A Surfers Fear of Sharks… Disappearing

A finned reef shark in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage AreaPhoto by: R. Berkelmans on 17 November 2006

While doing research about zombies and zombie sharks I found this very disturbing photo of a finned reef shark in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. This carcass was one of several found illegally dumped at Wreck Beach on Great Keppel Island. I’ll be the first in line to admit I have a fear of sharks. Like most surfers I hear that “Jaws” movie piano theme music whenever I’m out surfing and hear that unexplainable splash and my imagination starts to go wild. However, I must point out that just because I have a fear of sharks does not mean that I don’t like them (from a safe distance). I do respect and appreciate their importance to the oceanic food chain. Sharks have unfortunately fallen victim to the man-hungry stereotype that society has created for them. However, what the world should really fear is a world without sharks. Sharks are important in the ocean because they regulate the quantity and health of other species of fish and invertebrates. I'm still shocked that I have not heard of shark finning before now. I don't understand why this information is not out there in the media, the news, surf magazine, surfline.com and other places that I look to for news about surfing and the ocean biodiversity.

Many people believe sharks to be dangerous because they are often depicted that way in the media. The media magnifies the very rare incidents where a shark bites a human as if these are common and fearsome occurrences. The fact is only 5 people in the entire world will die from a shark wound in an average year, whereas many millions of people swim in the oceans where sharks live. Can you think of any way to die that is as rare than that? Death from bicycle accidents, dog bites, snake bites, or other accidents are many times more common.

Living Sharks - In the Ecosystem: Here’s the real story of sharks is how vital they are to the health of the oceans…

Sharks play a very important role in the oceans in a way that an average fish does not. Sharks are at the top of the food chain in virtually every part of every ocean. In that role, they keep populations of other fish healthy and in proper proportion for their ecosystem. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors helping to ensure species diversity. Think of them, if you like, as the garbage trucks of the ocean, eating  abundant species like plankton, fish, seals and even other sharks. Some also eat squid, bottom-feeders like mollusks, and even low-flying sea birds. Or consider the infamously voracious tiger shark, which has been found with such human discards as license plates, chain, gas cans and tires in its belly.

As predators, they shift their prey’s spatial habitat, which alters the feeding strategy and diets of other species. Through the spatial controls and abundance, sharks indirectly maintain the seagrass  and corals reef habitats. The loss of sharks has led to the decline in coral reefs, seagrass beds and the loss of commercial fisheries.

By taking sharks out of the coral reef ecosystem, the larger predatory fish, such as groupers, increase in abundance and feed on the herbivores. With less herbivores, macroalgae expands and coral can no longer compete, shifting the ecosystem to one of algae dominance, affecting the survival of the reef system. Oceana released a report in July 2008, “Predators as Prey: Why Healthy Oceans Need Sharks”, illustrating our need to protect sharks.

Living Sharks - In the Economy: Where sharks are eliminated, the marine ecosystem loses its balance.

In the parts of the ocean where sharks have been fished out of existence, we can see the dangerous result of removing the top predator from an ecosystem. In one scientific study¹ of the mid-Atlantic part of the United States, 11 species of sharks were virtually eliminated. Of the 14 species of marine life that those sharks used to eat, 12 became more plentiful and caused great damage to the ecosystem. For example, the cownose ray population was no longer kept limited by sharks and grew out of control. As a result, the rays destroyed the population of bay scallops, their favored food. But, people like to eat bay scallops too! The scallop fishery, which had been thriving for over 100 years, was virtually gone, with scallop catch dropping to only 13% of its high point². And, scallops were also no longer there to perform their function of filtering and cleaning the ocean water. The lesson is important. Sharks are being killed for their fins for shark fin soup, a food that has cultural value but is not important for human survival or health. However, removing the sharks can result in the loss of important foods that we do depend upon for survival.

Overfishing the great sharks on the U.S. east coast has had major ecosystem consequences: abundances of their skate, ray, and small shark prey species have increased tremendously, and the explosion in cownose ray abundance has devastated a century-long bay scallop fishery. (Credit: Joe Brown, NOAA)

"With fewer sharks around, the species they prey upon -- like cownose rays -- have increased in numbers, and in turn, hordes of cownose rays dining on bay scallops, have wiped the scallops out," says co-author Julia Baum of Dalhousie.

