Essay Three

Ellis Orozco
December 11, 2008
Saving Sharks
Saving Sharks

Sharks are one of the most feared creatures in the ocean. They are one of the biggest predators in the ocean and a big reason many American’s refuse to dive into the blue wonder of the sea. Yet they are incredibly vulnerable. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, about one billion pounds of shark per year are fished (Handwerk). In addition, many sharks get tangled up in fishing nets that are carelessly left behind by fishers. They are also fished in places like the United States and Costa Rica for their and fins (which are shipped to China) and then returned to the ocean finless. This leads to a slow, painful death because other sharks will feast upon them or they end up dying due to starvation because they can’t swim. Many people don’t want to help the sharks because they are most likely a) scared that they will be eaten by them. Which is a foolish reason not to help because you run a greater risk of being hit by lightning or getting into a crash while drive to and from the beach.
The over fishing of shark for their fins and meat first began in 1986 when tuna and swordfish supplies started to plummet. In a panic, fishers resorted to fishing for shark. As a result, between 1986-1987, the amount of shark fished in Florida (which is only one state where shark is fished) doubled. Another contributing factor was the high demand coming from The Republic of China because they use it in a soup. It is considered a delicacy in China and sells for a near ten dollars per pound. Hong Kong consumes three million kilograms of shark per year which roughly equals about six million six hundred thousand pounds of shark. That is a lot of shark. Types of sharks most often fished for their fins include, but are no limited to sandbar, bull, hammerhead, blacktip, porbeagle, mako, thresher, and blue. It is said that due to this live-fining about 100-200 million shark die per year. This inhumane act has led to the near extinction of mako, elephant fish, lemon shark, hammerheads and great whites. This is extremely disturbing due to the fact that sharks have a very long gestation period, roughly about 22 months. Many people aren’t aware that once a species is close to extinction it could take decades to revive it. This revival takes a coordinated effort many individuals, as well as time, to increase a species chance for survival.
Sharks are crucial to the oceanic environment and to our own. They consume all sick and or diseased fish. So, in a sense protect other fishes from disease. They also help with population control. For example, there was a case in Australia where the number of lobster spiked up largely. This was because the number of Hammerhead shark in the area had greatly decreased thus leading to an increase in lobster because that it what they normally consume. Finally, sharks have opened many new door in the field of science. Scientist have long studied shark to try to solve some of lives many problems. For exaple, sharks can’t get cancer. Scientist are currently studying how this happens. Then they are going to try to apply it to humans. They can’t achieve this if we keep killing sharks off at this alarming rate.
Now, I want to focus specifically on China. They consume about 85 percent of the total world shark business. Dried food sellers can be found proudly displaying the shark fins in China. In China, when you serve shark fin soup to your visitors, it is viewed as though you are very wealthy and or powerful. It is a sign of status. Shark’s fin soup is said to be served at banquets, weddings and other get-togethers. On top of this they are purposefully asking the fishers to get the fins from rare or endangered sharks because it makes you seem more exotic because you can afford to eat a soup that is made with a shark not everyone knows about. What is worse is the fact that the shark fin itself has no flavor whatsoever it is just the gelatinous taste of the cartilage that people want. So we are technically killing off millions of sharks for something that carries no flavor whatsoever and is just quite simply a gelatinous feel that people like. I believe our scientists and those of China, working together, can quite easily find an artificial substance that could replace the shark fins. It is very sad to know that the government of Costa Rica went through the trouble to enact a law that doesn’t allow fishers to get within three-mile radius of a specific island that is known to have sharks and yet they won’t enforce it.
Currently, fishers can take the fins of sharks if the fin weighs five percent of the total body weight, it has been proposed a few times that they up that percent to 6.5 percent. I wanted to write a letter to Congress asking them to up this percent for how much the fin must weight in proportion to the body weight and enforce this law once it is passed. With any luck I am hoping that Costa Rica will follow our example. This can lead to a reduction in the amount of shark live-finned and tossed back into the ocean.
In addition to the letter I want to write I was thinking about starting a non-profit whose many goal and purpose is to inform the public about what sort of cruelty goes into the fishing of shark for their fins or the consequences of not managing where you lay down fishing and not picking them up. I simply want to provide people with facts and hope that they chose to do the right thing in my eyes. Which is simply taking an active role in saving the sharks from being finned for a “luxury” food.

Works Cited
Confidential Reporter. "China Confidential." 30 June, 2005. 5 December 2008
http://chinaconfidential.blogspot.com/2005/06/disney-shark-fin-debate-highlights.html.

Handwerk, Brian. "Sharks Falling Prey To Humans' Appetites." National
Geographic. June 3, 2003. 7 Dec 2008 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/06/0603_020603_shark1.html.
"Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act." NOAA
Fisheries. December 19, 1996. 7 Dec 2008 http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/magact/mag3a.html#s309.
"Shark Trade and Environment Database." TED Case Studies. January 11, 1997.
Trade Environment Database. 7 Dec 2008 http://www.american.edu/ted/SHARK.HTM.

Workman, Daniel. "Illegal Shark Fin Fishing." Suite101. 9 April 2007. 11 Dec
2008 http://world-trade-organization.suite101.com/article.cfm/illegal_shark_fin_fishing.