During a time when sharks are being driven towards extinction, this is amazing news.
New shark discovery off the Galapagos reported David Perlman Wednesday, March 7, 2012
California Academy of Sciences
Bythaelurus giddingsi
The new shark species lives at the bottom of the ocean. In the seas of the world where sharks of all kinds are fast disappearing, a deep-diving San Francisco biologist and his colleagues have discovered a new species of shark among the Galapagos Islands.
With its razor-sharp teeth, the shark is well equipped for its role at the top of the ocean's food web, said John McCosker, the chief of aquatic biology at the California Academy of Sciences who led the discovery. But it's not much like the feared great white: This one is a modest-size bottom-feeder. McCosker, together with Carole C. Baldwin, curator of fishes at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, and Douglas J. Long, a shark specialist at the Oakland Museum, reported on the new species in the latest issue of Zootaxa, an international journal published in New Zealand.
Life on the bottom
The shark is a member of the catshark tribe, a bottom-dwelling sluggish group of fishes with small teeth that are found all over the world, McCosker said. The team has named the new species Bythaelurus giddingsi.
"The closest living relative of this species would be the swellshark, a shallow-water coastal species seen by scuba divers in California," McCosker said. "They spend their life on the bottom and probably feed on other fishes and invertebrates.
"Their teeth are small and sharp and evolved to grasp their prey before engulfing it."
McCosker and Baldwin collected seven small to moderate-size samples of the new shark while diving inside the submersible called the Johnson Sea-Link during an expedition to the Galapagos Islands in 1998 - a long time ago, it may seem.
7 sharks captured
But in the slow-moving ways of animal identification and naming - a science known as taxonomy - the team's detailed description of the new shark species has just been reported. The seven sharks ranged in length from 9 to 18 inches, and were all sexually immature. As McCosker and Baldwin syphoned them aboard the submersible, several sharks swam past appearing much larger and more mature, "either too fast or too large to be collected," McCosker said.
Meticulously analyzed
To determine that the sharks were in fact members of a new species, the scientists carefully measured them, dissected them, analyzed them and described each organ. All seven are now preserved for other scientists at the academy in Golden Gate Park.
Roughly 375 species of sharks exist in the world's oceans, and a new one may not seem all that important, but every shark species around the world is being heavily overfished - primarily to harvest their fins for shark fin soup, a major Asian delicacy. The result, McCosker noted, is a worldwide decline in shark populations.
"Sharks are the top predators of the ocean, and if any one of them goes extinct it can cause the loss of an entire ocean food web, which is why I want to save those primary predators," McCosker said.
Named after a hero
The scientists named the new species for Al Giddings, a retired San Francisco underwater filmmaker who was with McCosker and Baldwin in the Galapagos directing an Imax film for the Smithsonian Institution at the time of the discovery.
Giddings, 74 and a veteran diver now living in Montana, rescued a companion who was badly bitten by a great white shark off the Farallones 40 years ago by diving into the blood-covered water, pulling the injured victim away from the beast's teeth, and towing him to the fishing boat where companions lifted him aboard. The companion survived.
I have always been an optimist in my life. After yesterday's blog, I feel I must also post a positive note.
A lot has happened since I first got involved in the shark finning issue way back in the early 90's. I remember one of our first victories was when we convinced Singapore Airlines to stop serving Shark Fin Soup. Some months later it was the turn of Thai Airways to oblige. Progress was slow but we were getting to the people.
This new video has hit the net. It shows a street in Hong Kong covered with shark fins. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had seen this street before. A quick search revealed that I was right. In 2010, Alex Hoffordfilmed the same street.That video can be seen here.
Fins drying up on a Hong Kong Street. Photo by Alex Hofford.
I am not trying to minimise the importance or the impact of what Gary Stokes has filmed. In fact, it is important that these issues keep coming to light, and the public made aware of them.
When ever something like this makes its way to the media, the question that comes to mind is; How many sharks were killed? It is simply impossible to answer. Whether it is hundreds, thousands or millions we will never know. How can one calculate the numbers?
I tried to do a little experiment with a photo taken from the video released by the Pew Environment Group shown below.
This is a single shark fin fishery in Taiwan. Taiwan ranks as the 4th largest Shark fin trader in the World.
Shark Fins drying up on a roof in Taiwan.
