Shark Conservation
The people's battle against the terrors of the sea And the sharks' fight to surviveShark populations have been hit hard lately. It remains to be seen whether tough new conservation measures will help them recover. - Conniff - In October 1992, a surfer named Rick Gruzinsky was attacked while surfing in Oahu. Only suffered minor scratches. Two weeks later, a shark killed an 18 year old body border off the beaches of Oahu. He bled to death on the beach. Earlier in 1992, also off Oahu, a surfer disappeared leaving behind only a surf board with a huge bite mark. A few months before that, a tiger shark killed a woman by tearing off her limbs while snorkeling, off Maui.An Angry Posse Goes After The Killers - The Fight Against Or For Sharks The public's reaction to these attacks was in part predictable. Parents kept their children out of the water, and the legislature debated "tiger shark eradication," and the tourist industry was scared out of their minds. The state of Hawaii sent out a posse to dispatch any large sharks it could find in areas where the attacks were recorded. The outcry on behalf of the sharks was
Fishermen would catch them by accident frequently, and the sharks were also tearing into the tuna and swordfish in the nets. Gruber states, "In the study of sharks, we are where people who study birds were in 1900. " The impact of over fishing in years past soon became apparent. " There has never been a shark fishery that hasn't crashed. The tearing away at the fish in the nets by the sharks was taking away a good 40% of fishermen's catch. Scientists are still discovering three to five previously unknown species each year. Under the new management plan, American boats will still be allowed to land fins, but they may constitute only 5 percent of the dressed catch, making finning economically impractical. You can't make money with slow growing pelagic fish that you hammer down so they don't have a breeding stock. Smith, one of the great marine scientists of this past century, once wrote: "We must seek to evolve devices that will attract and ruthlessly destroy every shark that comes anywhere near. Recreational "monster fishing" flourished. Sharks weren't underutilized after all, but perilously over fishedThe Image From 'Jaws' Dies Hard - There Was Much Unknown Knowledge - Except for one or two species, basic information is lacking. Now, shark demand was high, especially for the fins. NMFS didn't think the problem of a shark-population crash was real.
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Acceptance Essays
