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European sharks are in trouble

^{Sweetie, can you hear the theme song of Jaws in your head. Photo: Sea Life.}

The Sea Life staff introduce us to the biggest shark in Sea Life named Mussukka (Sweetie, in English). Its Latin name is Stegostoma fasciatum, and in English it is know as either Leopard Shark, or a bit confusingly Zebra Shark, despite of its appearance.

Sea Life’s exhibition manager Jouni Jaakkola tells us that Mussukka seems to like to bond with people when they occasionally dive into the shark tank for maintenance purposes. According to Jaakkola, Mussukka doesn’t even seem to mind patting, so there goes the misconception that all sharks are vicious beings.

Mussukka seems to be doing well in its tank, but in order for it to reproduce it would need, in addition to a mate, a bigger aquarium, the size of a million litres.

Sea Life’s sharks, ten different species of them in total, are popular and interesting to observe. Unfortunately, sharks in their natural habitats are suffering from poor image, low value, low priority, and lack of public support, says Policy Director for the Shark Alliance, Sonja Fordham, who was also visiting Sea Life on Friday.

The Shark Alliance is a global, non-profit coalition of non-governmental organizations dedicated to restoring and conserving shark populations by improving shark conservation policies.

You would think that we’d value the sharks that have evolved during 400 million years, and adjusted to changes since the time of the dinosaurs unlike almost all other species with such a long history.

The reality is that the value of sharks often equals the value of their fins in the global market. The fins are used for shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese delicacy. The fin soup is also the sign of prosperous life, so the demand for shark fins increases with relation to the economic boom in China.

The real value of sharks is their role in the marine ecosystems. However, they are extremely vulnerable for overfishing because they grow slowly, mature late, and have long pregnancies.

Fishing for fins

There are about 130 different shark species in the European waters, about a third of them endangered. The overall amount of different shark species across the globe is almost 400.

A substantial amount of the shark catch is incidental, but sharks are also targeted on purpose, even though their meat is not particularly valuable, and therefore it is sometimes sold as swordfish meat, for example.

One of the problems in the protection of sharks is that people don’t even know that they are eating sharks, let alone that they would be aware that they are eating endangered species.

What makes shark fishing beneficial for the fishers are side-products like shark liver oil that is used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and the fins.

The most blatant way of shark fishing is called finning. It means that the fins of the caught sharks are cut off at sea and the carcass is thrown back into the ocean. Then there is room left for more valuable fish in the vessel. Finning is banned in the EU, but it still happens because of the loopholes in the legislation.

According to the EU finning regulation, the fins can be cut off at sea, but also the carcasses have to be brought on shore. The carcass of a dressed shark weighs about 40% of its original weight. The fins weigh 5% of this. According to US Pasific and Canadian regulation 5% of a load of shark carcasses can be fins. The EU regulation is almost similar, except that the 5% is measured from the original weight of the carcass and thus one can bring on shore the fins of 2.5 sharks with one carcass, and the finning can continue.

Declaration to tighten the regulation

Shark Alliance campaigns for initiative to strengthen the EU ban on shark finning. According to the Alliance, the current EU finning ban is among the weakest in the world. The initiative aims at blocking the loopholes by new legislative measure that would ban the fin cutting at sea.

The fishers have justified the cutting of the fins by saying that it is for storage reasons, and that the fins worsen the taste of the meat, of which there is no evidence.

Four Members of the European Parliament, including Sirpa Pietikäinen from Finland, launched a Written Declaration inviting all MEPs to join in calling on the Commission to deliver a proposal to completely prohibit the removal of shark fins on-board vessels and provide much needed protection for these vulnerable species. If half of the Members of the Parliament sign the declaration by 20 December, the iniative will be taken under consideration in the Commission.

Even though shark fishing mostly happens in the Southern Europe, the protection of sharks should be taken into account all over Europe, Fordman says. People are not aware that there are sharks even in the Baltic Sea, she adds. In addition to some rare visitors, 18 different shark species have adjusted to the salinity of the Baltic and have been spotted regularly, 44% of them endangered. The most common sharks in the Northern waters are the spurdog and the small spotted catshark.

For more information visit The Shark Alliance website. On side banner you can click Take Action and urge your country’s MEPs to sign the declaration for stricter finning ban.

Elisa Lautala works as web editor for University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science. Elisa likes all kinds of cultural events, good books, warm weather, and aqua-jogging.