"This ecological event is having a large impact on local communities that depend so much on healthy fisheries," says Charles Peterson, a professor of marine sciences biology and ecology at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-leader of the study. The research builds upon an earlier study by Myers and Baum, published in Science in 2003, which used data from commercial fisheries to show rapid declines in the great sharks of the northwest Atlantic since the mid-1980s. Now, by examining a dozen different research surveys from 1970-2005 along the eastern U.S. coast, the research team has found that their original study underestimated the extent of the declines: scalloped hammerhead and tiger sharks may have declined by more than 97 percent; bull, dusky, and smooth hammerhead sharks by more than 99 percent.

"Large sharks have been functionally eliminated from the east coast of the U.S., meaning that they can no longer perform their ecosystem role as top predators," says Baum. "The extent of the declines shouldn't be a surprise considering how heavily large sharks have been fished in recent decades to meet the growing worldwide demand for shark fins and meat." Sharks are targeted in numerous fisheries, and they also are snagged as bycatch in fisheries targeting tunas and swordfish in both U.S. and high seas fisheries.

Sharks are also influencing the economy through ecotourism. In the Bahamas, a single live reef shark  is worth $250,000 as a result of dive tourism versus a one time value of $50 when caught by a fisherman. One whale shark in Belize can bring in $2 million over its lifetime. Whale sharks were legally hunted in the Philippines until protection was introduced in 1998. Whale shark ecotourism soon developed in Donsol, Sorsogon with great success and was subsequently listed as ‘Asia’s Best Animal Encounter’ by Time Asia (Perry 2004).

The whale sharks’ appearance in Donsol has continued to be a benefit to the local economy. Early records show 800 visitors to Donsol in 1998 with a total income of US$10500 (HK$81,800), generated from registration fees and boat rentals. The number of visitors increased to approximately 7200 in 2005, generating an estimated income of US$208,000 (HK $1.62 million). Arevalo (2006) notes that revenues derived from tourism efforts (related to whale sharks) resulted in Donsol being elevated from a fifth class municipality (annual income of US$162000 (HK$ 1.26 million) to a fourth class US$301,000-486,000 (HK$ 2.35 million to HK$ 3.79 million)). This resulted in a shift from Rank 76 in the poverty line amongst the poorest municipalities of the region to a rank of 17 (Arevalo 2006). "Eco-tourism has changed everyone's life in Donsol. Alan tells us how he used to have to take on odd jobs -- driving a tricycle taxi, construction work, playing guitar at bars -- to make ends meet. Now he makes six times what he used to, enough money to put his two children through school, even university."

Sharks have survived for 450 million years, but may be gone within 10 years- (Shark fins used to make Shark Fin Soup)

Life within the oceans has enjoyed a relationship with sharks for about 450 million years. The growing demand for shark fin soup has increased the slaughter of sharks to such a great extent that many shark species are already nearing extinction. They may be all gone within only 10 or 20 years. There is a well-documented history of shark stocks that have undergone a brief period of fisheries exploitation followed by a sudden collapse in yield. Examples of collapsed shark fisheries include the porbeagle (Lamna nasus) fishery in the North Atlantic, the soupfin shark (Galeorhinus galeus) fishery of California, various basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) fisheries, and the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) fisheries, both in the North Sea and off British Columbia. All unregulated targeted shark fisheries have been boom and bust endeavors. This is marked by a relatively short period of booming business, which is followed by a rapid decline in catches and a long period of either slow recovery, or no recovery at all.

The increase in demand for shark fins in the Asian markets has further increased the exploitation of sharks around the world. Shark fin soup is a delicacy in Asian restaurants where it is reported that a bowl of shark fin soup can cost as much as $250 per bowl, depending on the amount and type of shark fin used in the soup. Many times the sharks are finned, a practice whereby the fins are removed from the shark, while it is still alive, and the body is thrown back into the sea. The fins are the most valuable part of the shark and thus the fishermen would rather fill their boats with fins rather than the less valuable shark meat. 

Shark fin soup is a delicacy in Asia, with shark fins getting $300 per pound in some Asian markets and a single bowl of soup netting its vendor as much as $100.

