Hugh Bollinger / Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sharks, a status report

Anyone concerned about the oceans should be equally worried about the status of sharks, one of the marine world's top predators. As we have previously noted, sharks are being harvested at a rate far beyond any standard of sustainability to satisfy Asian demand for their fins used in Chinese cooking. The demand for shark fins has the potential to eliminate these critical creatures from the oceans if it isn't not stopped. One Atlantic shark population has decline nearly 90 percent in just 25 years, and this, for a species that has survived since the age of the dinosaurs. [caption id="attachment_7450" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Shark fins drying on fishing trawler (credit: LA Times)"]

[/caption] Environmental reports often tend to be of the "bad news" variety but some hopeful developments for shark survival are being reported. Multiple states including Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and now California have banned the sale of shark fins while several diverse nations including Honduras, the Bahamas, and Canada have banned shark fishing outright and The Food Network has eliminated shark recipes from all of their popular cable television shows. Now the best shark status report of all will be when fin sales have been completely banned in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Riled Up

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Sharks, a status report

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