At 20% Of The World's Coral Reefs, Sharks Are Already Functionally Extinct (Overfishing)

[hatrack]

Destructive and unsustainable fishing has caused a crash in shark numbers across many of the world’s coral reefs, upsetting the ecological balance of the critical marine ecosystems, a major study has found.

A network of remote underwater cameras across 58 countries found sharks were “functionally extinct” at almost one in five of the 371 reefs studied over four years. The loss of sharks was putting further pressure on coral reefs around the world that were already under threat from global heating, scientists said.

Shark numbers were lowest on 69 reefs surveyed in the Dominican Republic, the French West Indies, Kenya, Vietnam, the Windward Dutch Antilles and Qatar, where just three sharks were seen during 800 hours of footage. Across four regions – the Indo-Pacific, Pacific, the western Atlantic and the western Indian Ocean – the nations with the highest numbers of sharks included Australia, the Bahamas, the Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia, the Maldives and the United States.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), a partner in the research published in Nature, said the study revealed a previously undocumented global decline in sharks on reefs.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/23/sharks-functionally-extinct-at-20-of-worlds-coral-reefs-as-fishing-drives-global-decline

[John Drake]

1. There are certain "cultures" who value the inhumane practice

Of shark finning.

Shark finning entails cutting off a shark’s fin, often while the shark is still alive, and dumping the animal back into the sea to die slowly. The fins are used for shark fin soup, an East Asian dish associated with wealth and festivity. In reality, shark fin soup is nothing to celebrate.

Wealth festivity and bigger boners.
"Culture"!

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https://www.hsi.org/issues/shark-finning/

[hatrack]

2. Fuck. Chinese. Traditional. "Medicine".

That is all.

[Mickju]

3. Totally agree!