Now the hunter has become the hunted: warnings that the end is near for sharks

Now the hunter has become the hunted: warnings that the end is near for sharks
SOUTH AFRICA: Illegal fin hunters blamed for extinction fears, by Fred Bridgland in Cape Town
Sunday Herald, 14 March

NEARLY TWO tonnes of dried shark fins - from at least 100 sharks caught at sea - found in the hold of a Taiwanese fishing vessel in Cape Town harbour have shed light on a trade that is driving the top hunter of the oceans towards extinction.

The South African permit for the Chien Jiu, whose 26 crew members are being held pending trial, was for the acquisition of just 100 kilos of shark fin. Under international regulations, the Chien Jiu's skipper was also required by maritime officials to produce the entire body of each shark from which fins were taken: he was unable to do so.

"Our oceans are being emptied of sharks, and the scale of the problem is global," said Julia Baum, a scientist at California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She added: "We are looking at a high risk of extinction of some shark species over the next few years. The loss of top predators such as sharks can damage whole marine ecosystems."

In a quasi-legal trade, linked to Chinese Triad gangs, the fins - selling at US$700 a kilo - are exported into various corners of Asian affluence where bowls of shark fin soup, reputed to offer medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities, are dished up at $200 a time.

Great white and hammerhead sharks have been reduced in numbers by 70% in the last 15 years, while others, such as the silky white tip, have disappeared from the Caribbean, according to the late Dr Ransom Myers, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Compagno said shark species can take up to 20 years to reach sexual maturity and give birth to only a few young at a time. As the top predators at the apex of reef systems, sharks keep the ecological balance, he said. "By eliminating sharks, you pull the plug on the reefs, resulting in overpopulation, overgrazing and overfeeding by other reef dwellers."

Whale Shark Festival Schedule Announced

Whale Shark Festival Schedule Announced; Environmental Leader Project Domino to Participate
Swimming With Whale Sharks and Other Ecotourism Adventures to Aid in the Survival of This Fragile Marine Environment
By: Marketwire . Mar. 23, 2009 11:07 AM

This summer, thousands of visitors to Isla Mujeres, Mexico will celebrate the beauty and culture of this fishing community while championing the need to preserve a fragile marine ecosystem at the Whale Shark Festival, a five-day extravaganza that showcases the achievements, the traditions and the environmental splendor of Isla Mujeres.

The Festival will be held July 1-5, 2009 in Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Guests can swim with whale sharks, an endangered species and the largest fish in the ocean. They can join the worldwide effort to protect and preserve whale sharks by adding their photos to ECOCEAN's international Whale Shark Photo Identification Library Project, a visual database of the unique markings that allow scientists to identify -- and track -- individual whale sharks.

"The Festival is an opportunity for travelers to participate in ecotourism adventures and to immerse themselves in the culture of this vibrant island community," said John Vater, who co-founded Ceviche Tours with his wife, Adriana, and longtime friend and Isla Mujeres native Luis Refugio "Cuco" Sanchez and his family. "They can also become 'Citizen Scientists' by participating in conservation initiatives that truly impact the survival of the marine environment in Isla Mujeres."

Groups cite whale shark deaths

That so-called world's biggest oceanarium isn't even 0.001% of a whale shark's natural range! 3,500 people have already signed the whale shark petition in 6 days, please add your support now!

Groups cite whale shark deaths here
Protesters want to prevent resort from including those fish. Aquarium neutral on idea.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Thursday, March 19, 2009

Animal welfare groups half a world away are using the 2007 deaths of two whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium in an effort to stop a Singapore resort from displaying the huge fish.

The groups, which include the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have launched a Web site (whalesharkpetition.com) and petition drive that highlights the Georgia Aquarium whale sharks deaths to argue that the big fish should not be kept in captivity at a new marine park in Singapore.

Ralph and Norton —- two adolescent whale sharks brought to Atlanta from Taiwan —- died two years ago after their tank was treated with a chemical used to rid fish of parasites.

Resorts World at Sentosa is building two casinos in Singapore, which will feature what the resort calls the “world’s biggest oceanarium” when it opens next year. The resort says the oceanarium will house 700,000 fish in 20 million gallons of water.

Whale sharks are ocean-going fish that can dive to depths of several thousand feet in the wild. They have been kept successfully for more than a decade at some Asian aquariums. However, critics argue the majority of whale sharks held in captivity die within a few years of their capture.

