If you're tuned in to shark news, you may have noticed a lot of media coverage lately about the depletion of the world's wide-ranging, oceanic sharks. Scientists are discovering and reporting that these fastest and sleekest of sharks can't out-swim today's fishing fleets. In fact, according to the IUCN, this group of sharks has a particularly high percentage (about half) of species classified as threatened with extinction. In the first study of its kind, the experts found that sharks like the thresher and shortfin mako are at risk due to targeted fishing for valuable fins and meat, as well as indirect "bycatch" in other fisheries. Despite mounting evidence of decline and increasing threats to these species, there are no international catch limits for oceanic sharks.
To address this inadequacy, Ocean Conservancy teamed up with Sherman's Lagoon cartoonist, Jim Toomey, to encourage the U.S. government to propose the first international catch limits for sharks at upcoming fisheries meetings. Jim created a special Sherman (the shark) postcard with a place for kids (or people like us) to draw their favorite shark; the card is pre-addressed with a conservation message for the head of the Fisheries Service. You can help by sending in your Sherman postcard! Just download it from the Ocean Conservancy's website.
PHOTO: Sherman's Lagoon postcard drawn by cartoonist Jim Toomey.
Sonja Answers Your Questions
Q: Did you go to Greenland with the Dirty Jobs crew as a consultant? Thanks for writing this blog. I love sharks
- Posted by Cherry, July 23, 2008
A: I did not get to go to Greenland, but I will be blogging about Greenland sharks and the potential threats they face in the coming days, so stay tuned!
Post your questions for Sonja in the Comments section below. She will be checking in to give you answers.
More people should get invove.
Fred Smilek
Email- Fred_Smilek@yahoo.com
Webpage- http://sites.google.com/site/fredjsmilek/
Fred Smilek is the acting president of the Society to Save Endangered Species. It was founded in 2006 by Fred Smilek along with his two best friends Charles and Jonathan.
Posted by: Fred Smilek | January 14, 2009 at 05:22 PM
We all need to do more to protect these rare and beautiful creatures.
Fred Smilek
Email- Fred_Smilek@yahoo.com
Webpage- http://sites.google.com/site/fredjsmilek/
Fred Smilek is the acting president of the Society to Save Endangered Species. It was founded two years ago by Fred Smilek along with his two best friends Charles and Jonathan.
Posted by: Fred Smilek | January 21, 2009 at 03:30 PM