January 16, 2003. Copyright, 2003, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Shark populations in rapid decline
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, January 16, Graphic News:  They are typically portrayed as savage, man-eating beasts but sharks in the northwest Atlantic are under serious threat from one of the few species to prey on them Ð humans.

Researchers writing in the latest issue of the journal Science report  that populations of several shark species in the ocean have declined to less than 25 percent of their former size.

The statistics are alarming: with the exception of makos, all species of shark have declined by more than half in the past 8-15 years. The worst affected is the hammerhead, the most evolved of all sharks, whose population has shrunk by up to 89 per cent.

Sharks represent a pinnacle of evolution. They are at the apex of the ocean food chain and their decline threatens to unbalance the entire marine ecosystem. It is precisely the features that have kept them on top that now make them vulnerable: they are slow to mature and the females produce few young, not nearly enough to compensate for overfishing by man.

In recent years shark fins and cartilage have become increasingly prized for their dubious medicinal benefits or to be eaten as delicacies. The popularity of fin soup in many areas of the world has encouraged ÒfinningÓ, the wasteful but lucrative practice of stripping the shark of its fins and then dumping its carcass back into the sea.

Finning has been banned in many areas, including the United States, but this has not stopped vast numbers of sharks being caught incidentally, or as ÒbycatchÓ each year. Between 30-70 million are caught annually, yet killing just one female has disastrous consequences.

In their study, the scientists say that marine reserves as currently planned will not be enough to save sharks. They want protections for other large sea predators, such as tuna and sea turtles, to be extended to sharks.

In the past the sharkÕs reputation as a fierce, hostile creature has not helped efforts on its behalf. The shark is neither as cuddly nor as man-friendly as the whale, for example, but the depletion of its numbers raises unique conservation concerns.
/ENDS