New research finds that thousands of sharks and rays could be entangled in the plastic polluting Earth’s oceans. Scientists at the UK’s University of Exeter examined existing scientific literature and took to Twitter to find documented instances of shark and ray entanglements. They ended up finding reports of more than 1,000 entangled animals — and […]
Tag: sharks
Petition: Justice for Greenland Shark Whose Tail Was Cut Off by Laughing Fishermen
Sharks are villainized and feared, but they suffer terribly at the hands of humans. Humans killaround 100 to 273 million sharks every year, while sharks killless than 10 people per year. People often argue for shark culling because they want surfers to feel safer in the ocean, but the ocean is the shark’s habitat and […]
Echoes of Jaws as Cape Cod learns to live with rise of the great white shark
When beachgoers arrive at Cahoon Hollow Beach in Wellfleet on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod peninsula, the first thing they see is a large sign displaying a photo of a great white shark. It reads: “WARNING. Great white sharks hunt seals in the shallow water at this beach. People have been seriously injured or killed by sharks […]
POLL: Should lawmakers pass legislation to end the trade in shark fins?
Canada’s a step closer to protecting some of the ocean’s most important predators with the introduction of legislation that would ban the trade of shark fins. While Canada banned shark finning in 1994, which involves removing sharks’ fins and throwing their bodies back while they’re still alive, fins can still be imported and the global […]
We’re Eating the Largest Animals off the Face of the Earth
We already know some of the earth’s largest animals are facing a range of threats from climate change and pollution to habitat loss, but according to a new study our demand for their meat is now one of the biggest threats to their survival. For the study, which was just published in the journal Conservation […]
POLL: Should legislation be passed to protect sharks and rays?
Hawaii could soon become one of the safest places for sharks on the planet. While poachers are wiping out sharks in most waters around the world, Hawaiian state legislators are considering making it illegal to kill sharks of any kind off its coast. Senate Bill 489 and House Bill 808, two versions of the same […]
POLL: Should there be a worldwide ban on the shark fin trade?
The ocean activist group Sea Shepherd says it has delivered armed Timor-Leste police on to a Chinese-owned fishing vessel in a dawn raid and is detaining the vessels for the police after it was found targeting sharks. Following a two-week hunt for the Pingtan Marine Enterprises fleet, the Sea Shepherd boat M/Y Ocean Warrior found […]
Longline fisheries in Costa Rica hook tens of thousands of sea turtles every year
Hundreds of kilometers of commercial fishing lines slither along coastal waters in Costa Rica, hooking thousands of mahi-mahi and many other marketable fish. But when scientists scrutinized fishermen’s catch, they were shocked by the staggering number of sea turtles accidentally snagged on the lines. A study published Aug. 20 in the Journal of Experimental Marine […]
