did anyone read the article in fridays dailey news about reports of north atlantic shark populations declining MORE than 50% in ONLY the past 15 years??? a study in the journal Science found that longline fishermen harvesting tuna and swordfish from the atlantic are killing huge numbers of sharks which is consistant with studies throughout the worlds oceans. the study also indicated that relentless fishing pressure and weak international efforts are making some species endangered. add in global warming and contaminated waters and what do we have??? its depressing!!!!!!!!!!!
shark populations dropping worldwide
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
I read this article, and it is very disturbing.
What solution is there? How can this bycatch be stopped? It seems to me it cannot be stopped. How do you stop an untargeted fish from biting on a hook? What else is there to say except cutting WAY BACK on seasonal allowances and fishing areas?
They are instituting no-fish zones for sportfishermen......which will be implemented here on the east coast in due time. What better reason for instituting no-fish zones than in this instance?
Longlining was a viable business back in the past, when there was no visible threat to untargeted species. Now, it has not only overpressured targeted species, but threatened many other species with extinction!
An inexcuseable waste!
When you think about how we have to recycle our garbage........how science has prepared us for a future of limited resources.......how people side with PETA when some animals get killed in the name of profit.......then what kind of justification can you attach to this senseless slaughter???
To feed the hungry????
Kill several species and throw them back until there are no more, and keep the ones you want........that is what this amounts to......can you imagine someone imparting these actions in any other aspect of our lives?
It is time to enact serious changes in this outdated fishing technique and move forward with harvesting fish that cooperates with the changes in our marine environment, .....to *get with the times*!
I respectfully refuse to divulge my identity and location in the interests of preserving health, LOL.
What solution is there? How can this bycatch be stopped? It seems to me it cannot be stopped. How do you stop an untargeted fish from biting on a hook? What else is there to say except cutting WAY BACK on seasonal allowances and fishing areas?
They are instituting no-fish zones for sportfishermen......which will be implemented here on the east coast in due time. What better reason for instituting no-fish zones than in this instance?
Longlining was a viable business back in the past, when there was no visible threat to untargeted species. Now, it has not only overpressured targeted species, but threatened many other species with extinction!
An inexcuseable waste!
When you think about how we have to recycle our garbage........how science has prepared us for a future of limited resources.......how people side with PETA when some animals get killed in the name of profit.......then what kind of justification can you attach to this senseless slaughter???
To feed the hungry????
Kill several species and throw them back until there are no more, and keep the ones you want........that is what this amounts to......can you imagine someone imparting these actions in any other aspect of our lives?
It is time to enact serious changes in this outdated fishing technique and move forward with harvesting fish that cooperates with the changes in our marine environment, .....to *get with the times*!
I respectfully refuse to divulge my identity and location in the interests of preserving health, LOL.
If the method of fishing is believed to destroy the environment or is extremely wasteful then that method must be stopped and better ones put in place or none at all. This means longliners, shrimpers and mid to southern Pacific tuna boats that drown hundreds of thousands of dolphins every year. Drowning is a horrible death for these mammals which are among the most intellegent on our earth.
shark had a less precipitous drop.....,shark had a less precipitous drop.....
More than half the populations of most shark species - including the hammerhead, white, tiger, thresher, blue and oceanic whitetip - have disappeared in the past eight to 15 years, the study found.
Only the mako shark had a less precipitous drop.
The hammerhead's numbers, for example, have plummeted by 89 per cent since 1986. White sharks have declined by 79 per cent in the same period, and have disappeared entirely from some of their haunts along North America's eastern seaboard.
More than half the populations of most shark species - including the hammerhead, white, tiger, thresher, blue and oceanic whitetip - have disappeared in the past eight to 15 years, the study found.
Only the mako shark had a less precipitous drop.
The hammerhead's numbers, for example, have plummeted by 89 per cent since 1986. White sharks have declined by 79 per cent in the same period, and have disappeared entirely from some of their haunts along North America's eastern seaboard.
have you guys ever seen those videos or PBS programs of how those longliners and seine netters "dispose" of all their bycatch? or even worse,how the asian sharking fleets longline thousands of sharks,CUT OFF ONLY THEIR FINS AND DUMP THE SHARKS BACK IN THE WATER ALIVE!!!!!!!!!! i'm sorry but that **** has got to stop, now i'm mad!!!!!!!
