Tag Archive for "shark"
According to this article on news.bbc.co.uk a new study where the researchers used notes and archives from fishermen shows us that the population of sharks living in the Mediterranean Sea has declined at a rapid rate. Some shark species has declined by astonishing 99%!
The reason for this is the extensive fishing in this area hitting sharks and rays very hard since they grow slowly and are not fast reproducers.
One species that has been hit very hard is the hammerhead which has dropped by an estimated 99.99% over the last 200 years.
The sharp decline of top predators has given us some unforeseen results like the rise of jellyfish that has been seen in several oceans. It is believed that the lack of tuna and turtles are the reason for this. Who knows what will happen to ecosystems when we remove more species.
Conservationists are hoping to ban the cruel finning to help stop the extinction of the top predators in the ocean. I can’t believe this is still not in place. The politicians need to get off their fat a**es and do something now!
Since this blog is called “Musings from a male knitter” I will to write about other issues than knitting that I care about. One issue that I care about is the environment as most of my life I’ve lived in the countryside very close to the nature. Anyways, enough about me and on to the issue that worries me today.
I just read an article on BBC News (best news site on the net BTW) about some shark species that are close to extinction.
According to specialists at ICUN (formerly the World Conservation Union) more than half of the world’s sharks are in danger of extinction with 11 species on the high-risk list and 5 more showing strong signs of decline.
Shockingly there are no international catching limits for sharks so the fisheries on sharks are pretty much free for all. There has also been more pressure on sharks since stock of other fish likes tuna and swordfish are on the decline, making fishermen looking for other species to catch.
So what can done about this? Obviously some kind of international regulation needs to be come into force as soon as possible! Stronger regulations are also needed for most fisheries as the fishing we are doing today are far from being sustainable.
But this up to the different governments to decide so it is hard for you and me to make a difference. One thing we can do is to join environment friendly organizations like WWF and Greenpeace that put pressure on our governments. The more members they get the more power they are able to yield.
We should also check if the fish we eat are caught from sustainable fisheries.
