Predator protection overdue

Mahurangi Matters is pleased to welcome onboard a new columnist this month. Former Auckland Regional Council representative Christine Rose is well-known in Rodney for her environmental advocacy and support of sustainable lifestyles. Over the coming months, she will keep readers abreast of green issues as they affect our neighbourhood. If you have a question or comment for Christine, she can be contacted at christine.rose25@gmail.com

This summer, spare a thought for sharks. Not because they’re a huge threat to us, but because of the threats we pose to them. NZ has 112 shark species in our waters, with 79 of these caught in our fisheries, including 28 that are listed as threatened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The great white is the only shark species protected in NZ. About 24,000 tonnes of shark are caught as targeted species in our waters each year.  In addition, there are up to 840 tonnes of sharks killed as by-catch, compared with 91.7 tonnes of shark by-catch in Australia. About 100 million sharks are killed each year around the world.

Most sharks in NZ are used for meat (the fish in our fish and chips). But seven percent of all sharks are killed just for their fins, with the rest of the body discarded. Shark fins are lightweight, and extremely profitable. A single whale shark fin, for example, can fetch $US700 a kilo. Sometimes sharks have their fins removed while the animal is still alive. Shark finning itself – taking only the fin and discarding the rest of the animal, is still legal in New Zealand, even though it’s illegal in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia and the European Union.

Sharks play an important role in the ecosystem, as apex predators. They keep the sea clean of sick and dead wildlife and maintain an important balance in marine populations. They’ve survived five major extinctions and have existed for more than 400 million years. But up to 90 percent of shark stocks have been depleted, and this is increasing with more invasive fishing techniques and targeted shark finning. Once common species such as basking sharks are now never seen. Action is essential to stop this inhumane, wasteful and dangerous plunder.

As signatories to UN Food and Agricultural Organisation agreements, NZ is obliged to develop a National Plan of Action for Sharks. This is due for review this year. At present, use of sharks takes priority over conservation and sustainability. A precautionary approach is overdue. We need more monitoring, regulation, data on by-catch and population size, and a population management plan, all based on international best practice. Other threats facing sharks need analysis and mitigation. Quotas need to be applied based on the population size and risks the sharks face. The amount of wasted shark product must be reduced; imported shark products should be assessed. We would demand better protection and species recovery efforts if these were warm, furry charismatic species. And though sharks pose very little threat to us, we are doing too little to mitigate our threats to them. So spare a thought for sharks this summer – not in the water, but in bowls of shark fin soup and in your fish and chips.

Information for this article supplied by Shark Fin Free Auckland – www.sffa.org.nz

Image: Seven percent of sharks caught in NZ are killed just for their fins. Photo, www.sffa.org.nz

Published 18 January 2012