"of how those longliners and seine netters "dispose" of all their bycatch? "
"One thing you may (or may not) be aware of.. it's the norm to kill dogfish in the gulf of maine. The charter boat standard is even to brake the upper jaw before you throw them back in. Very few anglers will release dogfish alive. " leakyrivot
sounds like recreational fisherman arent much better ??
CUT OFF ONLY THEIR FINS AND DUMP THE SHARKS BACK IN THE WATER ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!
think about it, atleast the commercials try to salvage something out of their "bycatch", recreationals just kill/injure their bycatch for no reason and toss them over, and watch them die a slow death.
"i'm sorry but that **** has got to stop"
i agree with you on that,
but it has to stop on BOTH sides of the fence, commercial and recreational.
"now i'm mad!!!!!!! "
being mad is good,
shows you are aware of what is going on in our ocean and fishery.
maybe if we got lots of mad people together for once,
we could make a difference ?
"One thing you may (or may not) be aware of.. it's the norm to kill dogfish in the gulf of maine. The charter boat standard is even to brake the upper jaw before you throw them back in. Very few anglers will release dogfish alive. " leakyrivot
sounds like recreational fisherman arent much better ??
CUT OFF ONLY THEIR FINS AND DUMP THE SHARKS BACK IN THE WATER ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!
think about it, atleast the commercials try to salvage something out of their "bycatch", recreationals just kill/injure their bycatch for no reason and toss them over, and watch them die a slow death.
"i'm sorry but that **** has got to stop"
i agree with you on that,
but it has to stop on BOTH sides of the fence, commercial and recreational.
"now i'm mad!!!!!!! "
being mad is good,
shows you are aware of what is going on in our ocean and fishery.
maybe if we got lots of mad people together for once,
we could make a difference ?
BY CATCH
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE INSANITY IS TO HIT THESE SOB'S IN THE POCKET BOOK BY BOYCOTTING AS MANY ASIAN PRODUCTS AS POSSIBLE,INUNDATE ALL ASIAN EMBASSYS, U.S. SENATORS,CONGRESSMAN, STATE SENATORS WITH E-MAILS PROTESTING. YOU CAN ALSO ADVISE BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE THOSE U.S.COMPANIES THAT SELL ASIAN PRODUCTS THAT YOU WILL NOT BUY ANY OF THEIR PRODUCTS IF THEY CONTINUE TO SELL ASIAN PRODUCTS CONTAINING ANY BY KILL PRODUCTS OR FOR THAT MATTER ANY SEA FOOS PRODUCTS.
I REALIZE THIS IS A PIPE DREAM BUT THE ONLY THING THESE SOB'S CARE ABOUT IS PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT. NOT TO SAY THAT U.S. CO's ARE NOT JUST AS GUILTY.
IF WE CAN GET THOSE POLITICOS NOT ON THE TAKE TO BACK THIS TYPE OF MOVEMENT,
WE MIGHT HAVE A SNOW BALLS CHANCE IN **** OF PUTTING A STOP TO THIS INSANITY.
THE ONLY OTHER WAYS ARE ILLEGAL WHICH I DO NO ADVOCATE.
LAZYBONES
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE INSANITY IS TO HIT THESE SOB'S IN THE POCKET BOOK BY BOYCOTTING AS MANY ASIAN PRODUCTS AS POSSIBLE,INUNDATE ALL ASIAN EMBASSYS, U.S. SENATORS,CONGRESSMAN, STATE SENATORS WITH E-MAILS PROTESTING. YOU CAN ALSO ADVISE BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE THOSE U.S.COMPANIES THAT SELL ASIAN PRODUCTS THAT YOU WILL NOT BUY ANY OF THEIR PRODUCTS IF THEY CONTINUE TO SELL ASIAN PRODUCTS CONTAINING ANY BY KILL PRODUCTS OR FOR THAT MATTER ANY SEA FOOS PRODUCTS.
I REALIZE THIS IS A PIPE DREAM BUT THE ONLY THING THESE SOB'S CARE ABOUT IS PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT. NOT TO SAY THAT U.S. CO's ARE NOT JUST AS GUILTY.
