Check out this clip from Discovery Networks. Apex predators serve useful functions in ecosystems and should not be overfished. Currently dozens of shark species are being killed at unsustainable rates. Countries should stop doing this.
We need to stop overfishing the oceans.
| Share | | Randall Parker, 2010 July 27 05:20 PM Trends Extinction |
Yep. But we won't. It's pretty depressing.
Kill 'em all! Let G-d sort 'em out!
why do these envirowackos always have to back up their claims with absurd distortions?!does anyone realy believe that 250000 sharks are killed each day?(that's more than 9 billion ayear,a helluva of lot of soup)don't they realize that they could advance their cause a lot more with sticking to the truth.
does anyone realy believe that 250000 sharks are killed each day?(that's more than 9 billion ayear,a helluva of lot of soup)
250,000 * 365 = 91,250,000 a year), not 9 billion. You're off by 2 orders of magnitude. Ninety-one million is still a very big number. I'd like to see some support for that claim.
This links says 100 million sharks are killed each year:
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/shark-fishing.htm
This link says that between 23 and 76 million sharks are killed each year for their fins (so doesn't include bycatch). It estimates that the median number of sharks killed each year for their fins is 38 million. The article is worth reading, because it describes how the researchers came to their estimated range of annual numbers of sharks killed for shark fin soup. The source is a 2006 paper in Ecology Letters:
The decimation of the shark population is why the Humboldt Squid population has exploded out of its traditional Baja range and can now be found as far north as Alaska, feeding on salmon, crab, shrimp and other traditionally harvested fisheries. It would help if fishermen targeted the Humboldt squid, but it's not yet in significant demand by the market. Personally I like eating it, but its a bit chewy for most people.
What nonsense. So what if sharks disappear? Another top predator will take over. Is this article claiming that only sharks can sustain an ecosystem? Does this fellow not believe in evolution? What happened to survival of the fittest? No, now it's "let's protect a shark and who cares about the fishes?". All natural systems include Man. Man's actions are as much a part of the ecosystem as anything else. Natural selection includes man's preferences, even the preference for shark fin soup at a wedding.
I'm confused. If we're killing all the sharks, doesn't that make us the apex predator? What's the problem, again?
Which sharks are we talking about? Great White? Hammerhead? Cookiecutter? Sleeper Sharks? Bramble Sharks? New Zealand Lanternshark? Dogfish? Sawsharks? Whalesharks?
Robert Speirs,
Yes, man's actions are part of the ecosystem. We are incredibly powerful omnivores. We are capable of wiping out lots of other species and have already done so. We are on course to wipe out a lot more other species.
Not all our species wipe-outs are benign in their effects on us.
Render,
As Mike and I have already explained, some of the changes that come as a result of killing sharks are harmful to our own interests.
Mike H.
Off of South Africa blue sharks, shortfin makoes, and dog sharks are caught the most
WWF says an estimated 6.6 million open-ocean sharks are inadvertently caught there each year, mostly blue sharks but also the shortfin mako shark. In addition, fishers catch some 1.2 million coastal sharks, mainly dog sharks, each year.
But in other regions other shark species are killed.
As of 2006 basking, whale, and great white were listed as endangered.
@Robert Speirs
If sharks are eradicated to the point of extinction then nature is going to bite us on the ass. Here's an example of what could happen, if all of the sharks on the planet died out, then fish population(essentially their prey) would reproduce in rapid amounts. No other predator could handle it. Density dependent factors such as sickness and starvation would spread amongst those fish. But the bigger concern would be that plankton(the base of the entire food-chain in the ocean) eventually plankton could possibly share the same fate as the sharks and thus become extinct. Then what do their predators use as food? The answer is nothing, they'll die out and their predators would die out and so on. All leading up to people, particularly those who live in poor countries and depend on fish as a main food source would starve to death.
Thank you for your time
Robert Speirs said at July 29, 2010 7:30 PM:
What nonsense. So what if sharks disappear? Another top predator will take over. Is this article claiming that only sharks can sustain an ecosystem? Does this fellow not believe in evolution? What happened to survival of the fittest? No, now it's "let's protect a shark and who cares about the fishes?". All natural systems include Man. Man's actions are as much a part of the ecosystem as anything else. Natural selection includes man's preferences, even the preference for shark fin soup at a wedding.
EVOLUTION is a natural selection - there is nothing natural about the way the human race rapes the earth and her oceans
How is this nonsense? The more animals we kill off, the more we are killing ourselves, after sharks... whales.. dolphins.. seals.. what has the marine wildlife done do deserve any of this? Nothing, they are a part of our ecosystem and they are not here for us to wipe off the charts. Stop being heartless, if its all about being selfish these days, then why are you trying to kill yourself? Cause in the lond run, that is what WILL happen.
What nonsense. So what if sharks disappear? Another top predator will take over.
What top predator? IF you dont count 10 % of squids, sharks are the ONLY large predator in the ocean!
I think that another top predator will take over. I just don't think that I will be able to wait around long enough for it to evolve...
Even though some sharks may seen like killers to us because of previous attacks doesn't mean we have to hate them. They only bite us because of mistakened identity. For example surfers wear swim suits and they are brightly colored, under water fishes comes in different colors too so when the shark looks up from the waters he/she might think it's a fish. Also sharks hate human flesh they only like fish.
Serial Killers are the real Apex Predator.