Today is a sobering day for sharks. Colombian authorities have reported that as many as 2,000 hammerhead, Galápagos and silky sharks may have been slaughtered for their fins in the nation's Pacific waters.
According to the Colombian president's top environmental adviser, divers saw 10 Costa Rican trawlers illegally entering the Malpelo wildlife sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage site. When the divers swam down deeper, they found a shocking amount of sharks lying on the ocean floor, finless.
Considering that sharks give birth to only a few young each year, the loss of 2,000 sharks is a significant single blow to the ecosystem. But 2,000 is a small number compared to the millions of sharks that are killed each year around the world for their fins. Sharks play a vital role in maintaining the health of ocean food webs; when the sharks are removed, the entire system can be thrown into disarray. Many scientists say that you can tell a marine ecosystem is thriving if it teems with sharks.
The Colombian shark massacre is especially shocking as it comes just a few short weeks after we cheered the sweeping U.S. West Coast ban on the trade of shark fins. It's a reminder that while Oceana and our allies have made a lot of progress for sharks over the past few years, they are still being killed for their fins in appalling numbers.
It's also a reminder that the global shark conservation movement is at a critical juncture. An increasing number of nations are recognizing the need to protect the ocean's top predators. Take Chile, which passed a national ban on shark finning this summer. And more recently, Mexico and the Marshall Islands have announced plans for new shark protections. More governments are realizing the value of sharks to the health of their oceans and economies.
It's encouraging to see the tide rising on global shark conservation, but it's also important to note the role of illegal fishing in this tragic incident. Marine sanctuaries are wonderful places, but enforcement is key to keep out the illegal fishermen who aim to capitalize on the wealth of fish and sharks that make these areas so special.
At Oceana we're working on this problem from both angles - we're winning increased protections for sharks, and we're working to curb illegal fishing. You can help by supporting our efforts to protect the ocean's top predators from extinction.
The only land mass in Malpelo is basically a giant rock that juts up from the sea hosting mostly birds and six poor Colombian soldiers left there for six month stints. They have a solar generator, a bunk house and radio room, a tiny fridge and a hot plate. There is NO dock and they have NO boat. There's just a plant jutting out over the sea with a rope ladder to climb up from a dingy. We did it...and it's sketchy. All they could do was watch when it happened and radio it out...but they are 235 miles off the coast of Colombia who's main focus is stopping cocaine submarines, not shark fishers.
Most boats in/around Malpelo are liveaboards for divers from Colombia and Panama, so Costa Rica also needs to be called reprimanded on their involvement.
Eternal shame on the asians who have no respect, and certainly no empathy or compassion, for the environment. Ironic that one of our world's oldest human cultures is leading the way to its destruction.
Somewhere rows and rows of steel gray shark fins are drying on a dock waiting to be sold. Somewhere a middleman shoves a fistful of cash into his pocket and grins. Somewhere someone is slurping up shark fin soup, hoping so and so will notice their importance and affluence.
To really save sharks is to go after demand. That's the people who eat shark fin soup. The majority of them live in China and Hong Kong.
It's especially tragic that the fins are not sought for great nutrition or medicinal purposes. Shark fin soup is often part of the menu at weddings or other events because it is sign of prestige. Tens of millions of this crucial apex predator are being killed for ego.
As uncomfortable as it may be to tell people what they should or should not do, shark fin soup is the poster child for abuse of the natural world.
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I think one smart Chinese businessman needs to figure out how to make shark fin soup without shark fins. I mean, if they can manufacture fake eggs...that should not be so hard.
Call me shallow, I don't care.
Look it up in Google.
Thank you January & Andrew for your concern & good works.
I wish we would stop destroying the world's oceans.. but I know we are just hell bent on destroying the world itself.
I just hope I have an opportunity to swim with the whale sharks before they are extinct.
We are the virus that plagues this Earth.