Krazy Kiwi wrote:

> My biggest beef has been shark finning :-(
> Last week the Western OZ Fisheries Minister finally introduced regulations
> under the Fish Resources Mgmnt Act to prohibit the removal of fins from
> sharks & the discarding of the associated carcass at sea.

I'm sticking my neck out on this one, so I'll try to be careful to put it in
perspective.  I have never understood the problem most people have with
shark finning.  Don't get me wrong, I think that there is just as much
reason to manage shark populations as any other fish, perhaps even more.  It
is my opinion that reduction in populations of any species of fish is likely
to have a long term adverse effect on other populations and on the health of
the ocean and planet as a whole,  As an apex predator, I think that
reduction in shark populations are likely to have a significant part to play
in the balance of nature.  What I don't understand is why finning seems to
be receiving so much more attention than the number of sharks killed.

A finned shark is a dead shark.  A shark that is taken and used in it's
entirety is also a dead shark.  I'd rather not see natural resources wasted
and would prefer that any killing us humans do, be done as humanely as
possible, but I just can't comprehend why anyone would consider finning to
be a more important issue, as it always seems to be, than the number of
sharks being killed.  It has always seemed to me, that the focus on finning
detracts from the larger issue of managing the number of sharks that can be
taken under some kind of sustainable resource management plan.

I have long suspected that traditional human fear of sharks or any other
animal perceived as dangerous to man, has kept us from recognizing their
ecological value and protecting it.  Instead, we have focused on the
inhumanity of finning.  It seems that we should have learned enough about
the damage we do to nature, to reconsider this and shift our focus more
strongly to how many sharks are killed than on how humane or how wasteful ou
r method of killing them is.  Let's face it, humans are not overly humane
and I don't find any form of fishing to be what I'd call humane.  I'm not
sure that finning and dumping a still living animal to die in the water is
significantly worse than tossing the still living shark into a hold to die
on ice.  At least with finning, the shark's body is returned to the food
chain.

Perhaps I'm being naive, but I'd rather see the efforts of those who would
protect our living resources be more focused on protecting them from death
than governing the way they die.

Lee