Sharks gone missing

Sharks gone missing
Dindo to talk about their declining population in Gulf waters in the first of a series of coastal ecology lectures
Wednesday, March 18, 2009, Baldwin Country Now

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — “In the mid-’80s, you could fish off Fort Morgan and catch large numbers of sharks of all species,” said Dr. John Dindo, associate director at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, referring to the Civil War site at the mouth of Mobile Bay. “Those numbers are not there today. We don’t know all the reasons, but the research we’re doing is seeking to answer questions like that.”

Big sharks of several varieties were once abundant in this area, he said.“But that’s not the case anymore,” Dindo said. “The decline could be tied directly to long-line tuna fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Anything caught on a long-line is going to die in a typical fishing situation.” The sharks also have a slow recovery time, adding to that decline in numbers, he said.

Dindo said the general public still has misconceptions about sharks. There is still that ominous soundtrack from the movie, “Jaws,” playing in their heads when many people think about sharks.“That same music is not playing when someone thinks about getting bit by an ant or bee,” he said. “But the likelihood of dying from anaphylactic shock from a bee sting or ant bite is much more likely than ever being bit by a shark. Sharks occupy a vital role in the ecology and environment.”

Animal rights group calls on Venetian to stop serving shark's fin

Animal rights group calls on Venetian to stop serving shark's fin
Tuesday, 17 March 2009, Macau Daily Times

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia-Pacific sent an urgent letter to the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel, urging the management to remove all items containing shark fin from its restaurants' menus immediately. According to the animal rights group, the petition was prompted by reports having received recently from its members in Macau that some of the Venetian's restaurants are serving shark fin dishes.

Overfishing by "sport" and commercial fishers seeking shark fins and cartilage has put shark populations in "peril."Sharks are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they mature slowly, have long gestation periods and produce few young at a time.

PETA also notes that shark fin has almost "no nutritional value" and can contain "high levels of toxic mercury."Despite shark fin’s traditional role in Chinese banquets, PETA says in the letter that public attitudes about shark fin are changing.

Chinese athlete and NBA basketball player Yao Ming declared that he would never eat shark fin again. Also in 2005, public pressure forced Hong Kong Disneyland and the University of Hong Kong to stop serving shark fin.

"No 'tradition' can justify cutting the fins off sharks and dumping their writhing bodies back into the sea to die in agony," PETA's Rebecca Chui said."We urge Mr McWhinnie to follow the lead of Disney and others around the world and remove all food items made with real shark fins from the menu immediately," she added.

Quezon fishers rescue whale shark, turtles

Quezon fishers rescue whale shark, turtles
03/16/2009, Philippine Daily Inquirer

LUCENA CITY—A 30-foot whale shark or “butanding” and six marine turtles were rescued in two towns of Quezon province in the past week, an environmentalist protection group reported on Saturday.

Shiela de Leon, director of the Tanggol Kalikasan-Southern Tagalog, a public interest environmental law center, said residents of San Andres along the Ragay Gulf in the Bondoc Peninsula saw the whale shark near the pier.

“The butanding again made its appearance after long years of absence,” said De Leon, a native of San Andres.

She said that after an hour of “photo ops” and playful interaction with children, the town officials ordered the fishers to guide the whale shark back into deep waters.

Taiwan denies fishing trawler was smuggling shark fins

Why so double-standard! They ban the harvest and sale of whale sharks but they don't care about the other shark species? They are all equally important to the ocean ecosystem you know.

Taiwan denies fishing trawler was smuggling shark fins
2009-03-16 01:16 AM , Taiwan News

Authorities in Capetown impounded the Kaohsiung-registered Chien Jui 102 after they found it had unloaded 1.6 tons of shark fins, Taiwanese diplomat Tsai Chien-hua said. Regulations stipulate that shark fins on any one vessel should not exceed 5 percent of the amount of shark also present on board. Under those terms, the Chien Jui 102 should have been carrying a maximum of 32 tons of shark, but only 4 tons were found, reports said. Crew members reportedly explained that some of the shark meat had been processed into fish feed at sea.

The hunt for sharks and for shark fins has come under international criticism as the animal breed comes closer to extinction. Shark finning, which involves the killing of the animals and the dumping of their bodies back into the ocean after cutting off the fins, is mainly driven by the East Asian demand for shark fin soup.