The first international ban   on shark finning occurred in November of 2004, when the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) met. The agreement to end finning, supported and sponsored by the United States, the European community, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, Trinidad (Tobago) and Venezuela - and supported by Brazil, Namibia and Uruguay - agreed that finning had to cease if shark species were to survive. In spite of that, only the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Namibia, South Africa and the European Union (EU) have actual laws in place, and the EU's law protects only basking, great white, dogfish and porbeagle sharks, while only the United Kingdom and Sweden have comprehensive laws protecting all sharks.
Thirty percent of all shark species are currently either threatened or near-threatened with extinction.

A Review of Action and Inaction:

Fisheries worldwide provided the data for the UN report. Using this information, the UN report identified the top 20 shark-catching countries: Indonesia, India, Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, United States, Japan, and Malaysia. The report determined whether these countries followed through on management and conservation goals set in 2001. Only 13 of the top 20 “shark-catching” counties actually developed national plans of action to protect sharks.

These top ten countries are responsible for catching each year 640,000 tones of sharks, accounting for almost 80 percent of the total reported, global shark catch. It should be noted that many shark catches are not reported. The UN report only provides data that fisheries worldwide have reported, but much of the shark finning practice is done illegally in other countries, such as Ecuador and Costa Rica.

Nearly a third of all shark species are facing extinction due to unregulated fishing, mainly for their fins. It has been estimated that up to 73 million sharks are being killed each year for their fins. Fin imports to Hong Kong and Taiwan rose 214 percent from 1985 to 1999, due in part to their large, growing populations and the explosion of wealth across the entire Asia Pacific.
Setbacks in the Fight to Protect Sharks:

Shark Fins

The Costa Rica’s Ministry of Agriculture (MAG) and the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute agreed that the private docks in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, would be closed to foreign vessels starting December 1, 2010. This agreement tried to stop the illegal practice of unloading shark fins at private docks, by requiring foreign vessels to dock at public ports instead. Unpopular to local fishermen, this measure seemed to be victory for opponents of the shark finning practice.

Costa Rican custom law actually requires the use of public infrastructure to import products. Despite the custom law, many foreign fleets used private docks where law enforcement does not have access. Without law enforcement access, imported goods can enter the country unchecked and, in this case, the result is decreased shark populations.

According to Randall Arauz, President of the Marine Turtle Restoration Program, some foreign vessels cut off shark fins and throw the body of the shark overboard, leaving the shark to bleed to death. Costa Rican law states that sharks must be docked with their fins intact, but this law is often not followed due to the inability of officials to inspect foreign ships at private docks. Therefore, requiring foreign ships to dock at public docks would reduce illegal shark finning.

Environmental groups, which were fundamental in pressuring the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute into adopting the public dock rule, were outraged by this injunction. The February 4th timing of the injunction fell on the same day that the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry issued a press release praising the country’s efforts at ending shark finning.

Shark Populations Declining Worldwide:

In recent decades, shark populations around the world have been decreasing at an alarming rate. In the United States’ east coast, scalloped hammerheads and dusky shark populations have decreased by 80 percent since the 1970s.6 In Europe’s Atlantic coast, spiny dogfish populations have decreased to ten percent of their original population size. In the Mediterranean Sea, smooth hammerheads, shortfin mako, porbeagle, and thresher shark populations have decreased by more than 97 percent.

In Kesennuma, Japan, blue sharks, which comprise 80 percent of the shark catch, have been listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. According to Japan’s fisheries agency, over 40 years ago, Japan caught about 65,000 tons of sharks, but, by 2009, that number had almost halved to 35,000 tons, due to the recent dramatic decline in shark populations.

According to conservation groups, a growing demand for shark fins along with modern fishing methods have cause a rapid global decline in shark populations. Many top, shark-catching nations violate international regulations and under-report their catches. Fortunately, the anti shark fin soup movement is gathering momentum. Celebrity chefs, such as Gordon Ramsay, have publicly denounced the cruelty involved in finning. Several Chinese restaurants in England and the United States have completely removed the soup from their menus. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list shows that 30 percent of all shark species are either threatened or near threatened with extinction.

Plans to Save Sharks:

There is no doubt that many spark species are in danger of extinction due to unsustainable fishing practices. As top marine predators, these large animals help maintain balance in the marine environments. There are more than 400 species of sharks, all which play fundamental roles in the functioning of local ecosystems and economies.

Slowly, nations around the world are beginning to realize the importance of protecting sharks. The year 2010 proved to be an important year for ocean conservation, having both ups and downs. In March 2010, the international community rejected the protection of an array of marine species at the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species.

