It is often hard to gather support to help an animal like the shark,
which fails to project a warm and cuddly image. The series of Jaws films
sure cut down on my swimming habits. But the fact is that more people
die each year choking on hot dogs than die being the chunk choking a
shark. So when humane arguments fail, animal protection groups often use
environmental arguments.
Sharks are important ocean predators. Without them our
oceans would be thrown out of balance and food chains disrupted. Some scientists have
just started to become concerned about the over-fishing of sharks, because we
are only beginning to understand them. We are still very much in the
dark about which species are threatened or endangered.
In 1998 over 50,000 blue sharks were killed just for
their fins. Sharks are often the by-catch of commercial fishermen
seeking tuna and other fish. The crews cut the fins from the sharks and
throw the bodies, often alive, back into the sea where they bleed to
death or are eaten by other sharks. The market for shark meat and
cartilage is small and not worth the trouble to these oceanic strip
miners, but shark fins bring in from $30 a pound to over $200 a pound in
Asia where shark fin soup is a delicacy.
From 1991 to 1996, as the price of fins doubled, the
shark fin trade at Hawaii's docks jumped 22-fold according to the
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. Pacific fishermen
based in Hawaii have moved from seeing sharks as a by-catch to going out
specifically to catch sharks, bringing in the fins and leaving the
bodies behind.
Finning is inhumane, wasteful and contradictory to
American fisheries policy. Shark finning is banned in federal waters of
the Atlantic Ocean and is opposed by U.S. representatives to
international fisheries organizations. Yet it's still allowed in the
Pacific.
The Environmental Defense Fund, a national, NY-based
nonprofit organization, has criticized the failure of the National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to control shark fin amputations in the
Pacific. "NMFS does not allow finning in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of
Mexico or the Caribbean. In addition, the United Nations recently
adopted an international plan of action to protect sharks which
emphasizes caution until scientists better understand shark ecology,"
said Dr. Stephanie Fried, an EDF policy analyst.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and the Western
Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council realize they have an image
problem over this issue and their response has been to seek alternative
markets for shark products to decrease the perception of waste. They are
trying to develop markets for shark products, such as using the skin for
leather goods and promoting the use of cartilage and the liver for
alternative remedies. The problem with this approach is that it
continues to see only the economic benefits of the exploitation of
sharks and fails to consider conservation and ecological concerns.
In April of this year, the Hawaii State House of
Representatives considered Hawaii House Bill #1706, introduced by Representative Takumi Schatz,
which would have strictly limited the possession, purchase, sale, or
trade of shark fins. The bill failed.
For more information on finning please visit
EnviroWatch
http://www.envirowatch.org
and...
EDF -- Environmental Defense Fund WorldWide
http://www.edf.org/
55,000 Blue Sharks Killed In 1998 For Wasteful Fin Trade
http://www.edf.org/pubs/newsreleases/1999/june/e%5Fasharkfin.html
Go on to WSPA Aids
Animal Victims of Kosovo
Return to 11 July 1999 Issue
Return to Newsletters
** Fair Use Notice**
This document may contain copyrighted material, use of which has not been
specifically authorized by the copyright owners. I believe that this
not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the
copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your
own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner.
