Sharks losing battle

The usual sad news about shark populations, but good measures coming from America. I hope they will be in time!

Sharks losing battle
March 15, 2009, FOR FLORIDA TODAY

The carnivorous fish that Rick Dean once feared now commands his respect -- and his concern for their welfare. "Many species of sharks are becoming extinct," he said. "It is an emergency situation."

During last week's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, it was announced that nine more species of sharks will be added to the list of the 126 already on the International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered list.

Miami's Pew Institute for Ocean Science estimates about 73 million sharks are killed each year to meet the increasing demand for the delicacy known as shark fin soup. Often, the fin is sliced off while the shark is still alive and then gets tossed back into the water to die a slow death. Add to that those who are fished for their meat and cartilage, and the numbers hit about 100 million.

"As sharks are vital to our ecosystem, Florida has passed laws that greatly protect the populations in Florida's waters," he said. "Those limits extend three miles out on the Atlantic side and nine nautical miles off the Gulf coast."