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Don’t Eat Sharks And They Won’t Eat You

That is our motto over here at the lab. Since we spend so much time in the water, we want to make sure that Karma is on our side. We don’t eat sharks, period. We started to surf the web to see what is new and interesting  in the area of saving sharks. Here is some awesome information that is just the tip of the shark fin… 

Despite the common myth that sharks are mindless “eating machines”, only a few shark species are dangerous to humans. Out of the hundreds of species, only 3 have been involved in a significant number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger and bull sharks. In 2006, according to the International Shark Attack File, there were a total of 62 unprovoked attacks recorded worldwide, of which four were fatal. Considering the millions of beach-goers and recreational ocean users, this is an incredibly small number. In fact, you are more likely to be killed by a vending machine than by a shark.Sharks play a vital role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems but their stocks are in serious trouble. More than one hundred million sharks are killed by fisheries every year. They are intentionally harvested for their fins, meat or liver oil, and they are incidentally caught as bycatch in fisheries targeting other species.

 

Sharks are highly migratory and regularly cross national boundaries. However, outside of Antarctica, there are no international limits on shark harvest. With increasing demand for shark fin soup, and little protection, sharks worldwide are at great risk.

Sharks generally rely on their superior sense of smell to find prey, but they also have the ability to sense movement and electrical fields created by prey. Their place in the marine food web is essential for a healthy ocean ecosystem.

The view of the shark as a solitary hunter, roaming the oceans in search of food is only true for a few species with most living far more sedentary lives on the ocean floor. Some sharks are highly social, remaining in large schools. Even solitary sharks meet to breed or on rich hunting grounds, which may lead them to cover thousands of miles in a year. Migration patterns in sharks may be even more complex than in birds, with many sharks covering entire ocean basins.

Several organizations are working in waters all over the world to protect and restore shark populations. Through their policy, science, legal and communications work,  they are pushing for true international finning bans, species specific shark management and reduced shark bycatch, as well as decreasing the demand for shark products such as shark fin soup and cosmetic products containing squalene. The loss of sharks, many of which are top predators, will have devastating and unpredictable consequences for ocean ecosystems. Immediate action is needed to protect sharks.

“If the currect trajectory of destruction to the world’s oceans continues unabated, by the year 2048, we can all look forward to a lifeless, putrid body of water lapping at what will be our scum-ridden, trash-covered seashores,”according to Keith Addis, Oceana board member who has been working to save our oceans for 20 years. However, he is optimistic about reversing the damage that has been done. “The most important issues to monitor are over-fishing, bottom trawling and climate change.Currently, we are removing half a billion pounds of protein a day form the oceans, two and a half times more than scientists say the oceans can sustain. To reverse the damage from what is essentially the industrial strip mining of the bottom of the ocean, essentially for a few shrimp, would take 125,000 years. And climate change, among other things, is increasingly acidifying the oceans to levels that are severly disrupting the aquatic food chain.”

What can you do? Eat only sustainably caught fish, check out some of the organizations below and donate to one or two in your name or give as Christmas presents, and or get involved.

 

 

Here are some great links;

*Flordia Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department: shark attack files by region, ways to avoid a shark attack, stats, trends and analysis of shark attacks. 

 http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm

*Predators As Prey: Why Healthy Oceans Need Sharks. A current report from Oceana on the health of shark populations and why we need them in our oceans.

http://oceana.org/fileadmin/oceana/uploads/Sharks/Predators_as_Prey_FINAL_FINAL.pdf

* Top 10 most shark infested beaches in the world…according to Forbes.

www.forbestraveler.com/islands-beaches/shark-infested-beaches-story.html and click on the “slideshow” to view the

The best Shark movie ever written and directed by Rob Stewart, Biologist. 

www.sharkwater.com to download movie.

www.SeaShepherd.org- one of our favorite organizations.

www.wildaid.org

www.sharktrust.org

www.sharkproject.org

Reef Quest Center for Shark Research www.elasmo-research.org