Scuba Diving

SCUBA DIVING NEWS   ::   SCUBALINX   ::   SCUBA FORUM   ::   SCUBA POLL   ::   CYBER DIVER

Scuba Diving NewsScuba Diving CDNNScuba NewsDive Travel NewsScuba Diving Safety NewsEco NewsScuba Industry NewsScience

Dive News :: CDNNScuba Diving NewslettersCDNN Act NowCDNN PhotoCDNN InterviewCDNN Special ReportCDNN EditorialsCDNN ArticlesDestinationsDiver Alert

PAGE ONE :: WORLD NEWS :: ECO

Aussie shark finning up 500 percent

Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network
by SAFFRON HOWDEN

Shark fishing
Although vital to the health of marine ecosystems, many shark species are endangered due to threats from commercial shark fisheries and dive industry-endorsed shark feeders who manipulate sharks with bait for thrill-seeking scuba divers and underwater photographers.

SYDNEY, Australia  (3 Apr 2008) — Australian fishermen caught more than 300 tonnes of shark meat in NSW last year - five times the usual amount, according to confidential government papers obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

Rapidly rising demand across Asia for for the delicacy shark fin soup is believed to be behind the leap.

A confidential Department of Primary Industries document shows the total shark take in the NSW Ocean Trap and Line Fishery up from 60 tonnes. The DPI wants to set a lower yearly limit, but has failed to agree on a quota of 90 tonnes.

Although most fins from sharks in NSW are sold overseas, many Sydney restaurants have shark fin soup on the menu.

Star City's Lotus Pond Chinese restaurant, Kam Fook Seafood Restaurant at Bondi Junction and one of the Gold Coast's Conrad Jupiter restaurants, Zen, all advertise shark fin soup. Prices range from $126.80 to $181.60 per person.

Less than half a kilogram of dried shark fin can fetch more than $300, and a single fin from a basking shark - the second-largest fish species in the world - can sell for $62,000.

It is illegal in Australia to catch and kill sharks simply for their fins - their bodies must be used and can end up as fertiliser on farms or in fish and chip meals.

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW, which spearheads a campaign to develop a sustainable seafood industry, said more than half of the sharks caught in NSW were not identified.

This means threatened species such as hammerheads, makos, wobbegongs and school sharks are being caught.

"The consequences of such a severe increase in shark fishing will be devastating for all marine life if something is not done soon to strictly limit the amount caught," NCC marine conservation officer Giselle Firme said.

SOURCE - The Daily Telegraph

SCUBA FORUM

  • DISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum
  • KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

  • SCUBALINX :: Dive Australia
  • CYBER DIVER TRAVEL GUIDE :: Australia
  • CDNN DESTINATIONS :: Australia
  •  

    ENDANGERED SPECIES - Sharks, Rays, Skates, Sawfish

    (Editors note: This is not a complete list)

    Name: Angular angel shark (Squatina guggenheim).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: western South Atlantic coastal waters from Southern Brazil to Northern Argentina.
    Reasons: bycatch by gillnet and bottom trawling fisheries.

    Name: Barndoor skate (Raja laevis).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: northwest Atlantic.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Other: has been extirpated from large parts of its range in Canadian Atlantic and New England coastal waters

    Name: Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Atlantic, Pacific, Australian and New Zealand coastal waters.
    Reasons: overfishing, bycatch.
    Other: some local populations have declined up to 80 percent.

    Name: Borneo shark (Carcharhinus borneensis).
    Status: critically endangered or already extinct.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Where: Pacific Asian coastal waters.

    Name: Common sawfish (Pristis pristis).
    Status: critically endangered or already extinct.
    Reasons: bycatch.
    Where: Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Seas.
    Other: once common in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, but is now extirpated from Europe waters and the Mediterranean along with all other sawfishes.

    Name: Dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: coastal waters worldwide.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Freshwater sawfish, Great-tooth sawfish (Pristis microdon ).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Indian Ocean and west Pacific coasts, lagoons and estuaries; freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
    Reasons: overfishing, habitat loss and degradation.

    Name: Ganges shark (Glyphis gangeticus).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Ganges-Hooghly river system, India and Pakistan.

    Name: Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: worldwide.

    Name: Green sawfish (Pristis zijsron).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Indian and west Pacific coastal waters and lower reaches of rivers.
    Reasons: overfishing, bycatch.

    Name: Grey nurse shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Australia.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Largetooth sawfish (Pristis perotteti).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Indian Ocean and west Pacific coasts, lagoons and estuaries; freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
    Reasons: overfishing, bycatch, habitat loss and degradation.

    Name: Night shark (Carcharhinus signatus).
    Status: endangered.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Pincushion ray (Urogymnus ukpam).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: coasts, lagoons and estuaries, and freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams of Congo, Gabon, and Nigeria.

    Name: Sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: worldwide.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Other: western Atlantic population has been reduced by 85-90% in just ten years by overfishing.

    Name: Sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Australia.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Silver shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
    Reasons: overfishing.
    Other: a freshwater shark.

    Name: Smalltooth sawfish, Wide sawfish (Pristis pectinata).
    Status: critically endangered.
    Where: Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts, lagoons, and estuaries, and freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers and streams.
    Reasons: overfishing and loss of habitat.
    Other: wholly or nearly extirpated from large areas of its former range in the North Atlantic (Mediterranean, US Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico) and Southwest Atlantic coast.

    Name: Smoothback angel shark (Squatina occulta).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: western south Atlantic shelf waters (Brazil to Uruaguay.
    Reasons: bycatch by gillnet and bottom trawling fisheries.

    Name: Speartooth shark (Glyphis glyphis).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Indo-Pacific coastal waters.
    Reasons: development, overfishing and habitat destruction.

    Name: Spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: temperate oceans worldwide.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Whale shark (Rhincodon typus).
    Status: endangered.
    Reasons: overfishing.

    Name: Whitefin topeshark (Hemitriakis leucoperiptera).
    Status: endangered.
    Where: Philippine coastal waters.
    Reasons: overfishing.

     

    Scuba Diving

    CDNN TOP NEWS STORIES

     

     

       ADVANCED SEARCH

    site map         ::         notice         ::         privacy         ::         about us         ::         faq         ::         my news         ::         advertise         ::         contact

    © 1995 - 2008  CDNN GLOBAL NEWS NETWORK