Mediterranean Hammerhead shark population fallen by 99.99%
June 13, 2008
Conservationists have examined historical fishing records which show that sharks in the Mediterranean Sea have suffered dramatic declines in the past few decades due to overfishing.
The scalloped hammerhead shark. A team of scientists at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, examined fishery logbooks that chart the demise of several shark species. The records show hammerheads all but vanished from coastal waters in 1900, and have barely been spotted in the open sea for 20 years. They say the hammerhead population has fallen 99.99% in 200 years.
Some thresher shark species have dwindled by more than 99%, according to the fishing records examined by conservationists.
Records from long-line fisheries suggest a 99.99% fall in mackerel sharks. The typical size of sharks caught in the Mediterranean is among the lowest in the world, indicating that more young sharks are being caught.
Since the mid-1950s blue sharks have declined by 96.5%.
Conservation groups fear that without strict catch limits on sharks, many of the 47 species in the Mediterranean will soon become locally extinct.
From the Guardian.co.uk: See slideshow story
Yangtze turtles on the very edge of extinction
June 2, 2008
With only three males and a single female left in the world, a team of experts is battling to save a species on the edge of extinction.
He nudged her gently. She nuzzled him back. And, almost as one, the dozen herpetologists, vets, conservationists and zoo officials who were gathered around the enclosure let out a sigh of relief.
He may be 100 years old and she a sprightly 80, but all hope for one of the most critically endangered species on the planet, the Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle, is vested in them. Nature must take its course and, say scientists, the first signs are more than encouraging.
Only four Yangtze turtles are known to exist. Three are male – one in a zoo in Suzhou in China’s Jiangsu province, one in Vietnam’s famous Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi, and another in the wild in a lake east of Hanoi.
Until recently there was no known female. Barring a miracle, the species was to die out, mirroring the destiny of Lonesome George, the sole survivor of the Galápagos’s Pinta Island tortoises.
From the Guardian.co.uk: Read more
Seahorses living in the Thames
April 7, 2008
The discovery of a colony of short-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus) living in the Thames means that the London river is becoming cleaner, conservationists said today.
Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have discovered five seahorses during routine conservation surveys in the Thames estuary in the past 18 months, evidence which they say indicates that a breeding population exists.
The rare species, which is normally found in the Mediterranean and Canary Islands and also along the south coast of England, has been found at Dagenham in east London and Tilbury and Southend in Essex. The sea creatures thrive in shallow, muddy waters, estuaries or seagrass beds.
Scientists at the ZSL say the presence of the seahorses in the Thames estuary is a good sign that river quality is improving, but warned that any disturbance to their habitats could be disastrous.
The presence of a breeding population has been kept quiet to date as the species was not protected, the zoo said. But last month, the short-snouted and spiny seahorses, along with the water vole, angel shark and Roman snail, became the latest species to gain legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
From The Guardian: Read more
Hammerhead in need of protection
March 14, 2008
Over-fishing and demand for shark fins, an expensive delicacy, have pushed one of the world’s iconic animals towards the brink of extinction, say experts.
The scalloped hammerhead shark is to be added to the official endangered species list this year, under the heading “globally endangered”.
Their plight has been discussed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.
It was told that enforcement of marine reserves would aid shark protection.
The observation takes account of new research that shows hammerhead and great white sharks patrol fixed routes in the ocean, gathering at hotspots to mate or feed.
Dr Julia Baum, a marine ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US, and a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), said excessive fishing was putting many of the ocean’s “most majestic predators” at risk of extinction.
Speaking at the Boston meeting, she said: “Sharks evolved 400 million years ago, and we could now lose some species in the next few decades – so that would be just a blink of an eye in evolutionary time.”
She said conservation concern for sharks had been mounting for several years, and it was now critical that there was effective management action in order to restore and conserve their numbers.
Russia: Archangel bloody seal pup cull halted
March 13, 2008
The blood of baby seals stains the snow red during the traditional cull in the Archangel region of northern Russia each March. But the slaughter of thousands of seals, many only a few days old, has been halted this year amid protests by celebrities and environmental groups, and calls for hunting to be outlawed.
Officials in Archangel insisted that the cull had been cancelled to protect the hunters, not the seals, because ice sheets close to the White Sea were too thin to walk on.
The decision, however, came at a time of heightened protests by animal rights groups. Russian television broadcast a demonstration in Archangel by a group of celebrities and prominent journalists against the practice.
Hunters were shown clubbing baby seals with ice picks, leaving them to bleed to death before they were skinned for their white fur. One report showed a seal struggling for life in icy water surrounded by its own blood.