On the up side, around the same time, Maldives created a sanctuary for sharks in its waters. This sanctuary covers 35,000 square miles of the Indian Ocean. In November 2010, protective measures for eight shark species were adopted in a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. Furthermore, in late 2010, the presidents of Honduras and Palau challenged other world leaders at the United Nations to join them in their efforts to ensure healthy global shark populations by establishing additional sanctuaries and ending the finning practice.

Finally, at the end of 2010, the United States Congress passed the Shark Conservation Act, which was signed in January of 2011 by President Barack Obama. This act promotes efforts to conserve sharks and to stop the practice of finning. Efforts to conserve sharks are also being made at the local level. In February 2011, California proposed a ban on selling and using shark fins. The Monterey Bay Aquarium, along with environmental groups, supports this bill, which is opposed by many in the local Asian communities.

A similar ban was passed in Hawaii, which is a big step since the federal prohibition on killing sharks for their fins is not well enforced. State Senator Leland Yee, who’s running for mayor of San Francisco, calls the proposed bill an attack on Asian culture. The measure will soon wind its way through the city legislature.

Fisherman’s Fools Gold in The West African Seas

SAINT LOUIS, Senegal:

Sada Fall, 62, walks along the beach in this fishing village in the north of Senegal, his blue-grey boubou flapping in the dry, dusty wind, a bright red flowered umbrella shielding him from the scorching sun. “This is the great shark cemetery,” he says waving his hand dramatically across the beach where dried hunks of shark meat are piled up, filling the air with a musty, acrid odor as suffocating as the heat. Saint Louis is one of the biggest shark landing sites in Senegal and one of scores along the west African coast where the predator is quickly disappearing. “The fins don’t stay here, they are worth a lot of money,” says Fall. He explains that when a boat lands, amidst the chaos of bartering and buying shark meat to be dried, smoked and sold in the region, the fins are swept away by intermediaries to Dakar, and treated very carefully.

“The fins are gold, sometimes we keep them in our own living room – with the air conditioning on,” he laughs. Often the intermediaries will meet with Asian businessmen in a Dakar hotel to hand over the booty. “You bring the bags, go into the hotel, hand over the bag, they hand over the money.” Mika Diop, a biologist and coordinator of the Sharks sub-regional Action Plan (SRPOA-Sharks) says that depending on the size and species of the fin involved, they sell for up to 100,000 CFA (150 euros) per kilogram (2.2 pounds).

But it is the men further up the chain who benefit the most, as many fishermen don’t realise exactly how valuable their product is. Some restaurants charge more than $100 to $250 for a bowl of sharp fin soup. 

“We catch them, but I couldn’t afford a small bowl of soup,” says Fall. ‘Mercenary mindset’- many fins are also exported fraudulently through normal channels classified as dried fish, says Diop.

In West Africa, shark fishing began in the 1970’s, booming in the nineties due to rising demand from Asia for shark fins, according to a report entitled “30 Years of Shark Fishing in West Africa” co-authored by Diop in 2011. Since 2003, shark catches have plummeted. This is not good news but a sign that there are less to catch. These days fishermen can spend up to 20 days at sea, heading as far west as Cape Verde or south to Sierra Leone in search of their gold, with what Diop bemoans as an often “mercenary mindset”. Diop explains that sharks are particularly vulnerable because it can take more than 10 years for Sharks to reach sexual maturity and their fertility rate is very low, making recovery from overfishing all year round near impossible.

“On average the weight of the fin represents only two percent of the total weight of the animal, so you can see the massacre needed to keep up with the demand for shark fins,” he tells AFP. A fisherman for more than 30 years, he has seen first hand the worrying drop in shark numbers. “We are obliged to catch small sharks. We know its not good but if one person doesn’t, the next will… “It brings in a lot of money, so we don’t see the importance of the shark.”

We earn and we will keep on earning until the sharks disappear,” he says sadly. The shark fishing report talks of days when hammerhead sharks up to six metres long (20 feet) and one-tonne sawfish were caught in these waters. The sawfish-printed on the back of Senegalese bank notes-hasn’t been seen since the early 1990s in coastal waters from Mauritania to Sierra Leone, except for Guinea-Bissau.

