Bleeding the Oceans Dry - WildAid

T h e d e c l i n e o f s h a r k p o p u l a t i o n sPacificA recent study of reef sharks onthe Great Barrier Reef foundthat immediate and substantialreductions in the fishing ofboth reef and pelagic sharkswas necessary to prevent theirecological extinction 56 . Itrecommended that the threatstatus for whitetip and grey reefsharks be upgraded.Marine reserves off thecoast of Central and SouthAmerica are literally besiegedby shark finning operations.The fact that foreign vesselstravel large distances and risklegal action rather than fishlegally off the coast is probablyan indicator of coastal stockcrashes. Cocos Islands off CostaRica is routinely surroundedby longline vessels that enterthe reserve at night layingspecially disguised longlines topoach sharks. Major finningoperations have been seen inMexico’s Revilligigedos Islands,Panama’s Coiba and Columbia’sMalpelo.Since 1994 shark fishinghas been prohibited in theGalapagos Marine Reserve(GMR), but every year it isestimated some 12,000 sharksare poached for their fins in theGMR. In 2007, an investigationwith the EcuadorianEnvironmental Police led to theseizure of more than 19,000shark fins 57 . This poaching iscarried out by a small numberof locals, who coordinate withlarger vessels moored outsidethe GMR which then transportthe fins to the continent, Peruor to Asia. Large scale fishinghas been identified as the singlegreatest threat to the GMR,and yet there is still pressurefrom domestic and foreignfishing interests to legalizeshark fishing 58 . This pressurewas likely a contributing factorto the 2007 amendment madeto the national ban, legalisingthe sale and export of sharkmeat and fins caught asaccidental bycatch. Finning isalso a problem for other marineprotected reserves (MPAs) inthe region. Costa Rica, Panamaand Colombia also strugglewith a lack of resources andmeans of efficiently patrolling.In Costa Rica, sharks can still belanded at private docks whereauthorities are not permitted toenter.A number of shark fisheriesin the Pacific have collapsed asa result of severe populationdepletion. The gillnet fishery offsouthern California, USA, forthe Pacific angel shark initiallyexperienced an upwards trendsin landings in the 1980s, butcurrently is closed until furthernotice 59 . Similarly, commercialand recreational fishing of thesevengill shark off California hasbeen effectively terminated 51 .Indonesia is currently theworld’s top shark fishingcountry, catching nearly 117,000tons in 2007 29 . Bali, Kupang andSurabaya are leading centres ofshark finning and trading, andthe majority of business donewith traders in Hong Kong,Singapore and Taiwan 60 . Surveysconducted in selected fishingvillages indicate that the fintrade in Indonesia is booming,totally uncontrolled andpredominantly controlled bymafia-style organizations 61 .Indian OceanThe Chagos Archipelago, inthe central Indian Ocean, hassuffered the severe effects ofboth legal and illegal fishingactivities; with an estimatedAbove: Reef sharkson the GreatBarrier Reef areso depleted innumbers that theyare approachingecological extinction.86% decline in shark abundancebetween the 1970s and1990s 61 . The silvertip sharkhas experienced the greatestdeclines of the five mostabundant species observed inthe area. The decrease in sharknumbers is attributed to arapid intensification of fishingefforts in the surroundingwaters by Mauritian and SriLankan fishermen. In the1980s, an agreement betweenthe governments of Britain andMauritius enabled Mauritianreef fishermen to operate inthe archipelago under licencetargetting finfish, but likelycatching sharks as bycatch.Meanwhile, Sri Lankan vesselsoperate in the water illegallyto meet the local demand forshark meat and to export fins.A number of illegal vessels havebeen caught by British IndianOcean Territory (BIOT) fisheriespatrol vessels 62 .The annual production ofshark, skates and rays in Indiais around 70,000 tons, over4% of the total marine fishlandings 4 . The whale sharkhas become a regular fisheryin successive years off Gujaratcoast for its meat, fins, liver,skin and cartilage. More thana thousand whale sharks werehunted off the Saurashtra coastduring 1998 62 . Sharks are mainlycaught for their fins, and theseare mainly exported to otherAsian countries. In 2001, theGovernment of India passedlegislation prohibiting thefishing of all elasmobranches,but this was repealed later in theyear 4 .© Rob Stewart/Sharkwater.comb l e e d i n g t h e o c e a n s d r y 2 1