Dangerous waters
(Right: one of the stunning images from the documentary Sharkwater)
Last week I watched the documentary Sharkwater, which convincingly shows how the shy and intelligent shark has been the wrongful victim of human fear, loathing, and greed. The documentary also hammers another depressing nail in the coffin of hope for ocean sustainability.
Shark populations are being decimated. Over the past 50 years, they have dropped by 90%. It is estimated that 100 million sharks are now being killed every year. Most of these losses are from illegal longline fishing by poachers, who trail baited lines as long as 60 miles from their boats, trapping not only sharks, but also countless other marine animals (fish, sea turtles, dolphins).
These poachers are not after the entire shark, which is an important source of protein for many people living in India and West Africa. They only want the fins, which are in huge demand in Asia for the highly-sought-after shark fin soup (an expensive dish that displays the wealth and status of the host), as well as so-called ‘medicines’ (whose efficacy has been debunked).
Shark finning is incredibly wasteful (as well as incredibly cruel) because the fishermen cut the fins off the still-live sharks right on the boats and throw the sharks back into the water where they bleed to death, thus wasting 95-99% of the shark’s body. There is no incentive for poachers to restrain their dangerously profligate harvesting because one large shark fin can be worth as much as US$10,000 and they can cram their boats full. Sharks could very soon become extinct because of it.
So why should we worry about sharks? Well, they are the largest predators on earth, as well as one of the oldest. They’ve been around for at least 450 million years, and haven’t changed much in the last 100 million years, which indicates they are perfectly evolved for their environment and perform an essential function in maintaining the oceans’ ecological balance. What are the consequences of suddenly wiping out a top predator from the sea? Very probably a sudden increase in the number of fish that eat plankton–and plankton, by the way, produces 70% of the world’s oxygen and removes more carbon from the atmosphere than any other organism. Did I mention that plankton populations are already in serious decline?
Shark slaughter therefore has a truly devastating effect not only on the oceans, but on we land-based animals as well. One of the biggest ironies is that because sharks are at the top of the marine food chain, they have become terribly contaminated with mercury and people really shouldn’t be eating them anyway! To save remaining shark populations and to help them rebuild, people need to refuse to eat anything made with shark fins and to campaign for better policing of the earth’s oceans.
Shark fin soup may not be seen on the menu in Saskatoon restaurants, but saving sharks is part and parcel of conserving all sea life and maintaining the health and abundance of the planet for future generation. For more information on what you can do to help sharks, visit www.savingsharks.com.
