appropriate ratio of fins to bodies on the quayside. Meaning it is still economically viable for fishermen to catch and sell shark fins.

 

This decision is still waiting the EU final approval - so if you live in Europe and you care PLEASE write to your MEPs.

 

In the UK there is a shark conservation organisation called BITE BACK which I am involved with, that focuses on educating and persuading restauranters to stop selling shark meat. It is truly shocking when you see shark meat on the menus in tapas bars and fish restaurants; in this instance, restauranters are starting to develop a consumer demand for shark which is currently non-existent in many markets. If you spot any restaurant in the UK selling shark meat or shark fin soup please let BITE BACK know!!

 

Link is Bite-Back

[Andi Voeltz 0]

Quickly flew over this loooooooong thread....

 

I do not know if it has been mentioned before, but Germans

should visit: http://www.sharkproject.com which is a project

lead by Shark scientiest Dr. Erich Ritter and many others.

 

Sharks are strongly misunderstood and mistreated!

[echeng 0]

Really depressing article from nature:

 

Sharks suffer population crash: Species that once filled the oceans is on the verge of extinction.

 

"Oceanic whitetip sharks, once the most common shark in the world, are almost completely extinct, according to a new census in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past 50 years, their numbers have crashed by more than 99% in the Gulf. Researchers think the same drop has happened around the world..."