Tiger and Hammerhead Sharks Protected in Florida

This is incredible news!  The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has come to an agreement that three species of hammerhead shark and tiger sharks in Florida waters are illegal to capture and posses.  Both hammerheads and tiger sharks are K-selected species, meaning they are characterized by slow growth, late are of maturity, and low fecundity and therefore the fact that anthropogenic shark mortality will be minimal, hopefully, the protection will aid in the population rejuvination of these species.  Additionally, since most sharks are such an integral part of marine communities and  have a top-down predatory impact within their respective ecosystems, it is likely that this move will also positively impact the health, biodiversity, and spatial distributions of these marine communities. 

Why am I so excited about this protection?

A nightmare to conservationists, Mark the Shark, is responsible for an unbelievable amount of shark mortality in Floridian waters.  Nearly every day (if weather permits and he has clients) he will seek out, catch and kill endangered Great and scalloped hammerhead sharks, as well as many other species.

Here are some examples:

Endangered great hammerhead shark captured and killed by Mark the Shark Chaters.  Copyright  Mark the Shark.

Endangered scalloped hammerhead shark captured and killed by Mark the Shark Charters.  Copyright Mark the Shark. 

Blacktip shark captured and killed by Mark the Shark Charters.  Copyright Mark the Shark.

Treating a shark as a trophy rather than a valuable ecological predator is an issue that continually needs to be addressed.  Although this protection in Floridian waters is a huge success, it is only a start--a tiny change in human behavior which may lead to healthier seas for future generations. 

Western Australia: Shark Cull

For those of you who are not familiar with the current situation in Western Australia, there has been three fatal shark attacks over the past two months.  In response to these attacks, the Western Australian Government is considering:  (1) increasing the shark quota for commercial fishermen, (2) searching for the shark reponsible for the most recent attack, hunting it down, and killing it, (3) installing anti-shark nets, and (4) a shark cull. 

Now let’s take these options and see how much sense they make:

(1)  There is absolutely no evidence that shark populations are increasing in Western Australian waters.  Therefore, increasing the shark quota for commercial fishermen could be disasterous.  Sharks play a fundamental ecological role within our marine ecosystems, so increasing fishing impact may essentially deplete shark populations in Western Australian waters and will have devastating impacts with WA and adjacent marine ecosystems. 

(2)  The idea of hunting down the shark responsible may be the most “bogus” idea i’ve heard in a very long time-well I guess since the movie “Jaws”.  I understand that the shark responsible may have been a fairly large shark; however, there is more than one large shark in our oceans so how in the world do they possibly think they can find the exact shark responsible?  The thought of government officials permitting such behavior is truly saddening and it is hoped that they strongly reconsider their actions/proposed actions. 

(3)  Installing anti-shark nets is an alarming solution.  Anti-shark nets are currently being regularly used in areas such as KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.  These nets are deployed to prevent the potentially harmful interaction between the “unsuspecting beachgoer” and a shark.  Within a given year, shark mortality peaked at 2500 and scientific evidence demonstrates that these nets are responsible for the near elimination of local shark populations where the nets exist.  What does this mean for the local environment?  I think you can figure it out.

Also, in addition to the large amount of shark-related mortality within the nets, these nets are also responsible for a substantial amount of bycatch mortality, such as:  cetaceans, sea turtles, teleosts, rays, etc. 

(4)  Culling sharks in Western Australian waters may perhaps be the worst solution i’ve heard to date.  For those of you who aren’t necessarily familiar with the term culling-it is essentially identical to killing; however, the killing wouldn’t be indiscriminate, it would be selective towards a particular type of criteria.  In the case of Western Australia, sharks that fall under the “large” criteria will be the ones that are culled.  There are currently several petitions that are going around to halt this effort. 

Final Thoughts:

A humans’ false sense of power and dominance is our true problem.  In many cases, we act without thinking and therefore rather than solving the problem, we only amplify it.  In the situation with Western Australia, the killing of large sharks, or implementing beach nets to indiscriminantly kill marine life to keep beachgoers safe, or allowing commercial vessels to kill more sharks, is completely irrational.  Although the attacks occurred, we, as humans, have to understand that we are taking the risk by entering into a sharks environment.  There are a variety of non-violent percautions we can take to minimize the risk of being attacked and it is strongly urged, that these percautions are taken.  Again, the key to a successful life and keeping our planet healthy is keeping the “long term” in mind.  We must think about our consequences and how our actions, now, may impact future generations. 

Best wishes!