Sharks - Selachimorpha

What makes a fish a shark?

-cartilaginous skeleton (not at strong as bone, the structure in your ears and nose),

-five to seven gill slits behind the eyes/head,

-pointy pectoral fins which are separated from the head.

There is said to be more than 470 species of shark lurking in the oceans today, some of which have been ruling the ocean for 420 million years and 200 of the 470 species are in critical danger of extinction.

Of these 470 species, there are some which grow up to around 12 metres in length (Whale Shark), and the smallest only 17 centimetres (Dwarf Lanternshark).

TEETH:

Shark's teeth grow in rows and are only attached to their gums, when time for replacement, they move forwards in a conveyor like way towards the opening of their mouth. Some sharks will lose up to 30,000 teeth in their life time.

JAWS:

Sharks jaws are not attached to the rest of their cartilage. This comes in handy for Great Whites when biting their prey. They can push their jaw forwards, almost as far as their nose, to grab their prey. As shown in this picture:

FINS:

Sharks usually have 8 fins altogether. These fins mean that the sharks can only swim forwards. If met with an object face on, the shark has to drift away, not swim backwards.

Without fins sharks cannot swim. They propel movement, keep balance and steer direction.

The Mako shark is the fastest shark and can swim up to 50kph.

Sharks have been given a sinister image due to the movie "Jaws" and their inhumane appearance of which we can't find a way to relate to or understand.

This fact seems to make people less worried about the population numbers and lives of sharks, and more accepting of the huge wastage and mass murder these organisms are facing.

In reality more people are killed by hippopotamuses than sharks each year. 3,000 Hippo attacks and only 6 Shark.

The largest threat to sharks is us, mankind, if you've ever paid for shark fin soup, that's your choice but just know that you're supporting the possible extinction and may want to re-think what you order next time you're in your fave asian restaurant.

Many Shark fisheries will catch the sharks and slice off their fins while they're still alive, to then throw away the remaining 98% of alive shark back into the sea. They do this because;

1. The body of a shark is not a delicacy or great to eat,

2. It saves precious time not killing the animals,

3. Less fuel is needed to transport the fins back than the heavy bodies of the sharks and

4. They can store more fins on the fishing vessel.

This practise is illegal in 98 countries around the world including Australia, U.S, Canada, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, European Union, Guam, Guatemala and Belize.

On the other hand, shark finning is still legal in New Zealand as long as the sharks are killed before having their fins removed.
People haven't stuck to this law though, and this is video evidence that live shark finning took place in the Marlborough Sounds (Shark Finning Marlborough).

Around 24,000 tonnes (the same as 300,000 people) of shark meat are taken from New Zealand waters every year. More than 100 million sharks are caught around the world every year. 

2 species of shark, (of the 115) in New Zealand waters, are protected. They are the Great White and Basking.

Why fin sharks?

It's not the New Zealand people that are demanding these fins, it's south-east asian countries that use it in their shark-fin soup. 1 kilogram of shark fins exported from New Zealand can sell for up to $1200, and annually we make around $4.5 million from this practice.

The main reasons nothing has been done to stop this in New Zealand is firstly because the government won't see a problem if huge money is involved, and secondly because nobody knows enough about sharks to know how many there are, were and are dying. Population numbers are just guessed, so it's hard for conservation to know if urgent protection is needed.

On sunday the 10th November, the government proposed that Shark Finning is banned in New Zealand waters, but this proposal won't take effect for at least another 2 years. No one knows if the population numbers can hold up until then, as the fishing numbers are increasing rapidly.

If you have a minute and disagree with shark finning in New Zealand fill out Green Peace's submission to stop it immediately.

(Submission)

Thanks fellas.