Shark Finning maybe legal in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
We are speechless, befuddled… dumbfounded by the Queensland Government proposal, to legitimize one of the most unsustainable forms of fishing on the planet - shark fin fishing, exerts that with over 90% of the world's sharks and other big fish gone from our oceans, this project is unsustainable, unethical and will be flatly rejected by the Australian public. If and when the Queensland Government’s proposal comes into effect, specific fishing licenses for shark fin fishing will be issued, which will entrench the practice for years to come. It will also legitimize shark finning in the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage Area and in the Marine Parks of Moreton Bay and the Great Sandy Straits
Shark finning where the fins are cut of the shark and the carcass is thrown overboard is currently banned in Australia. However, shark fin fishing, where sharks are targeted for their high value fins but their carcasses are kept and sold as low value waste products, continues. Will this help eradicate or stem the demand for shark fins or is this just a poor disguise to fan the demand? The Australian Marine Conservation Society, AMCS reports that during 2000-2004 shark fishing in Queensland increased four-fold with a massive 1240 tonnes of shark being landed in 2004*. The main pressure on sharks in the Great Barrier Reef is fishing, and this pressure is increasing. More than 90% of the commercial shark harvest is taken by the gillnet fishery with the remainder taken by the line and trawl fisheries. However recreational fishers catch and retain a significant number of sharks. Sharks biologically like whales and dolphins. are extremely vulnerable to fishing impacts, for they are slow growing, have extremely low reproductive rates and are mostly long lived. Thus they are very slow to recover from impacts on their populations. Many shark fisheries around the world have collapsed. Sharks are apex predators, helping to control populations of prey species. Consequently, reducing the number of sharks may have significant and unpredictable impacts on the ecosystem.
How does such a proposal arise in an environment and eco-conscious state is very disappointing. It is a stark reminder to the environment conscious that we must remain vigilant; for amidst us remain the unscrupulous and powerful villains who give scant regard to things sacred, waiting for the moment to pursue their pecuniary goals. OG Society invites the world at large to support the call to the Queensland Government to revoke this proposal and commit to a program with fishers to preserve sharks. We strongly encourage anyone who have a passion for sharks to have their say.
Read more on this issue at www.marineconservation.org.au. Better still write your objections to:
East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery RIS Response
Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
GPO Box 46 Brisbane QLD 4001
Fax: 07 3229 8146 Online:
>www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb
*DPI&F Strategic Fisheries Report. This figure does not include discards of sharks or cryptic mortality of sharks and rays (killed by fishing gear but not seen or recorded by fishers).