Painted as predatory, blood-thirsty creatures in headlines and horror films, sharks are one of the world's most misrepresented creatures.
Now they're in trouble of being lost from our oceans forever.
Shark Pledge
More than 7000 people have signed our shark pledge. Click here to sign the pledge and support a ban on finning in NZ
Pre-dating dinosaurs, sharks have swum through our waters for more than 400 million years and have evolved not just five senses, but seven.
Sharks have an incredibly highly developed sense of smell and night vision that rivals cats - and a reputation among divers as being remarkably shy.
They are so sensitive to electric fields that some scientists believe that they can detect the Earth’s magnetic field, and they use this to navigate during long migrations.
Long-lived and slow to mature and breed, these ancient creatures are incredibly vulnerable to over-fishing. Over the last 10 years or so, shark fishing has increased dramatically, largely because their fins are a prized ingredient in shark fin soup.
Finning - stripping a dead shark of its fins and dumping its body - is banned in several countries, including Australia, the EU, the USA, South Africa, Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil. However finning is still legal in New Zealand waters.
Once stripped from the body of the shark, fins are lightweight, compact and highly lucrative (fins can reach $US700 per kilo), making them a very attractive by-catch.
It is estimated that 100 million sharks are killed each year worldwide – in the time it takes you to read this article more than 1800 sharks will have been killed.
The New Zealand situation – why is finning still allowed?
New Zealand has 112 species of shark recorded in our waters. Of these 79 species are known to be caught in our fisheries, including 28 that are listed as threatened by the
World Conservation Union (IUCN). Only one threatened shark species – the Great White Shark – is protected in New Zealand.
On average 24,000 tonnes of shark are caught each year in New Zealand (Ministry of Fisheries figures) - the equivalent of 300,000 people.
Most of the shark species landed in our fisheries are used for their meat. And to avoid waste, the fins of some species are used. However, seven percent of all sharks landed are taken just for their fins according to Ministry of Fisheries data. A further 1% are taken just for their livers – to extract liver oil.
Finning live sharks is illegal in New Zealand under the Animal Welfare Act, but if the shark is dead it is legal.
Finned carpet sharks that were found in the Marlborough Sounds, photo courtesy of the Ministry of Fisheries
Anecdotal reports suggest that shark fins are an increasingly common target among commercial fishers because of soaring demand and prices for the fins, and recent newspaper reports indicate that live finning (video) occurs in New Zealand waters, even though this practice is illegal.
In October 2007 the Ministry of Fisheries released a draft National Plan of Action for sharks. Calls to ban the practise of finning in New Zealand were made by Forest & Bird, other Environmental NGOs, leading shark scientists, the NZ Recreational Fishing Association, the Big Game Fishing Council, chefs, food critics and thousands of New Zealanders outraged that we condone such a practise.
Despite our efforts in October 2008, the 5 year NPOA-Sharks was signed off by the outgoing government condoning the practise of shark finning.
Sharks - we don’t know enough
The Ministry of Fisheries has good records on the population figures of only three shark species, despite the fact 79 species are caught in our fisheries.
Claims that our fisheries Quota Management System are sufficient to protect shark stocks are therefore clearly unjustified. With such a lack of data it is hard to determine the degree of damage we are inflicting on our shark populations and what levels of action are needed to protect them.
However, data on recent by-catch numbers and anecdotal reports form recreational and game fishers suggest that shark populations are declining.
Keep our sharks in our oceans and out of the soup
As the guardians of a sea area that is more than 15 times bigger than New Zealand’s land mass, New Zealanders have an international obligation to protect sharks from extinction, and prevent the inevitable ecological disruption that will be created if these ancient creatures are wiped out.
To stop the decimation of our shark population Forest & Bird believes we must follow South Africa, the USA, the EU and others and make it mandatory that sharks be landed whole as a disincentive to stop the lucrative and wasteful business of shark finning.
STOP SHARK FINNING
So that:
• Any sharks taken must be landed with the whole carcass.*
* Forest & Bird supports some processing (bleeding and gutting) at sea to prevent ammoniation of the flesh of some shark species.
For Forest & Bird's full position on shark finning - click here
