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Third of All Shark Species Threatened With Extinction, Group Says
Associated Press
A third of all sharks on the high seas are threatened with extinction because they are overfished or killed incidentally in swordfish and tuna catches, a nature group warned Thursday.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, the producer of the world’s Red List of endangered species, released its shark study ahead of a meeting in Spain of tuna fishery managers.
The gathering includes those responsible for fisheries “in which sharks are taken without limit,” IUCN said.
“Despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas,” said Sonja Fordham, a shark specialist for the group. “The vulnerability and lengthy migrations of most open ocean sharks call for coordinated, international conservation plans.”
The great and scalloped hammerhead sharks and the giant devil ray are globally endangered, IUCN said. The basking and oceanic whitetip sharks, two Mako species and three Thrashers join the iconic Great White shark as globally vulnerable to extinction.
IUCN said ocean sharks were often only incidental bycatch as fishermen sought tuna and swordfish. But new markets for shark meat, especially the fins used in Asian soups, are driving demand.
The worst response from the fisheries industry has been “finning,” which is when the fins are cut off and the rest of the shark’s body is dumped back in the sea, IUCN said. The practice has been banned in most international waters, but the rules are poorly enforced, it said.
Sharks take many years to mature and have few offspring, making them particularly sensitive to overfishing, IUCN said.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Why in the world is anyone worrying about shark extinction? Species are supposed to go extinct. You know?
June 29th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
And they know this how?
OIC, they *have counted all the fish in the sea. Well then, of course they would know which are endangered!
I’d bet a dollar they haven’t even counted all the *species in the sea!
So they’re basicly just talking out their…
June 30th, 2009 at 10:11 am
tastes like chicken
June 30th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Fishing off the coast of North Carolina I’ve only seen a great increase in the number of sharks over the last several years. It it hard to bottom fish without the sharks moving in forcing us to move to a new place to be able to catch fish instead of sharks.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:13 pm
The serious mistakes that my generation, the one proceeding, and the following generation(s?) have made by indifference, disbelief, feelings of impotence to affect change, laziness, sensory overload, NUMBNESS, fear, denial…who knows what else…scares me. The only aspect that makes me feel worse is the fear of how we will be judged: knowing planetary destructions such as the extinction of our animals, our people (Africa, AIDS, HCV, and whatever horrific plague is bubbling under the radar headed staight for us like bad swine gas), and our atmosphere, were taking place on our watch and we failed to do everything, EVERYTHING in our power to stop it.
I am an unemployment benefits living Denver lady. How can I help?
July 6th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
I have a fear of sharks as I’m sure many people do, I definitely would not want to encounter one in open waters! Yet that does not mean that it is okay for them to become extinct, GOD made these creatures for a reason. They need to be protected to sustain a natural order, if we continue to kill all the animals there will be nothing left in a matter of years. People kill what they are afraid of, what they don’t ubderstand and that is sad.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Babygirl: Sorry to burst your bubble but these sharks are not being killed because they are misunderstood or feared, they are being killed because they are in the line of fire so to speak. They happen to feed on the same species that humans are fishing for. The reality is many species go extinct without altering the natural order of things. Notice the report does not give an alarming prediction on what this will cause? If there was some serious byproduct of this distinction you would be hearing about it I assure you.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Stop blaming the Shark Fin Soup eaters, that has been cultural delicasy for centuries. It is the Mega-Fisheries and Corporate Greed. Noone has seen the actual Soup Eaters out collecting and finning sharks. Corporate fisheries management has!!!
July 8th, 2009 at 10:45 am
SESmith Says:
“Stop blaming the Shark Fin Soup eaters”
===
I agree the Corporate Fisheries are to blame but small independent fisherman all over the world know they can make a ton of money shark finning, because YOU are willing to pay $20 for a bowl of fin soup. If it loses its top predator the entire ocean will severely change for the worse. Eat a hamburger!
July 8th, 2009 at 11:04 am
SESmith says: “Stop blaming the Shark Fin Soup eaters, that has been cultural delicasy for centuries. It is the Mega-Fisheries and Corporate Greed. Noone has seen the actual Soup Eaters out collecting and finning sharks. Corporate fisheries management has!!!”
Smith, the soup eaters won’t go catch the shark themselves, but they pay for others to. I don’t need my own slaughterhouse in order to enjoy steak and pork chops. This Asian “delicacy” isn’t a delicacy at all- it’s almost as common over there as cheeseburgers and potato salad are here in the US- and this is from me, who has been to Singapore and Hong Kong in the last 6 months.
July 9th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
There are a bunch of folks here who need to watch a little less of “Reality” TV and little bit more of the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. You want to know what the extinction of sharks would cause, well look at any Coral Reef anywhere in the world, they are dying, lack of sharks is one reasons why. I would explain the relationship to you but there are a number of programs that have done a much better job than I could. And to the person who believes that sharks are “in the line of fire” with same food human eat, well sharks don’t generally eat Swordfish, they eat the bait that is used to catch the Swordfish, that’s how they get caught. I am not a tree hugger, but even I understand when you catch a 1300lb shark, and kill it to get a 20 or 30lbs of shark fin, that is the kind of uncontrolled waste of nature, I can not condone and that is precisely the type of slaughter that is occurring. The people, who are engaging in this type of activity, don’t care what tomorrow brings, just lining their pockets today. No one is saying to stop eating shark fin soup, Just use the whole shark. If we use the natural resources we have wisely they will last us for a very long time. For those of you who disagree, one of you will have to explain to me the virtue of man-made extinction sometime, perhaps I’ve got it wrong, but I doubt it.