Soon, gone also will be the days of slashing shark fins off the backs of sharks just to add texture to chicken soup - hopefully because of wise conservation efforts.
Concerning conservation efforts, you shouldn’t hold your breath, at least according to ‘song for the blue ocean’ by Carl Safina. (The book comes highly recommended: see ‘Read This’, side margin).
Safina writes, “The U.N. reports that the “tragedy of sharks” is that, while their valuable fins make them targets, sharks contribute so little economically compared to other fishes that their research and management is a low priority, even if shark populations are depleted. This means “little hope for viable management consistent with both economic and conservation interests.”
In other words, as sharks grow more valuable as a commodity we will kill them faster, likely until it is too late to save them as a species.
“Heavy fishing exerts so unnatural a pressure, such high mortality in the face of such slow reproduction (sharks are a late-maturing fish; some bear only a few young per young), that sharks are simply unequipped by evolution to withstand it.
“In almost all cases where sharks have been targeted by commercial fisheries, they have been depleted within a few years, yet global shark fishing and trade are expanding virtually unregulated and uncontrolled... people also catch sharks for skins that can be tanned into valuable leather, for oils, and for cartilage used to make the bogus “anti-cancer” pills now sold in many Western countries.
“Because of this, shark populations in most areas of the globe have declined rapidly.” (pg. 402)
As I read ‘song for the blue ocean’ the list of animal extinctions depletions, on land and in water, grew longer.
Codfish, shark, reef fish, salmon, tuna, whale, and so on.
Fortunately, the song held a few positive notes.
Sustainable practices, sometimes against overwhelming odds, have taken hold in various regions of the world, though the grip of such practices is tenuous at best.
Again, I recommend the book. (I found two copies at Chapters before Christmas for $5.99.) With each page the “live small” philosophy is encouraged.
Live small. Live simply. Love your neighbour. Maintain a sense of humour.
Reduce spending. Pay down debts. Save money for tough times ahead.
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Please click here to read Live Small Pt. 3.
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