Shark's Being Wiped Out

[eastern]

Just read on the news that they estimate 100 million sharks have been killed in one year alone, why? It can't just be the Chinese eating Shark fin soup can it? Because this atrocity doesn't happen on land we tend not to notice it, can something not be done?

[sandyRoe]

Probably not. By the time some people were educated to value all the creatures in creation equally,the shark will likely have gone the way of the Dodo.

[Mick-Talbot]

What happens when conservation groups make wild claims about the state of the world s natural resources?
Is this statement based on fact or fiction?

[Mick-Talbot]

try again.

Maybe things are not as bad as you think. Depends on who you listen to.

http://www.sharkdiver.com/blog/45-shark-diver-industry-blog/5627

[emmie]

millions are killed by unscrupulous fishing methods, also caught up in these massive trawler fishing nets. they are being decimated by people who only want the fins, having watched footage of them being slaughtered, fins hacked off and the body then shoved back in the water, makes you wonder why anyone thinks it's right, but you know that the Chinese are largely responsible for that, Sharks fin soup a so called delicacy. Like the other endangered species, tigers will be another that go, i am pretty sure. We have encroached on much of their territory, so they are not going to survive for long unless someone in governments around the world do something, but i really can't see it happening.

[LazyGun]

Various groups have been monitoring and calculating the extent of the decline in the shark population for some considerable time. This latest estimate fits with estimates from the mid-2000s, and follows what now seems to be an established trend.

And the main driver does indeed appear to be shark fin soup. A group monitored the total import of shark fins and shark fin products for a report in 2011, from which they said

"........mark important occasions such as weddings and business deals in China and some other Asian communities. An astonishing 10.3 million kilograms of shark fins and shark fin-based products were imported into Hong Kong in 2011, according to statistics released last week by the Pew Charitable Trusts Environmental Group in.... "

10.3 million kgs is an awful lot of sharks.

And interfering to such an extent in the food chain could have some potentially serious consequences;

http://www.livescience.com/7240-alarming-decline-sharks-causing-species-vanish.html

[emmie]

i have watched endless documentaries and read enough by people like David Attenborough, and other experts in animal welfare, who have long argued against this barbaric practice, it isn't a small matter, nor is it something that will stop, pretty much the same way that rhinos are being decimated for rhino horn, even though there is no proven benefits of it to the human, still hunted and slaughtered

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_finning

[emmie]

the footage i saw made me sick to my stomach, and believe it takes a lot to make me queasy, not sure why any one needs this so called Chinese medicines, they have been rubbished by and large by the medical profession, as to shark finning, vile trade..

[LazyGun]

Interesting article from the Grauniad about the illegal trade in animals and plants, in advance of a CITES meeting coming soon. Has some relevance to shark numbers etc. There is a rapaciousness by which some areas of our ecosystem are being exploited, and unless controlled or moderated, could have serious consequences for all...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/01/people-animals-wildlife-crime

[bazwillrun]

shark kills man...headlines man kills 100,000,000 + sharks......not much