Very Bad News

[shellbackdiver1]

The fisherman are not going to stop catching these animals as long as the demand is there. Even with regulations local/international mean almost nothing in the idustry. As much as anyone can try its not going to stop. Sure you can isolate an area for awhile but shortly after you turn you back your efforts are out the window.

Then there is the education plan. Why bother? I speak from living in one of the centers of the world where sharks are eaten all the time. The people know how the rest of the world feels about this....the simply fact is they don't care.

One shop in the south part of Taiwan where most of the diving takes place has at least one fresh dead shark on a table of ice outside the shop everyday. Thousands of people walk buy it as they are shopping. Most of the time its a hammerhead. Guess what...its a main attraction for teens and early twenty crowd to get there picture taken with it. After the picture they go inside and eat. I complained to the shop owner about the advertisment tactic....she told me go tell it to the big long of people waiting outside to eat.

You need another solution. Is it possible to farm sharks, flood the market with product to put the fishermen out of business? Sounds good but then again I think it is safe to say most of the fishermen in the business are part of crime organizations. The bosses would never allow this to happen.

When most on this board are one side of the world its easy to talk. What i'm trying to say is the problem is much deeper then people may think.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Ohhh I know

Where i am they have shark on most of the menus I DO understand the problems, sharks are caught here every day

 

[jbichsel]

Shark finning has been illegal in US waters since 2000.

Murder, robbery, arson, rape, burglary, drinking while driving, speeding, etc have been illegal all over the world for much longer, yet it still happens.

Just because there is a law against it doesn't mean it won't happen.

 

[jbichsel]

Going back to what I said before: It's also in the method of education. Too many conservation society's out there focus too much on law and pointing the finger. Which is such a useless way of educating anything. Time and time again throughout life that is proven.

Instead of telling people that they need to stop killing things, we need to teach them to practice restraint and limitations; because you'll NEVER break a cultural barrier. By the time you do, it'll be too late. So you tell them; if they want to continue their practice, they need to limit themselves to preserve them for the future.

Not tell them: stop killing the sharks, they're all gonna die and the oceans will die.

Not everyone in this world has the same grasp to what the oceans and their importance as fellow divers.

Good point. It's kind of like explaining why hunting big game animals in North America is necesssary to control population today. It is a management tool as well as providing food for my family. Without the natural predators and unlimited territory to roam, deer, elk, antelope, bison, caribou would become overpopulated, diseased, inbread and eventually suffer severe declines in population.

Conservation and management is key.