Sharks Under Pressure
Additional Galleries
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Sharks Under Pressure
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Additional Galleries
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| Long line fishing kills thousands of sharks a year even when they are not targeted. This photograph is of a Caribbean reef shark with its jaw broken by a long line. | ||
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| These are basking shark fins and a mako shark head from a restaurant in Tokyo that specializes in shark fin soup. Shark populations have been decimated to fill the demand for shark fin soup and products such as shark cartilage tablets. When diving off North Carolina in the '80s, I used to see the dorsal fins of dusky sharks rather frequently. I do not see them anymore. Shark divers actually have few places they can travel around the world to reliably see sharks. | ||
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| The Bahamas calculated that each of their reef sharks is worth $120,000 to the local economy alive. This gives them some measure of protection. However, numerous sharks had hooks in their mouths and bodies from long lines. The top shark in this photo has three long line hooks down the length of its body. | ||
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| This shark is actually lucky. Being hooked by a long line restricts a shark's movements. Sharks need to move to breathe. If a shark stays on a long line too long, it tires and drowns. Being that long lines are left adrift for extended periods of time, the long line that hooked this shark probably drowned many other members of its species. | ||
| Copyright (c) 2008 - Robert Cantrell
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