IF WE CAN GET THOSE POLITICOS NOT ON THE TAKE TO BACK THIS TYPE OF MOVEMENT,
WE MIGHT HAVE A SNOW BALLS CHANCE IN **** OF PUTTING A STOP TO THIS INSANITY.
THE ONLY OTHER WAYS ARE ILLEGAL WHICH I DO NO ADVOCATE.
LAZYBONES
Here is the article:
Atlantic Sharks Found in Rapid Decline
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Shark populations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean have plunged by more than half since scientists began keeping careful track in 1986, with marquee species like the hammerhead and the great white falling more than 75 percent, researchers are reporting.
Such an abrupt decline in the ocean's dominant hunters could substantially alter marine food chains in ways that are impossible to predict and might take decades to reverse, the researchers and other experts said.
The researchers, from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, ascribed the drop to intensifying commercial and recreational fishing for sharks, which reproduce slowly compared with other oceanic fish. They described their findings today in the journal Science.
The Dalhousie researchers, led by Julia K. Baum, a doctoral candidate at the university, said similar declines had probably occurred elsewhere and that "pervasive overfishing of these species may initiate major ecological changes."
They said there was no evidence that the decline was the result of any natural cycle, partly because similar trends have been recognized in the Pacific and other waters under heavy fishing pressure.
Other biologists had reported declines in shark populations in particular coastal areas, but several experts not involved in the new study said it provided the first detailed overview of an oceanwide decline with broad implications.
"This is a very important synthesis," said Dr. James F. Kitchell, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin who specializes in the role of predators in ecosystems. "Like the ax and the plow, the hook and the net can create major changes in ecological structure and function. We've been fishing the top off the food web."
The impacts on other marine life, shark prey and other predators, remain unknown, but could last for generations, other experts said.
"It's a giant experiment, and we're not just playing in the laboratory here," said Dr. Robert E. Hueter, the director of the center for shark research at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. "We're playing with the future of our marine food resources."
Shark experts said that the decline in sharks was unlikely to affect the number of attacks on humans, which remain rare, and in any event are mainly the result of the rising number of people in the water.
In the area studied, which included coastal and deep waters from Newfoundland to northern Brazil, only mako sharks showed no substantial drop in numbers, the scientists said. The mako ranges widely offshore.
The researchers found the trends by using various statistical models to analyze catch records from American vessels pursuing tuna and swordfish with longlines — miles-long strands with hundreds of baited hooks.
Sharks are usually an unintended catch for such fleets — which changed gear a decade ago to allow sharp-toothed sharks to break loose — but the catch rate provides a barometer of their abundance, Ms. Baum said. The Dalhousie researchers said they accounted for the change in fishing gear in their analysis.
The main strain on shark populations comes from European boats that fish for sharks because of the growing popularity of their meat and from recreational fishing, Ms. Baum said. Federal regulations restrict shark fishing by American boats.
Big declines in sharks were found in coast-hugging species like hammerheads and deep-ocean wanderers like the thresher, with its distinctive elongated sickle-shaped tail fin.
The number of threshers has dropped 80 percent since 1986, and even then the number was below what it had been in the 1950's, the study's authors said in interviews. The population of great white sharks declined 79 percent since 1986, they said. But hammerheads appear to have fared worse, the scientists said, with a population decline of 89 percent from 1986 to 2000.
Some researchers expressed skepticism about this particular finding, saying that these sharks tend to concentrate near coasts in waters not well scoured by longline tuna and swordfish boats.
Federal fisheries officials said they had measured smaller declines in hammerheads and other coastal species and saw signs that some species, like blacktip sharks, were starting a slow recovery.
Over all, though, many experts said the new findings, particularly for deep-ocean sharks, were very convincing and troubling.
Little is known about the way various shark species live, and so it remains unclear why some might be more affected by fishing than others, Ms. Baum said.
Sharks, along with rays and skates, evolved hundreds of millions of years ago along a very different path than most fishes. They have skeletons of cartilage, not bone, and take much longer to reach sexual maturity — 12 to 18 years for some species — and produce far fewer progeny than bony fishes like bass — sometimes just one or two live-born pups per female. The slow reproductive rate is likely to delay a recovery even if fishing pressure abates, the Dalhousie researchers said.
