July 31, 2011 Hammerhead Shark

Freeze Frame
Photograph by Mick Tsikas, Reuters

Hoping to inspire a freeze on shark hunting, Australia's Melbourne Aquarium has put a 15-foot (4.5-meter) great hammerhead shark (pictured July 12) on ice.

Reproducing only once every two years, the species is especially vulnerable to overfishing and has been designated endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, meaning the great hammerhead faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Commercial fishers accidentally caught the now frozen fish off Australia in March 2010, illustrating a key threat to sharks today. Off Africa alone, for example, more than eight million sharks are accidentally killed each year, experts reported in 2007.

From National Geographic http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/pictures/110728-best-pictures-national-geographic-july-2011-photos/

There have been really tight restrictions on shark fishing and by-catching in Australian waters for many years now, and current research suggests that shark numbers are higher than they've ever been in recent history.

It's actually getting to the point where I think twice about going in the water in some places.

Moreton Bay which is right on our doorstep seems to have a very high concentration of sharks IMO.

Attacks are on the rise! :eek:

Oh and btw, that looks like a dolphin to me.

Eight million???

That just cannot be right.

That's 21,917.8 sharks killed per day. Accidentally.

And that's just off Africa.

That's a lot of friggin' sharks.

Maybe they're dolphins.

Aliantha;747555 wrote:

It's actually getting to the point where I think twice about going in the water in some places.

I used to want to visit Australia more than any other country. Used to.

You 'Straylyuns got tooooooo much shit that'll kill ya. Even your trees are deadly.:lol2:

Why can't it be right? How many fishermen are there in the world? Both commercial and amateur? Any idea how many sharks are targeted by some cultures for medicinal purposes or for their fins alone?

There are a lot of people eat shark, and it's not illegal.

Going camping in some parts of the US and Canada would worry me because of the bears.

I guess it's what you get used to. ;)

Gravdigr;747557 wrote:

Maybe they're dolphins.

Dolphins are just gay sharks anyway

Well, they got the extra hole and all...

Aliantha;747561 wrote:

Why can't it be right? [COLOR="Red"]How many fishermen are there in the world?[/COLOR] Both commercial and amateur? [COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Any idea how many sharks are targeted by some cultures for medicinal purposes or for their fins alone?[/COLOR]

There are a lot of people eat shark, and it's not illegal.

Gravdigr;747556 wrote:

Eight million???

That just cannot be right.

That's 21,917.8 sharks killed per day. [COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Accidentally.[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Red"]And that's just off Africa.[/COLOR]

That's a lot of friggin' sharks.

I'm just sayin'...that's a lot of accidentally killed sharks. Just from Africa.

I'm just sayin'...that's a lot of accidentally killed sharks. Just from Africa.

Just shows how dangerous drink driving is.


A mate of mine used to work on a fishing boat. They'd haul up sharks in nets, hack the fins off, throw the rest of the shark back to die in the sea. Stupid appaling waste, yay capitalism. :right:

Aliantha;747562 wrote:

Going camping in some parts of the US and Canada would worry me because of the bears.

I guess it's what you get used to. ;)

They're not bears, they're marmots.

All that fish.....




... and no wasabi in sight

Heartbreaking.
Sharkbreaking.

I believe the numbers and it's horrifying.
They are so OLD (in terms of evolution), and they're just being slaughtered. For no reason. They need to develop laserbeams.

I imagine all worlds end up like ours...eventually used up by the prevailing species.

I just wish I wasn't so conscious of it.

I dunno. Much as I am scathing about aliens (especially those that abduct complete eejits) I can see there are many other ways for species to develop on other worlds.

Homo Sapiens are aggressive, rapacious and enclined to theocracies. We have also developed (along with other animals on this planet) the need to see meaningful patterns where they don't exist. This might help species at the beginning, but is surely a hindrance to logical thought.

Maybe other zygotes in other places developed differently.
Maybe they understood eco-systems even as they were developing. They might not have made other species extinct in the name of greed.

Just saying.