June 4th, 2007

Are Sharks That Bad?

Any person who spends time in the ocean knows that “sharky” feeling. Maybe you’ve stealthily paddled away from the crowd to explore a peak that’s showing potential, or you’re surfing near a rivermouth when the salmon are running. Usually it’s during a lull between sets that you look down at your feet dangling in the water and feel like you may not be alone. Cue Jaws soundtrack. In Oregon, we’ve had four shark attacks in the last couple years, one of which made national news when a surfer at Seaside Point got munched by a Great White on Christmas Eve, 2005. Talk about dangerous locals… It’s enough to make you slap a “No Sharks” sticker on your ride and denounce the whole species.

But I read an article in the paper on Memorial Day that put the whole sharks vs. man thing in perspective. It reported that although the number of shark attacks has increased over the last century as more people flock to the ocean, the average yearly number of actual shark-related fatalities worldwide is surprisingly low: four.

In contrast, human beings take out a staggering number of sharks per year, averaging somewhere between 26 to 73 million kills. Sharks are often butchered for their fins, which, when added to soup, is a delicacy in Asian countries. Now certain species are at risk of extinction. Were it not for the high prices fetched for the dorsal fins of these animals, fishermen from Mexico to Indonesia wouldn’t even bother catching them. But they do, and a common practice known as “finning”—when fishermen slice the big fins off live sharks and throw them back into the sea to bleed and drown—is finally being outlawed in countries like Mexico.

Though I was surprised at the low number of human deaths attributed to sharks per year, the statistics don’t make me feel any less like a part of the food chain when I dress like a seal and splash around outside the waves. But they do make me wonder if sharks shouldn’t be the ones sporting bumper stickers with “No Men” symbols on their tails.

- Rick

This entry was posted on Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Outdoor Sport, Sustainability, Personal Reflection, Environmental Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.