Our Jaws Are Dropping

Some shark populations in Mediterranean have collapsed, study finds

Posted at 5:39 AM on 12 Jun 2008

Populations of five shark species in the Mediterranean Sea have declined by an average of 97 percent in the last 200 years, principally due to fishing, according to a new study to be published in the journal Conservation Biology. Researchers combed historical records and collected other data to piece together the long-term population trend of the blue shark, thresher shark, hammerhead, and two species of mackerel sharks. "There is a long history of fishing in the Mediterranean, especially coastal fishing," said lead author Francesco Ferretti. "And until recently, these species were not valuable -- they were caught as bycatch by boats chasing important species such as tuna -- so they were declining without anyone noticing." But strong demand for shark fins in some Asian nations has greatly increased the value of sharks as targets. Researchers are particularly worried about the ecosystem-wide effects of losing such large numbers of top predators.

sources: BBC News, Reuters, The New York Times

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Comments: (2 comments)

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Do What You Can

Here in San Francisco we have the largest Chinese population in the U.S. There are many Chinese restaurants here that serve shark fin soup. I'm going to try to run a campaign to either get the city to outlaw serving this crap or, if that's not possible, try to get restaurants to stop serving it. The last resort will be pressuring restaurants with negative PR.

by Wolverine at 11:13 AM on 12 Jun 2008

The Chineese is not to blame

Be carefull with pointing the fingers to much on the Chineese. Not to far from SF is LA and Hollywood where the greatest unfavour to sharks was dealt by Spielberg. Sharks decrease a lot due to bycatch in largescael tunafishing, as well as to disturbance from tourists and recreational boats in places sucha as the Keys with its reefs. That reef is a nationalpark. The reefs themsef get destroyed by the warming of the ocean which in the end hurts the sharks.

Basically, it´s not as easy as just blaming the Chinese for their diets. West should get rid of their sins first.

"I have nothing to declare, but my genius." O.Wilde

by ekologkonsult at 1:09 PM on 12 Jun 2008

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