Dr. Hueter of the Mote Marine Laboratory agreed. "Sharks are adapted to being the predators, not the prey," he said. "If we take them to the brink and decide we don't like what's happened, that'll be too bad because it'll be impossible to bring them back quickly."
Atlantic Sharks Found in Rapid Decline
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Shark populations in the northwest Atlantic Ocean have plunged by more than half since scientists began keeping careful track in 1986, with marquee species like the hammerhead and the great white falling more than 75 percent, researchers are reporting.
Such an abrupt decline in the ocean's dominant hunters could substantially alter marine food chains in ways that are impossible to predict and might take decades to reverse, the researchers and other experts said.
The researchers, from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, ascribed the drop to intensifying commercial and recreational fishing for sharks, which reproduce slowly compared with other oceanic fish. They described their findings today in the journal Science.
The Dalhousie researchers, led by Julia K. Baum, a doctoral candidate at the university, said similar declines had probably occurred elsewhere and that "pervasive overfishing of these species may initiate major ecological changes."
They said there was no evidence that the decline was the result of any natural cycle, partly because similar trends have been recognized in the Pacific and other waters under heavy fishing pressure.
Other biologists had reported declines in shark populations in particular coastal areas, but several experts not involved in the new study said it provided the first detailed overview of an oceanwide decline with broad implications.
"This is a very important synthesis," said Dr. James F. Kitchell, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin who specializes in the role of predators in ecosystems. "Like the ax and the plow, the hook and the net can create major changes in ecological structure and function. We've been fishing the top off the food web."
The impacts on other marine life, shark prey and other predators, remain unknown, but could last for generations, other experts said.
"It's a giant experiment, and we're not just playing in the laboratory here," said Dr. Robert E. Hueter, the director of the center for shark research at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. "We're playing with the future of our marine food resources."
Shark experts said that the decline in sharks was unlikely to affect the number of attacks on humans, which remain rare, and in any event are mainly the result of the rising number of people in the water.
In the area studied, which included coastal and deep waters from Newfoundland to northern Brazil, only mako sharks showed no substantial drop in numbers, the scientists said. The mako ranges widely offshore.
The researchers found the trends by using various statistical models to analyze catch records from American vessels pursuing tuna and swordfish with longlines — miles-long strands with hundreds of baited hooks.
Sharks are usually an unintended catch for such fleets — which changed gear a decade ago to allow sharp-toothed sharks to break loose — but the catch rate provides a barometer of their abundance, Ms. Baum said. The Dalhousie researchers said they accounted for the change in fishing gear in their analysis.
The main strain on shark populations comes from European boats that fish for sharks because of the growing popularity of their meat and from recreational fishing, Ms. Baum said. Federal regulations restrict shark fishing by American boats.
Big declines in sharks were found in coast-hugging species like hammerheads and deep-ocean wanderers like the thresher, with its distinctive elongated sickle-shaped tail fin.
The number of threshers has dropped 80 percent since 1986, and even then the number was below what it had been in the 1950's, the study's authors said in interviews. The population of great white sharks declined 79 percent since 1986, they said. But hammerheads appear to have fared worse, the scientists said, with a population decline of 89 percent from 1986 to 2000.
Some researchers expressed skepticism about this particular finding, saying that these sharks tend to concentrate near coasts in waters not well scoured by longline tuna and swordfish boats.
Federal fisheries officials said they had measured smaller declines in hammerheads and other coastal species and saw signs that some species, like blacktip sharks, were starting a slow recovery.
Over all, though, many experts said the new findings, particularly for deep-ocean sharks, were very convincing and troubling.
Little is known about the way various shark species live, and so it remains unclear why some might be more affected by fishing than others, Ms. Baum said.
Sharks, along with rays and skates, evolved hundreds of millions of years ago along a very different path than most fishes. They have skeletons of cartilage, not bone, and take much longer to reach sexual maturity — 12 to 18 years for some species — and produce far fewer progeny than bony fishes like bass — sometimes just one or two live-born pups per female. The slow reproductive rate is likely to delay a recovery even if fishing pressure abates, the Dalhousie researchers said.
