08 Jun 2007 - By Dr Simon
Cripps* Hunted for food, medicine and souvenirs,
sharks are in serious decline.
Love them or loathe them, as top predators,
sharks play an important role in the marine
ecosystem — their decline is symbolic of
all that’s gone wrong in the oceans as a
result of mismanagement and greed.
Millions of sharks are killed each year
from overfishing and trade. Many die accidentally
in fishing nets set for tuna and swordfish,
while others are caught for their meat or
just for their fins, which are used in traditional
medicine or as an essential ingredient in
shark fin soup, an expensive Asian delicacy.
Contrary to popular belief, shark fins
have little nutritional value and may even
be harmful to your health over the long
term as fins have been found to contain
high levels of mercury. Consumers may also
be shocked to learn how the fin in their
shark fin soup got their in the first place.
Destructive and wasteful fishing practices
— like shark finning, the cutting of a shark’s
fin and discarding the rest of the carcass
back to sea — are pushing several shark
species to the brink of extinction. Some
populations, including tiger and bull sharks,
are down by 90 per cent. Less threatening
sounding species, like spiny dogfish and
porbeagle, caught for their meat and oil
(and consumed mainly in the EU), are on
the verge of collapse.
As delegates meet this week in The Hague
to discuss regulating the international
wildlife trade, WWF hopes to see these latter
species get the protection they need. Listing
these two species on CITES, the UN’s Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species,
would be a critical first step in ensuring
their future protection and sustainable
trade. There are, however, hundreds of other
shark species that need similar attention.
Poor fisheries management is probably the
main threat to sharks and to ocean life
at large. Three-quarters of the world’s
commercial fish stocks are already over-exploited,
fished right up to their limit or recovering
from collapse. Scientists have recently
discovered that 90 per cent of the big predatory
fish, like sharks, are lost; stripped from
our oceans by industrialized fishing vessels.
Although the fishing industry is well aware
of the need to safeguard fish populations
and the marine environment for the future
— their own future included — they continue
to plunder what’s left of a dwindling resource.
Why? Because the incentive is there. Each
year, taxpayers are forced to cough up US$15
billion in perverse government subsidies
to keep many fishing fleets a float. Japan,
the world’s largest subsidizer, gives US$2-3
billion annually to its fishing industry.
The United States spends nearly US$1 billion,
while the EU forks out up to €1.4 billion.
Russia, which once had the largest fishing
fleet in the world, pays US$600 million
annually to help scrap old ships and replace
them with modern trawlers.
The flush of money is artificially allowing
more fishing vessels to operate than the
oceans can sustainably support.
Harmful fishing subsidies, which contribute
to excess fishing capacity, overfishing
and illegal fishing activities, need to
be eliminated. The money should be redirected
to fleet capacity reduction, the development
of fish stock recovery plans, fish stock
assessments, and where necessary, training
fishermen for alternative employment.
Governments also need to strengthen bilateral
and international fishing agreements. Given
that many sharks move over wide areas and
are fished by vessels across international
boundaries, binding international measures
are essential to their conservation.
On this World Ocean Day, there is an urgent
need for national and regional management
authorities to re-commit to shark conservation
and the protection of our oceans. Improved
fisheries management and innovation that
leads to “smarter” fishing will be key in
the fight to save our oceans.
Sharks were living well before the time
of the dinosaurs, and have proved to be
good survivors. But given current fishing
trends and growing demand for their meat
and by-products, they will need all the
help they can get just to survive to the
middle of this century.
Think about that the next time you see
shark fin soup on the menu. You may want
to consider ordering the consommé.
* Dr Simon Cripps is Director of WWF’s
Global Marine Programme, based in Gland,
Switzerland.
+ More
World’s largest tiger photo mosaic unveiled
07 Jun 2007 - The Hague, The Netherlands
– A two-storey-high photo mosaic of a tiger,
created from personal photos of nearly 25,000
tiger lovers worldwide, was unveiled here
today to urge world leaders to end all trade
in tigers.
The International Tiger Coalition, comprised
of 35 organizations working to save wild
tigers, including WWF, assembled the world’s
largest photo mosaic of a tiger in front
of the convention centre where hundreds
of delegates are attending a meeting of
the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES).
“We think a mosaic made from photos of
tiger fans is a powerful way to remind world
governments that the eyes of the world are
watching what happens at CITES,” said Dr
Bivash Pandav, head of WWF’s international
tiger programme.
“The fate of wild tigers is in the hands
of governments around the globe. Tigers
won’t survive without meaningful new commitments
by governments to scale up law enforcement
and protection.”
Wild tigers face an emerging threat from
Chinese tiger farms, which now house nearly
5,000 captive-bred tigers. The farm owners
are pressuring the Chinese government to
lift its successful 14-year ban on domestic
trade in tiger bones and products. The Chinese
delegation to CITES distributed a position
paper this week saying it was maintaining
the ban for now, but listing the supposed
benefits of trading products made from farmed
tigers.
The International Tiger Coalition — an
unprecedented alliance of environmental,
zoo and animal protection organizations
as well as the traditional Chinese medicine
community — is calling on the Chinese government
to reject the pending petition by tiger
farm investors that seeks to overturn the
country’s ban, close down the country’s
numerous tiger farms, and destroy the stockpile
of carcasses being stored on these farms
so they cannot enter illegal trade. The
coalition is also asking China to make its
successful 14-year tiger-trade ban permanent.
Close to 25,000 people from at least 146
countries have submitted their photos online
to create the International Tiger Coalition’s
photo mosaic. Of the 146 countries represented
on the mosaic, 142 are members of CITES.
Additionally, 32,000 signatures have been
collected for a message of appreciation
to China, urging the country to keep in
place its successful ban on domestic tiger
trade.
Photos may be submitted for the on-line
version of the mosaic through 15 June at
the following site:
Jan Vertefeuille
WWF International
