Preyed predators

Man eaters…

I read an interesting article on sharks in the newspaper today (Corriere della Sera, October 12, 2010); it talks about an initiative, the European Shark Week, which aims to impose more stringent controls over fishing and strengthen the EU ban on “finning”, the wasteful practice of slicing off a shark's fins and discarding the carcass at sea.  Shark Alliance (http://www.sharkalliance.org/), a coalition of more than 100 conservation, scientific and recreational organizations, is marking the start of the fourth annual European Shark Week by calling on Members of the European Parliament to take action.  

The current EU finning regulation is one of the weakest in the world. The simplest, most effective way to implement a finning ban is to require that sharks are landed whole with their fins naturally attached.

«The growing interest in the European Shark Week provides a great opportunity to raise public awareness of the issue and testify to the widespread concern for the future of sharks”, said Serena Maso, national coordinator of Shark Alliance. “This year, EU citizens call on Members of the European Parliament to address the problem and take action to prevent finning, which, moreover, is a wasteful practice ».  

On the web you can support several organizations that deal with the issue; BITE-BACK (http://www.bite-back.com/) is one of them. Bite-Back is a UK shark and marine conservation organization with a mission to halt the trade and consumption of vulnerable fish species, promote sustainable fishing, protect ocean habitats and inspire worldwide respect for the marine environment. It aims to promote, together with restaurants, fishmongers and supermarkets, protection of sharks by reducing consumer demand for its meat and fins.  Since it was formed in 2002, Bite-Back has promoted several campaigns to empower the public to become more resolute in its commitment to conserving the oceans. Founder and campaign director, Graham Buckingham, says: "Bite-Back presents an exciting development in the way we can all contribute to protecting threatened fish species by choosing what we buy, from where and how we can support the marine environment by reducing domestic pollution."

The shark slaughter figures are astounding: currently 100 million sharks are slaughtered each year; by 2017, it is anticipated that 20 species of shark could be commercially extinct. The figures are even more alarming if we think that, since sharks are at the top of the marine food chain, they play a key role in the marine ecosystem. In a little over 50 years the slaughter of sharks has risen by 400% to approximately 800,000 metric tons per year.

Another organization that deals with shark protection and conservation is “Protect The Sharks Foundation”; it’s a Dutch non-governmental, non-profit organization that focuses on promoting education and information, producing and publishing educational material online and in magazines. Their website (http://www.protect-the-sharks.org) is very interesting  and provides a lot of information on the issue; the “GIMME A HUG” project is absolutely amazing. The initial idea is that sharks are fascinating and clearly unappreciated and there is still a lot we don’t know about them; Protect The Sharks Foundation embraced the cause and made a short documentary (13:30 minutes) in which these amazing animals show a totally different behavior than most people would expect. Only few people know about the tonic immobility phenomenon, or apparent death, which is a defense mechanism used by many animals.  Michael Rutzen, a well-known shark expert, also called Sharkman, has demonstrated and filmed the tonic immobility reflex of these frightening creatures several times. However, when you watch this video, just about any word can come to your mind, apart from the word “frightening”. Search “tonic immobility” and “sharkman” on YouTube: it will open up a whole new world to you. We are only providing one of his videos, but you can find many more on the web. There’s a new world behind every - even the smallest – thing; you just have to look for it. Awareness and knowledge free us and make us stronger.     

By: Green Ocean Surfing

www.greenoceansurfing.com