Shark Harvests:

The destructive nature of the shark fishing industry has been receiving due attention in global discussions. Actions aimed towards preserving the remaining meager shark populations are gaining momentum. Conservation-minded people are educating consumers of shark products, and are requesting those in power to stop turning a blind eye to the harvest and trade of these products. In best cases, governing bodies respond to these calls and implement fishing restrictions, close loopholes in existing legislation, and create marine sanctuaries.

Nation’s Contribution to Global Shark Catch:
1. Indonesia (13%)
2. India (9%?)
3. Spain (7.3%)
4. Taiwan (6%)

Since the 1970s, Indonesia has held the first place for having the largest annual shark harvests. Before the rise of the large-scale, international boodlust in the shark fin trade that exists today, sharks were not a significant catch in Indonesian fisheries. Only with the increasing financial potential in shark finning did Indonesian fleets start targeting sharks. Today, an array of both licensed and illegal, Indonesian and foreign industrial fleets trawl the originally biodiverse waters.

Contrasting with the massive, industrial Taiwanese trawlers in Indonesian waters, 90% of the Indonesian fishing fleet mostly consists of fishermen in small wooden boats. Since these boats often have little space for storage and no refrigeration, the fishermen on the boats have a strong incentive to fin the shark at sea and throw the body back overboard.

Despite the evidence of frighteningly swift shark depletion, the Indonesian government shows no signs of attempts to curb levels of shark fishing. In the 2010 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Indonesia (along with China, Singapore, and Japan) voted against the protectionist proposal to tighten trade restrictions on the scalloped hammerhead, oceanic whitetip, porbeagle and spiny dogfish – four shark species that are in decline.

Four Largest National Shark Harvests: India

It is coincidental that the nation with the second largest human population in the world also ranks second in annual shark harvests. Around 9% of the annual reported global shark catch happens in Indian waters. The Indian government officially estimates the annual shark landing at 70,000 tons. Even while the reported estimate is boggling (as one ton is the equivalent of approximately 650 sharks) the actual catch may be even higher as the Indian government is notorious for underestimating their data.

The shark fishing industry in India is run by merchants who rent, on average, fifteen to twenty boats each. These merchants hire fishermen (and fisherwomen) who travel with the merchant from port to port. The merchant arranges for fishing permits from the port authorities, supplies diesel, and provides food for the crew. In return, the fisher folk harvest sharks en masse.

Once these fins are landed, they are commonly sold to agents who export a significant portion to Hong Kong. Shark fins are purchased based on weight; the larger the fin, the loftier the price. The agent can sell a shark fin to an international restaurant for Rs 250, or US $5, who in turn can sell the fin to a customer for Rs 6,000, or around US $120. Despite being the initial supplier in this procession, the average Indian fisherman makes a minuscule Rs 1.25, or US $0.03 per fin. This usually amounts to an income of US $0.50 per day.

Much of this export process is thought to be carried out under wraps. Although India is placed second in global ranks of shark fishing it does not feature prominently in the lists of shark exporting countries, nor is shark fin soup notably popular in India. Samir Sinha from TRAFFIC suspects that these fins are illegally exported. “Given that we catch over 70,000 tons of shark annually, we logically ought to have several thousand tons of fins too. But the fins are not showing up in the export data and there is no local consumption of fins,” he says. “So where are all the fins going?”

As a result of the rampant shark harvest and unregulated fin exports, the state of Tamil Nadu has seen a drastic 70% decline in shark catch. Although targeted fishing plays a role in this depopulation, other influential factors are the methods by which sharks are caught as bycatch in longlines, gill nets, and trawl nets. The percentage of sharks caught as bycatch from nets and lines targeting other oceanic species is astounding. Bycatch from trawl nets account for 60% of India’s shark catch, and gill nets cause a significant 38%. Another way these unsustainable fishing methods decrease shark populations is by forcing small-scale fishermen into shark fishing. Because industrial fishing methods kill off large quantities of oceanic life, fishermen cannot support themselves with the scarcity of fish available to them and are forced to find a more profitable source of income: shark fishing.

India has little financial incentive in investing in dive ecotourism, as it doesn’t have the abundant coral reef that Indonesia has to offer. Additionally, India doesn’t seem to pander to the requests of international bodies that push for a change in India’s destructive shark fishing habits. Further discouraging is the apparent unwillingness in part of the Indian government to regulate the shark fishing industry. Since the government does not ask for records of catches, there is an irresponsible lack of information regarding fisheries. With minimal data on shark populations in Indian waters, the government will find it difficult to replenish shark stocks in the case that it might care to do so. Not that the Indian government seems concerned with this cause; despite the lack of studies on shark stocks, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute suggested that India could harvest even larger quantities of the resources in its waters than it currently is.

