Sharks are recognized as some of the most robust creatures on Earth. Not only have they existed in a similar way for over 300 million years and have survived multiple extinction events across the planet, but sharks have evolved to be able to repair their own DNA, making them extremely resistant to cancers.
However, humanity can finally drop these ancient predators that have become a symbol of ferocity in our culture. As a result of human intervention, the iconic fish is “functionally extinct” in about one in five of the reefs analyzed worldwide in a recent study.
“We did not see sharks in nearly 20% of the reefs surveyed,” write the authors, who conducted the study as part of the Global FinPrint organization and published their article in Nature. “Reef sharks were almost completely absent from reefs in various nations, and shark depletion was strongly related to socioeconomic conditions, such as the size and proximity of the nearest market, poor governance, and population density human “.
The authors state that the problem of shark depletion is directly related to overfishing, both accidental and for those who try to make money from intentional shark meat, and they proposed a series of measures that could remedy the situation. This includes setting catch limits, creating shark sanctuaries, and discouraging the use of gillnets and longlines. The authors found that in areas where these policies had been implemented, there was a significantly higher percentage of reef sharks.
“These results reveal several policy pathways for restoration and management of reef shark populations, from direct top-down management of fisheries to indirect improvement of governance conditions,” the authors wrote. “Reef shark populations will only have a high probability of recovery by involving key socio-economic aspects of tropical fisheries.”
Professor Colin Simpfendorfer from James Cook University, who worked on the study, told his university newspaper that he was encouraged by the fact that Australia, where James Cook University is located, has sound policies to protect sharks.
“We are there alongside nations such as the Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia and the United States. These nations reflect key attributes that were associated with higher shark populations: being generally well governed and banning or managing shark fishing. solid and science-based that limits the number of sharks that can be caught, “Simpfendorfer explained.
Jody Allen, co-founder and president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation that supported the Global FinPrint project, promoted the study to the newspaper saying: “Data collected from the world’s first survey of sharks in coral reefs may guide plans for significant long-term conservation to protect the remaining reef sharks. “
Another researcher, Damian Chapman, told CBS News that this is a “crisis” involving “functional extinction” for sharks that would normally live near reefs that currently do not have sharks. He argued that this is not just bad news for sharks. His co-researcher Mike Heithaus noted that “you might think, ‘hey, let’s kill the predators, they eat fish so we can have more fish,’ but it doesn’t really work that way.” He argued that scientists are seeing “that you need to have healthy populations of sharks, you need to have healthy reefs, and that will ultimately help people as well.”
Salon contacted Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Shark Research Program and curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History, to reflect on the implications.
“In many ways, sharks can be considered ‘sentinel species’ that reflect ecosystem health more than anything, and we have long known that there has been intense overfishing and habitat destruction in many parts of the world,” said Naylor to Salon by email. “So the absence of sharks on the identified reefs is further evidence of the alarming trend that has been ongoing for the past 50 years.”
When asked about the possible impact on humans, Naylor said that “in the short term it will have consequences for the availability of proteins (derived from fish) worldwide … This will have serious effects in countries that depend on marine fish. ” as a food resource. In the long term, it is likely to result in a steady state adjustment of the ocean web food web dynamics that will affect the ratios of predators to prey that can affect the growth of algae, dinoflagellates and our climate. “
Overfishing is not the only threat that sharks face. The 1975 creature features “Jaws,” which depicts a great white shark while terrorizing a small New England community, fueled anti-shark sentiment in ways that have influenced public policy. In Western Australia, the government implemented a policy of catching and killing sharks that swim within three nautical miles of the coast to allegedly thwart “rebel sharks”, a policy that many critics seemed inspired by misconceptions about sharks popularized in the Steven Spielberg. classic. In fact, most shark attacks on humans (which are rare) are defensive or accidental, and there is no evidence that sharks commonly return to shorelines to attack people.
“My position is that there is no government decision that is going to stop a shark bite,” said Christopher Neff, professor of public policy at the University of Sydney in Salon in 2014. “I always say that these are the decisions you make. not the decisions that governments make, that will determine their level of risk. Second, any policy should be based on the assumption that it shares the ocean with sharks. In the United States, we have to “swim at your own risk “The ocean is wild; it is not a pool.”
