“Researchers admit that establishing the true level of global shark fishing is extremely difficult, as the quality of the data is poor. Many sharks that are caught have their fins removed at sea with the body dumped overboard. These fish are often not included in official reports.” – Matt McGrath
The most accurate assessment to date of the impact of commercial fishing on sharks suggests around 100 million are being killed each year.
The researchers say that this rate of exploitation is far too high, especially for a species which reproduces later in life.
The major factor driving the trade is the ongoing demand for shark fins for soup in Chinese communities.
The report has been published in the Journal Marine Policy.
Researchers admit that establishing the true level of global shark fishing is extremely difficult, as the quality of the data is poor. Many sharks that are caught have their fins removed at sea with the body dumped overboard. These fish are often not included in official reports.
Fin margin
However, the scientists estimate a mortality range of between 63 and 273 million sharks in 2010.
“Certainly 100 million is the median estimate and that’s the best estimate there is,” he added.
While the number of sharks being caught has not changed substantially between 2000 and 2010, the authors of the research argue that the commercial fishing fleets are simply changing location and the shark species they target in order to keep up with demand. The fear is that eventually these shark species will crash.
Fuelling the concern is the fact that many of the species that are most threatened are very slow to reproduce.
“A lot of the sharks that are prized in the trade take more than a decade to reach maturity,” said Dr Chapman.
“There is a really razor-thin level of mortality that sharks can experience before their population trajectory becomes negative – that is really what’s been happening.
“They are not reproducing fast enough to keep up with the rate we are pulling them out of the ocean,” he added.
There seems to be no let-up in the demand for shark fins for use in soup by Chinese communities
The biggest driver for shark fishing has been the demand for shark fin soup, a product that is seen as a luxury item among Chinese communities.
While fins are still being cut off sharks at sea, several countries including Canada, the US and the European Union have tried to restrict this by law.
But this has not had the desired effect, Dr Chapman explained.
“The problem is that the fins are so valuable that now people are not ‘finning’ the sharks at sea – they’re keeping the whole thing. But it is still dead; the finning bans have not stopped the root problem.”
On Sunday, negotiators from 178 countries will gather in Bangkok for the meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites). There are proposals to regulate the trade in five of the most threatened species of shark.
At a previous meeting in 2010, similar restrictions fell just short of the required-two thirds majority. This time, campaigners say they have broad support among developed and developing countries and are optimistic they will be able to muster the required votes. – BBC News, 1 March 2013
» Matt MacGrath is the BBC environment correspondent.
Filed under: india | Tagged: animal rights, capitalism, chinese cuisine, culture, endangered species, environment, fishing, fishing fleets, lifestyle, shark fin soup, sharks |
BHARATA BHARATI 
Restore ban on Sharks killings in India – Naresh Kadyan
Why the then minister of environment and forests (MoEF), A Raja, partially revoked the ban in 2001?: I can smell some malpractice in it and ban should be restored at once, matter be given to CBI for further investigation.
– Abhishek Kadyan, Media Adviser to OIPA in India – http://www.oipa.org
– Sukanya Kadyan, Director of PFA Haryana – http://www.pfaharyana.in
George and Aruldas, fishermen from near Kanyakumari, were hauling up a catch on a beach in southern Tamil Nadu. It was a warm evening and they were the only fishers on these secluded sands. The catch was special and I was privileged, as an outsider, to be invited to watch as the enormous fish was sliced and its fin, the most valuable part, handled with extreme care.
Shark fins of this size fetch a lot of money. It is not a hammerhead, which brings the best price, but a smaller milk shark. Nevertheless, the fishers told me, there were several more where this one came from, and they could be caught easily using their specialised hooks and lines. The shark’s flesh was set aside; all attention was on preserving the fin well. After all, the flesh was for their consumption while the fin would soon be exported to Southeast Asian markets.
Shark fins reportedly sell for Rs 250-400 per kg in the wholesale market and there are regular dealers in the country. As the capture and finning of sharks is not banned in India, the practice, shunned as illegal in several other countries, occurs in broad daylight here. A friend recently reported seeing an autorickshaw stuffed with shark fins to the point where it could barely be seen, on a busy Puducherry street. Over 90 per cent of the 190 fishers I spoke to during a survey in southern Tamil Nadu, admitted to catching and selling sharks. The fins they sold would reach the final destination, China, through many pathways. Some would pass through Sri Lanka, others through Singapore or Thailand, while still others were sold directly.
Southeast Asian shark fishers often remove the uppermost, characteristic shark fin and release the animal back into the sea. Unable to swim or breathe, the helpless animal dies. India responded to this by introducing a ban, but due to vociferous protests from Tamil Nadu fishers, the then minister of environment and forests (MoEF), A Raja, partially revoked the ban in 2001. Strangely, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute recommended there was scope to increase the exploitation of sharks in Indian waters, despite no studies on its stock.
Meanwhile, shark fishing continues unchecked. Fishers in the Lakshadweep who use long-lines do not always target sharks, but do not hesitate to use the extra source of income that accompanies their mistaken hooking. A source in the Lakshadweep fishery department revealed there was a recent shark fin catch weighing several tonnes from a vessel. This means several thousand sharks are killed and discarded or consumed. On the mainland, shark numbers no longer allow for such blatant extermination. The fishers I spoke to felt that shark numbers, like all the other fish they catch, were on the decline.
The picture is grim, but the Centre seems unwilling to take a stand. The Action Forum for Sustainable Shark Fishery that supports a ban on finning raises some important points. The government has no idea about how to replenish shark stocks. Since there is no enforcement, the forum argues, any attempt to conserve sharks turns futile. In a country where 60,000-70,000 tonnes of sharks are landed every year (as per FAO), choosing to overlook this industry that leaves no paper trail and operates on an apparently “small” scale, is a mistake.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the use of unsustainable gears such as trawl nets has only served to further marginalise artisanal fishers, who use selective gears. They are now forced to look at easy ways to earn money, such as by selling shark fins.
The government and its people must realise that sharks are inextricably linked to the marine world. There is no way to save them without saving their prey, and there is no way to prevent the fishing of one species while allowing indiscriminate gears to pick off anything that comes in their path. The Fisheries Department and MoEF must act together if they want to ensure a livelihood for fishers and a future for sharks.
Divya Karnad is a wildlife biologist with the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru
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