In response to the international community’s call for a moratorium on shark finning in 2001, India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests passed the Wildlife Protection Act, which banned the harvest of 60 different marine species, including sharks, skates, and rays. However, protests from Tamil Nadu fishermen led the Ministry to reduce this ban to just nine species, all which are not used in shark fin soup. While there is notable effort to protect the Indian tiger, the government does comparatively little to pass, enforce, and maintain conservation measures for sharks.

Four Largest National Shark Harvests: Spain

Spain has been the leading player in European fisheries for the past decade, and has third largest shark harvest in the world – 7.3% of reported global shark catch to be exact. With fleets working full time in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as in strategic parts of the African coast, Spain plays a significant impact on shark populations in multiple continents.

Prior to 2011, the EU allowed countries to issue special permits to vessels, which allowed fishermen to remove fins from shark bodies on board. Spain not only issued more special permits than any other EU country, but also enough of these permits to allow its whole long-distance longline fleet to fin sharks at sea. The term “special fishing permit” was misleading as this permit was the norm, not the exception, in Spanish fisheries. However, since the closure in November 2011 of problematic loopholes in existing anti-shark finning legislation, all vessels fishing in EU waters, as well as EU vessels fishing anywhere in the world, will have to land sharks with the fins still attached. The new amendments to the legislation also made it illegal to land fins at different ports from the shark carcasses, which helps with enforcement.

Spain is taking incremental but positive steps towards a more sustainable oceanic future. Spain was the first EU country to enact a ban on shark finning in 2002. It further specified this ban in October 2009, banning the catch of 11 species of hammerhead and thresher sharks – two sharks that are commonly caught as bycatch in longlines. Both these measures are promising steps, but must be enforced efficiently. An indication of this enforcement would be Spain’s fall in the ranks of global shark exports and harvests.

Taking into consideration that Spain has, for a long time, been at the top of the list in the international trade of shark products, Spain has a significant position in impacting shark populations and a considerable influence in legislation made about shark conservation. With a relatively large number of votes in the EU Fisheries Council, Spain is in an ideal position to enforce anti-finning efforts and act in a responsible manner towards the preservation of shark species.

Four Largest National Shark Harvests: Taiwan

Taiwan is one of the countries currently in the spotlight for international shark conservation groups, as its ban on removing the fins from sharks at sea theoretically comes into effect this year. Taiwan is the first country in Asia to introduce a finning ban.

It seems the metamorphosis to complete enforcement of a ban takes time. Despite Taiwan’s attempts to implement this new regulation at several ports, it still ranks third on the list of global shark fisheries harvests, with an average annual catch of 48,000 tons. Many biologically vulnerable shark species, including the scalloped hammerhead and oceanic white tip, are caught on Taiwanese fleets. In late 2011, a Greenpeace helicopter spotted a Taiwanese vessel fishing illegally in the shark sanctuary waters of Palau. In February this year, Palau fined the Taiwanese vessel US$65,000 as compensation for the loss of its sharks.

Though finning is banned in theory, Taiwan’s fisheries are largely unregulated, so this fins-attached policy is hard to enforce, especially outside of Taiwanese waters. It has been reported that shark fins are unloaded at foreign ports, then airlifted into Taiwan. Even though fishermen discontinue finning sharks at sea, there is no protection for sharks at port; once at port, fishermen can legally fin the carcasses there. The advantage to this law is that the weight that the carcasses add to the total load could reduce the number of sharks brought in and finned ashore.

These recent years have been a transformative time in the initial baby steps needed to set up legislative safe havens covering all shark species. By addressing the shark fin industry from multiple angles – supply, trade, and demand – we can create a world in which sharks are given the dignity they deserve as creatures integral to the continuance of our oceanic systems.

If you actually made it all the way down here to the bottom then I must say that I'm surprised. I know most of the information that I've gather here and the pictures that I posted are disturbing to say the least. I hope that you have learned something about the worlds oceans and the horrible events like shark finning that are taking place, I know I learned a lot from this experience.