73 MILLION SHARKS THREATENED?

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*http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_42696.shtml*

*Triple Threat: World Fin Trade May Harvest up to 73 Million Sharks per Year

* By: Pew Institute for Ocean Science

Published: Sep 25, 2006 at 07:24

 

The first real-data study of sharks harvested for their valuable fins estimates

as few as 26 million and as many as 73 million sharks are killed each year

worldwide - three times higher than was reported originally by the United

Nations, according to a paper published as the cover story in the October 2006

edition of Ecology Letters.

 

" The shark fin trade is notoriously secretive. But we were able tap into fin

auction records and convert from fin sizes and weights to whole shark

equivalents to get a good handle on the actual numbers, " says lead author

Shelley Clarke, Ph.D, an American fisheries scientist based in Hong Kong and

Japan.

 

A team of researchers calculated the number of sharks represented in the fin

trade using a unique statistical model and data from Hong Kong traders. When

the figures were converted to shark weight, the total is three to four times

higher than shark catch figures reported to the United Nations Food and

Agricultural Organization (FAO).

 

" Without any real data, numbers as high as 100 million had been floating around

for a while, but we had no way of knowing whether or not this was accurate, "

says Ellen Pikitch, Ph.D., co-author and executive director of the University of

Miami's Pew Institute for Ocean Science. " This paper, which produces the first

estimate based on real data, shows that the actual number of sharks killed is

indeed very high but is more likely to be in the order of tens of millions, with

a median estimate of 38 million sharks killed annually. "

 

Concern about the shark finning trade has grown over the past few years as

demand has surged beyond sustainable levels for slow-to-produce shark

populations and without regulation in most countries. Three shark species are

listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Flora and Fauna (CITES), and 20 percent are threatened with extinction according

to the 2006 Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Used in shark fin soup, a delicacy served at Chinese weddings and other

celebrations for centuries and more recently at business dinners in Southeast

Asia and the Pacific Rim, fins are the most valuable part of the shark, which

typically are sliced off as the shark, sometimes still alive, is thrown back

into the ocean. The shark fin trade appears to be keeping pace with the growing

demand for seafood - up five percent per year in mainland China.

 

Determining whether shark populations can continue to withstand the magnitude of

catches estimated by Clarke and her team depends upon the size and status of

each population.

 

" One of the most productive sharks is the blue shark, and it appears that the

catch rate is near the maximum sustainable level, " says Clarke. " But such

assessments were not available for other, less productive shark species. It is

quite likely that sustainable catch levels have already been exceeded in some

cases. "

 

The United Nations FAO compiles catch records for sharks and other fish, based

on information submitted from member countries. Where possible, the FAO

attempts to verify the accuracy of the figures, but verification often is not

practical. Many sharks may be recorded as unidentified fish and thus not be

recognizable as sharks in the FAO records.

 

" Due to the low value of shark meat in many markets, shark fins may be the only

part of the shark retained, and often these fins are not recorded in the catch

log or when landed at ports. I knew we had to somehow access the major markets

if we were to accurately estimate the number of sharks killed, " says Pikitch,

who initiated the project.

 

The mission of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science is to advance ocean

conservation through science. Established in by a generous multi-year grant

from the Pew Charitable Trusts; the Pew Institute for Ocean Science is a major

program of the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric

Science.