In this photo I counted 176 "trays" of shark fins. Some contain around 20 fins, others as much as 50 or more. I will play it safe and say that each contains 20 fins. That means that here we have over 3,520 fins. If the fins are left out to dry for a week and replaced, than the total of fins in a year will be over 183,000
Lets imagine that in all of Taiwan there are only 25 traders. This would give a total of 4,576000 per year. Considering the fact that Taiwan is only the 4th largest, than Indonesia, India and Spain are catching much more, but for the sake of my argument... lets say they are all equal. 18,304,000 shark fins in one year!!
What about all the other fleets? Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Costa Rican, South African....... etc.... What are the global figures? No one will ever know the truth. Part of that is because a lot of these catches are illegal and do not get reported to fisheries authorities.
Now before I get bombarded, keep in mind that my numbers are just guess work and they are just estimates based on one photo and a little info. There is nothing scientific about my totals. My only aim is to show the vast numbers of sharks that are being killed just for soup. Be it 15, 32, 73 or 100 Million makes not much of a difference when a plate of soup is driving sharks to extinction.
The European Parliament’s work on the Commission’s proposal to close the
loopholes in the EU finning ban has begun in earnest. Here is an update from this week's news that has also just been posted to www.sharkalliance.org
Fisheries and Environment Committees Consider European Commission
Proposal
1 March 2012 BRUSSELS: Shark Alliance representatives were on hand this week as
the European Parliament Fisheries Committee considered and debated
for the first time the European
Commission’s proposal to close major loopholes in the EU ban on shark
finning (slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the body at sea). The
Commission has proposed ending special permits that allow fishermen to cut off
shark fins at sea and land them separately from the bodies, under a derogation
to the overall EU requirement for landing sharks with their fins still naturally
attached. Portugal and Spain are the only EU Member States still issuing these
special permits, a fact that was clearly reflected in the afternoon’s
debate.
Maria do
Céu Patrão Neves Member of European Parliament (MEP) from Portugal started
the discussion in her role as Committee Rapporteur. Despite insisting that she
had an open mind on the matter and was listening to all sides, all of Patrão
Neves’ arguments were based on those offered by the Portuguese and Spanish
long-distance freezer vessels, which make up the EU’s largest shark fishing
fleet. With little supporting documentation or specifics, she cited concerns
about economic hardship, safety, hygiene, and storage to argue against the
proposed “fins naturally attached” policy, and called instead for delay of the
regulation and compromise measures. She questioned the Commission on why they
were moving forward with the proposal, apparently forgetting that she was among
the 423
MEPs to sign in 2010 a Written
Declaration urging the Commission to propose a complete ban on removing
shark fins on board vessels. Patrão Neves was vigorously supported by MEP Carmen
Fraga from Spain, who argued, also without specific figures, against imposing
this “costly measure” that would have “major repercussions” in the future.
MEPs Struan Stevenson (UK), Vice Chair of the Committee, Raül Romeva i
Rueda (Spain), Chris Davies (UK), and a designee for Kriton Arsenis (Greece)
argued adeptly in favor of the Commission’s proposal, casting great doubt on
industry’s arguments based on examples from other countries, while highlighting
the great number of vessels with special permits, the biological vulnerability
of sharks, and the need for the EU to lead rather than lag behind a growing
number of countries effectively imposing fins-attached policies.
A representative from the European Commission reviewed the loopholes
associated with the current regulation, stressed that there were practical
solutions to all concerns raised, as detailed in the Impact Assessment, set the record straight regarding the
number of special permits (approximately 200), and refuted the assertion that
their proposal, which has been years in the making, was “hasty”. Patrão Neves,
however, was “extremely disappointed” with his response, asserted that MEPs were
there to “defend the fishing industry of Europe”, and reiterated her opposition
to the proposal.
Earlier in the day, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee discussed the same
issue, beginning with a draft opinion report from MEP Andrea Zanoni from
Italy that
strongly supported the Commission’s proposal. Zanoni’s report then received
enthusiastic endorsements from all MEPs taking the floor, including MEPs Daciana
Sârbu (Romania), Sandrine Bélier (France), Martin Callanan on behalf of Julie
Girling (UK), and Chris Davies (UK).
The process to amend the EU finning ban will continue to heat up throughout
the spring. In the coming weeks, Maria do Céu Patrão Neves is expected to
release her working document with a proposed compromise for consideration by the
Fisheries Committee. Her draft report as well as an informal document reflecting
the views of the European Council of Fisheries Ministers should become public in
mid-March. Stay tuned to the Shark Alliance website
for updates on this critical process and ways that you can help us achieve a
strong and enforceable EU shark finning ban.
