Why love a killer?

Sharks: Wild robot-like killing machines searching the ocean for humans to kill. This is a Hollywood made image that makes it difficult to gain friends or the public opinion in favor of their conservation.

But from more than 400 species of sharks around the world, only six species are dangerous for humans. The remaining hundreds of species do not mean us any harm. There are even sharks that feed on plankton, like the giant whale shark, with up to twelve meters of length being also the biggest fish on the planet. An encounter with this peaceful giant is an experience searched for by many recreational divers around the world.

Many shark attacks have been provoked by humans ignoring the warning behavior of territorial sharks. In unprovoked attacks on humans, sharks many times bite only once. Sharks do not have alternative ways to find out if they caught their favorite prey, they need to take a bite - humans mostly fail the test and are not bitten again.

In the 400 million years sharks existed on earth, they always played an important role in maintaining the ocean's health. Being top predators with hydrodynamic bodies and hypersensitive sensorial systems, they feed mainly on old or ill fish. It is therefore most important to maintain a healthy population of sharks in order to maintain the sustainability and production of other species, many of them being commercial fish species.

The hunted hunter

Sharks reproduce in a slow rhythm. They have to grow several years before reaching maturity and have small numbers of offspring. This is why they are sensitive to over fishing. Nevertheless, on a global level, more than 100 million sharks are caught every year.

In Peru, principally nine species of smooth hounds (Fam. Triakidae) are commercially fished, as well as Blue sharks (Prionace glauca), Shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), Tresher shark (Alopias vulpinus) and hammer head sharks (Sphyrna zygaena). According to official landing statistics, the number of smooth hounds being fished has decreased steadily during the last 20 years, most probably being an indication from severe over-fishing.

Specialists from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned in 1997 that the populations of more than seventy shark species are suffering a sharp decrease and asked for the listing of eleven species of sharks on the Annexes of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species (CITES).

Up to now only three of these species are protected by CITES:

All three species do exist in front of the Peruvian coast in offshore areas.

Sharks are fished with long lines. As the name implies, long-lines consist of one fishing line that can be 15 to a hundred km long. But from this line, which floats on the surface, thousands of lines with hooks and bait reach out 10 to 25 meters vertically into the depth. It is estimated that around the world each year between 3 and 10 billion hooks are set by long-line fishing operations. This fishing method is non-selective and famous for its very high level of bycatch. Not only targeted species, like for example, tuna fish is caught, but all sorts of species that become attracted by the hooks. Each year, an estimated 3,000 marine birds are lost on a global scale. Many of them, like for example the albatross, are in danger of extinction. Other threatened species that fall victim to long-line fishing are marine turtles. The populations of marine turtles have been reduced by ninety percent over the last 20 years.

For long-line fishing boats, sharks are bycatch. The problem is that this bycatch makes up a great part of the total capture. Some studies revealed that up to 48.3 percent of the capture of a long-line ship may consist of blue sharks.

Therefore, in 2003, 405 scientists from 47 countries, together with representatives of 100 conservation groups asked the United Nations to prohibit long-line fishing in international waters.

In Peru, long-line fishing also endangers dolphins as artisan fishermen kill dolphins for bait, a fact never really investigated, but many times confirmed to Mundo Azul field staff by artisan fishermen themselves. A long-line fishing boat may catch between six to nine dolphins per trip.

A new threat to sharks is the growing demand for shark fins on the Asian market. As a consequence, sharks are not just taken off the hook - fishermen cut off their fins and throw them back into the ocean alive, a cruel and devastating practice.

What has to be done in order to protect the sharks?

© Jean Paul Perret

Peru needs to sign international fishing agreements and the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea in order to vote in favor of a moratorium of long-line fishing in international waters until scientific research has developed changes in the design of the hooks making them more selective and safer for endangered species, such as sea turtles and others, guaranteeing the sustainability of fishing.

Equally, the Peruvian government needs to prohibit long-line fishing in the 200 mile zone in front of the Peruvian coast.

Peruvian governmental institutions need to change their policies and attitudes. The Institute of the Peruvian Sea (Instituto del Mar del Peru - IMARPE) should promote marine conservation, as it states publicly in its Vision and in its Mission. It is evident that shark fishing, shark bycatch in the long-line industry and shark fining are depredating the oceans with possible catastrophic consequences for the sharks themselves and the health of the ocean in general. The capture statistics published by the Peruvian government show a clear drop in the shark populations being fished.

Nevertheless, the fishing engineers of IMARPE do promote shark fishing and fining. In the eyes of IMARPE, shark fisheries are underdeveloped and sharks are seen as a future resource to be explored. They base their opinion on experimental fishing operations, organized by the institute's fisheries, scientists show the possibility for a targeted fishing of sharks.

While worldwide concern is growing about the consequences of the cruel shark fining, IMARPE officially promotes on its website, shark fining, because of the fins "high value on the international market".

This promotion of shark fishing is done without any knowledge about the size of the shark population in Peruvian waters, without any analysis of the ecological consequences of such fishing and without any environmental impact analysis. Without this data, it is impossible however to fix fishing quotas or develop a sustainable fisheries. Developing fisheries without basic ecological knowledge is a recipe for depredation.

Calle Enrique del Horme 214 - Lima 18, Perú, Teléfono: (51 1) 447 51 90   |   Contac us