Sharks

February, 2020

• 5 February

  $1 million worth of shark fins seized at Miami port

  

  U.S. government officials found 1,400 pounds of shark fins worth $1 million hidden in boxes in Miami, Florida, according to CNN. The dried fins arrived from South America and were likely headed to Asia, the AP reported.

January, 2020

• 30 January

  We fear sharks, but humans are the real predators

  

  Greenpeace investigator Sophie Cooke spent a month at sea observing the hidden practices behind many of the deaths of 100 million sharks every year. Read more
• 29 January

  Recreational fishers catching more sharks and rays

  

  A new study by an international team of scientists reveals that recreational catches of these fishes have gradually increased over the last six decades around the world, now accounting for 5-6 per cent of the total catches taken for leisure or pleasure. Read more

September, 2019

• 18 September

  New report finds that almost 600,000 metric tonnes of sharks and rays caught annually by top catchers

  

  A study published yesterday by The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC) details how the world’s top 20 shark and ray catchers and traders account for approximately 80% of the global reported catch, averaged by year from 2007 to 2017. 
• 5 September

  Great white sharks have suddenly disappeared from one of their favorite hangouts

  

  Sightings of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) have crashed this year in False Bay near Cape Town, South Africa—one of the best-known hot spots of the predators in the world—and scientists aren’t sure why.  

August, 2019

• 29 August

  50 tonnes of blacktip sharks end up in fishermen’s nets

  

  According to fishermen, around 100 gillnet boats have caught around 50,000 kilograms of the same species of shark in only two days.  
• 7 August

  Industrial fishing behind plummeting shark numbers

  

  A team of researchers has discovered that sharks are much rarer in habitats nearer large human populations and fish markets. The team also found that the average body size of sharks and other marine predators fell dramatically in these areas, where sharks are caught and killed intensively for their meat …

July, 2019

• 30 July

  Britain exports more than 50 tonnes of shark fins in two years

  

  More than 50 tonnes of shark fins worth hundreds of thousands of pounds have been exported from Britain over the past two years, a Greenpeace UK investigation has revealed.
• 25 July

  Sharks have few places to hide from fishing, study shows

  

  “Tens of millions of these pelagic sharks are being caught by industrialized fisheries in areas where there’s little or no management, and some populations have declined as a result.”
• 14 July

  Illegal fishing, plastic waste could wipe out the Mediterranean’s sharks

  

  Overfishing, illegal practices and plastic pollution threaten to wipe out sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned on Friday.
• 12 July

  Rare shark ends up on dinner tables in Cagayan de Oro village

  

  A rare shark that was entangled in a fisherman’s net off Macabalan Bay in this city last week ended up being slaughtered and eaten by residents, a fisheries official said. 
• 5 July

  Hundreds of sharks and rays tangled in plastic

  

  The study says such entanglement — mostly involving lost or discarded fishing gear — is a “far lesser threat” to sharks and rays than commercial fishing, but the suffering it causes is a major animal welfare concern.