Dr. Hueter of the Mote Marine Laboratory agreed. "Sharks are adapted to being the predators, not the prey," he said. "If we take them to the brink and decide we don't like what's happened, that'll be too bad because it'll be impossible to bring them back quickly."
I'm sure those countries that send the boats over to rape the shark fishery are justifying thier actions to their people by informing them of our prolific sportfishing for sharks, pointing out the very things MEGALODON is talking about, and adding a few lies, too. Actually, they don't have to lie.......the way some of our sport and charter fishermen treat sharks IS a violation of ethics.
Ban Commercial Shark Fishing
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE INSANITY IS TO HIT THESE SOB'S IN THE POCKET BOOK BY BOYCOTTING AS MANY ASIAN PRODUCTS AS POSSIBLE,INUNDATE ALL ASIAN EMBASSYS...
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What the **** Lazybones! What an unbelievably racist comment! I can't belive your comment was allowed on this board! What unbelievable, uneducated ignorant comment to suggest boycotting everything "Asian"! A third of the world is "Asian" made up of a lot of friggin different countries! That's like saying boycott American goods for what Canada is doing! Or boycott European goods because of the Russian communists! Your comments are more about your ignorance and racist attitude than about saving sharks! Holy crap! First the shark thing pisses me off and then this comment!
Pacal
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THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE INSANITY IS TO HIT THESE SOB'S IN THE POCKET BOOK BY BOYCOTTING AS MANY ASIAN PRODUCTS AS POSSIBLE,INUNDATE ALL ASIAN EMBASSYS...
--------------------------------------
What the **** Lazybones! What an unbelievably racist comment! I can't belive your comment was allowed on this board! What unbelievable, uneducated ignorant comment to suggest boycotting everything "Asian"! A third of the world is "Asian" made up of a lot of friggin different countries! That's like saying boycott American goods for what Canada is doing! Or boycott European goods because of the Russian communists! Your comments are more about your ignorance and racist attitude than about saving sharks! Holy crap! First the shark thing pisses me off and then this comment!
Pacal
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Joined
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3,127 Posts
Interpretation
Pascal-
I may be out of line here but I don't think Lazybones was trying to be racist in his remarks.I believe that he meant that we should boycott whoever is responsible for the disgraceful treatment and waste of sharks and since he couldn't be accurate he just lashed out at all of Asia which doesn't make much sense.I have read his past posts and they are reasonable and non biased. Just my .02 trying to clear the air
Pascal-
I may be out of line here but I don't think Lazybones was trying to be racist in his remarks.I believe that he meant that we should boycott whoever is responsible for the disgraceful treatment and waste of sharks and since he couldn't be accurate he just lashed out at all of Asia which doesn't make much sense.I have read his past posts and they are reasonable and non biased. Just my .02 trying to clear the air
SICK TO MY STOMACH
I new that the status of the shark population had declined in recent years, but those numbers make me absolutly sick. Something must be done, we can no longer tolerate these practices. The elimination of the top of the food chain has severe affects on everything which lives in its enviornment. It would be great if someone with more information on the subject could tell us exactly what we can do to stop these practices(write to our government officials, petitions, etc.)
I new that the status of the shark population had declined in recent years, but those numbers make me absolutly sick. Something must be done, we can no longer tolerate these practices. The elimination of the top of the food chain has severe affects on everything which lives in its enviornment. It would be great if someone with more information on the subject could tell us exactly what we can do to stop these practices(write to our government officials, petitions, etc.)
Joined
·
67,033 Posts
steve,
what NMFS does or doesn't do about sharking in U.S. waters will have almost no effect on the problem of worldwide populations. The vast majority of the fish killed each year are killed outside the U.S. by foreign flag vessels. What we need to do is get sharks under the protection of ICATT or a similar organization. But even ICATT isn't really doing its job.
what NMFS does or doesn't do about sharking in U.S. waters will have almost no effect on the problem of worldwide populations. The vast majority of the fish killed each year are killed outside the U.S. by foreign flag vessels. What we need to do is get sharks under the protection of ICATT or a similar organization. But even ICATT isn't really doing its job.
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
