Did you know that a compound taken from sharks is currently used in COVID-19 vaccine testing as well as many other products? The ingredients that companies use in their products are wide-ranging, from chemical compounds that are difficult to pronounce to organic herbs. Many ingredients may simply be strange, but some are also unsustainable and […]
Tag: sharks
Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act Reintroduced in Congress
Good news! On April 22, 2021, Representatives Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (D- MP) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) reintroduced the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act. A previous version of this bill passed the House of Representatives in November of 2019 with a 310-107 majority. Unfortunately, the companion bill, introduced by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Shelly […]
Sharks on a knife’s edge as Maldives mulls lifting 10-year fishing ban
It’s not easy to find sharks these days. Just ask Demian Chapman, a marine scientist who leads Global FinPrint, a project that assesses shark populations on reefs worldwide. But he says there is a spot where they’re often found: the Maldives, a tiny nation of islands speckled in the Indian Ocean. “The Maldives is a […]
European tuna boats dump fishing debris in Seychelles waters ‘with impunity’
In 2019, when Jeremy Raguain turned up for a cleanup campaign on Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, he bagged a marine monstrosity like no other: a beached fish aggregating device, or FAD. It was a massive tangle of buoys, netting and fishing ropes weighing hundreds of kilograms. The fishing aid, like most FADs, […]
NY Man Arrested for Keeping Sharks in Basement
A man has been arrested and charged with keeping sharks with the intent to sell them. Joshua Seguine kept sharks in a pool inside his house and offered them for sale, the New York attorney general shared in a press release. Seguine was ordered to pay a fine and was sentenced to conditional discharge. He […]
Sharks ‘critical’ to restoring damaged ecosystems, finds study
Sharks are critical in helping ecosystems recover from extreme climatic events, according to a new study. The conclusions came after scientists were able to determine the importance of the apex predator to a unique ecosystem following an extreme marine heatwave in 2011, which wiped out a quarter of one of the world’s largest and most […]
The Terrifying Truth: Our Future is Tied to the Future of Sharks
Mention the word “shark” to most people, and they will most likely think of a cruel, bloodthirsty monster along the lines of those portrayed in “Jaws” or the “Sharknado” series. When the word “shark” is used to describe a human, it carries negative connotations of deceitfulness and cunning. We seem to have developed an idea […]
Recent research shows: More rare, endangered sharks are dying in the worldwide trade in shark fins than earlier feared.
The finning of sharks is not for the faint of heart. After hauling them aboard their vessels, the fishers cut off their fins, then toss them back into the ocean. Still alive, they sink to the bottom where they’re either eaten by other predators or die of suffocation. About 100 million sharks are believed to be […]