Shark Water - The Truth will Surface

[Ron99]

Firstly, have you watched the movie? The problem isn't a subsistence fisherman finning a few sharks. The problem are organized poachers long lining and catching huge numbers of sharks, often in protected waters such as those around the Galapagos Islands. This also kills a bunch of other aquatic wildlife that is just tossed back into the ocean. I think once you watch the scenes with millions of fins drying on warehouse rooftops you may change your tune. And all for what? For a bunch or rich folks who think some tasteless soup is a delicacy. These poachers are making craploads of money killing millions of sharks. I guarantee you they are making far more money than most of us. They certainly seem to have enough money to bribe government officials around the world to look the other way or to go after the filmakers. Perhaps you should inform yourself about the real situation before you make statements borne out of ignorance and based on your own opinion instead of the facts.

Secondly, I don't think we are being hypocritical. Many of us keep reef tanks because of our interest in the ocean and the environment. Our goal is not to kill a bunch of fish for dubious reasons but to have a thriving tank with healthy livestock. It is also a great educational experience for my kids. My 4 year old knows more about fish and corals than many adults. Many of us would prefer captive bred fish if we can get them too but that is not always possible. I would also always take captive grown corals over those collected in the ocean if possible. Frag swaps and auctions are a great way to stock your tank without impacting wild corals.

Finally, let's not get into an argument about who is the apex predator. Humans do not really fit into those definitions because of our sentience and our ability to use tools and technology to affect the world around us in ways no non-human predator could or would. Animals kill to eat and there is usually a good balance between predator and prey. Humans often kill for other reasons and we can and do affect the natural balances. Finning millions of sharks for a luxury item such as shark fin soup is not a normal predator/prey relationship.

[Edmonton Eskimo]

First off, I won't get into the arguement but what has been said by some(or one) is absolutely ridiculous in it's entirety. Second, how do you figure we are the apex predator? Take away our weapons and we would be squat! What animals could we kill without using weapons? Not very many. Oh, and the pitbull analogy doesn't even come close to holding water(no pun intended). People buy pitbulls knowing they can be dangerous and bring them into there homes. It is the owner that causes these animals to be vicous due to lack of training, abuse, etc. The ocean is the sharks territory and when we get attacked(in monumentally small proportions) it's their fault and we then have the right to kill them? That is thinking that I thought we got over a long time ago.

[Zoaelite]

WHOA, for being a site devoted to the care and husbandry of living fish we do have some pretty diverse views on sharks! Its a little frustrating to see people argue that because humans have been killed by sharks that we should in turn kill them back. Well, take a look at the statistics;

Shark attacks on humans

In 2000, there were 79 shark attacks reported worldwide, 11 of them fatal. In 2005 and 2006 this number dropped to 61 and 62 respectively, while the number of fatalities dropped to only four per year. Of these attacks, the majority occurred in the United States (53 in 2000, 40 in 2005 and 38 in 2006)

^ ISAF 2005 Worldwide Shark Attack Summary

Considering that there are 6.2 billion humans on the earth and lets say that in 2000 there were 50 deaths from sharks (for "unreported cases"). This means the percentage is so small that I need to use scientific notation to represent it.

Compared to.
Human attacks on sharks

Shark specialists estimate that 100 million sharks are killed for their fins, annually.

^IUCN Shark Specialist Group. "IUCN Information Paper. Shark Finning." 2003.
IUCN Shark Specialist Group. "Shark Specialist Group Finning Statement."
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society - www.seashepherd.org. "Longline Fishing."
WildAid & Co-Habitat. "Shark Finning." September 2003.

Now we don't have a total on how many sharks are actually in the ocean (estimates say that we have already lost 75-90% of ALL SHARKS), just look at the numbers. 100 million sharks to 50 humans? This isn't war my friends, this is one species completely eliminating a whole GENUS of species from the earth. So please don't come on here and tell me that its fair or a good idea to "combat the problem" because that is a very ignorant statement. You all graduated grade 5 and 6, please think back to how important those "food webs" were. You take out the apex predator of the ocean and then the oceans collapse, when the oceans collapse the billions of people who rely on the ocean go into starvation. Guess your expensive and tasteless shark fins won't help you then.
Levi

[jsmth321]

We also need to keep in mind that many species of sharks have a slow reproductive cycle, Great Whites for example are beleived to take 12-14 years for a female to reach sexual maturity, and will produce 5 to 10 pups which science beleive take over one year gestation with briths happening every 2 to 3 years.

So removing any white sharks from the ocean can have a devestating affect on this species.

Thankfully New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and California have chosen to protect this wonderful animal in their coastal waters and economic zones, who has a bad reputation not from what it has done but from a hollywood movie that makes this shark appear to be an angry man killing machine out waiting to kill the next human when in reality very few humans are killed by this shark and pose little threat to us, yet we pose a huge threat to it.

People just dont seem to realize the damage we humans are doing to the worlds oceans from over fishing to pollution and everything in between.

Remember close to 50% of our planets oxygen comes from the ocean, without a healthy ocean our very existence is also in danger.

No doubt the great white has killed and attacked humans but its generally a mistake of identity since surfers in wetsuits resemble a seal to a shark. Since 1876 (yes 1876!) there have only been 65 deaths due to great whites, and only 242 attacks. Humans have likely killed and attacked far more great whites then vice versa.

Montery Bay Aquarium keeps great whites from time to time before releasing them back into the ocean, (no aquarium has had success keeping them for longer then 16 days) Monterey Bay keeps them in a 1 million gallon outer bay exihibit. Last shark was kept for 10 days due to feeding refusal, prior sharks have been kept for 6 1/2, 4 1/2 and 5 months before being released back into the ocean. They are an amazing animal to see up close. ( I saw my first at Sea World San Diego back in the 1990's)