Shark culling and shark finning

Inhumane and cruel things people do to Sharks ¿The lord and ruler of the oceans?

Let´s start off with a little preface. I love this planet and would like to make sure the earth will not be destroyed by ignorant people. I won´t mention any names, but it starts with a T and ends with rump. These words might sounds like a dreamer, a hippie or anyway you like to see fit, but I really think all the small bits will help. I am… and going to put a small focus of my blogging towards concerns I have about the environment or earth in general. So I hope you don´t mind and are willing to read about some helpful and informative subjects. This one is about one of the many cruel things we people do to sea animals.

Shark culling

Culling (n.) : > to reduce or control the size of (something, such as a herd) by removal (as by hunting) of especially weaker animals; also : to hunt or kill (animals) as a means of population control The town issued hunting licenses in order to cull the deer population.

Shark culling and shark finning has been become a topic of discussion after the statement Kelly Slater made earlier this year. Kelly Slater 11 times surfing world champion had commented to be in favor of Shark culling at Reunion Island. “I won’t be popular for saying this, but there needs to be a serious cull on Reunion Island and it should happen every day,” said Slater. This after the tragic accident of a 26 year old body boarder was being killed by a white shark. Soon after Kelly Slater rectified his comments in the upcoming interviews. He has known to be an environmental activist, therefore these comments came to many people as a shock especially coming from Kelly. I do however think that the fairly recent shark attack to competitor and friend Mick Fanning in 2015 did not made things better. It has now been 6 months, however it is still a sensitive subject.

My own first shark encounter

In 2011 I went for a 4 month trip to Indonesia, carrying only a small backpack and 3 surfboards. In the third month I went from Lakey peak in West-Sumbawa with a scooter to yo yo´s in East-Sumbawa. I went for an early surf. After half an hour in the water, I see this fin sliding through the water. First thing that pops in my mind! !!Freaking shark WAAAH!!. Calming myself, telling myself that there are more fishes in the sea then just sharks. After observing the fin for about a minute I realized it is a shark fin *Fuck! and it just went under *double fuck!. How fast can shark swim?! Questions like that popping in mind. It jumped out of the sea about 20 meter away. Surfers always say you can count your odds *joking around. You surf with 4 people you have 25% change, 3 people 33% etc… Well I counted my odds pretty high, considering I was alone in the water. I guess it was a 4 meter tiger shark, but who knows. That wasn´t really on my mind at that point. Heart pounding in my chest I start to paddle for the shallow reef. Made it without a scratch! I am scared for sharks, who isn´t? Let´s be honest, they are freaking scary and they could or might not attack at all. But still a risky business. I however do not think those emotions should take over considering a slaughter, culling or even in the matter of shark finning. We are in their kingdom. We aren´t supposed to be in the sea and if we are, we should be willing to accept the fact that we might not be the strongest out there. Instead of killing them we should inform ourselves and inform the people of the danger out in the sea. If you do look at the ratings at the moment we are killing them way more than they are hurting/killing us 1 to a million more or less.

Shark finning

Finning (v.) : > The act of removing a live sea animals fin, and releasing the sea animal back into the sea.

Shark finning is something I am just speechless about this. A really inhumane act. I actually just figured out how much sharks are killed by shark finning. It was unknown to me. That is why I would like to share this with you guys. ¡Each year up to 10 million of sharks are killed! As you might have read in the picture above, they sometimes even throw the shark back overboard .... while the shark is still alive.

Leaving him to his death sentence on the ground on the ocean, unable to swim or save himself. Cruel! Why do they cut-off the shark fins. A fisherman can earn money because of its demand up to $100 a pound. This all for shark fin soup. I read it is not even that delicious and I am not going to try it out. It has been served by the Chinese of centuries at special occasions, only for the wealthy. It´s demand only exist because of people are still eating soup. This does not only counts for shark fin soup, but also for blue fin tuna. Long lining (a fishing technique) meant to catch tuna, is not only killing tuna, but also catches and kills other sea animals; such as sharks, turtles and even sea gulls.

Please mention your comments below on shark finning and shark culling. Also let me know if you like to read about more personal experiences / stories. A big thanks to my first followers.

References

https://www.marineconservation.org.au/pages/shark-culling.html
http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/what-is-shark-finning/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0613_050613_sharkfacts.html
https://matadornetwork.com/change/7-reasons-to-ban-shark-finning/