The Shame of the Philippines, Shark Slaughter!
Having spent many hours diving under water and seeing what wonders lie below the Surface of the Ocean I am always very impressed when I encounter Sharks, the number 1 Apex Predator in its natural environment! They are such graceful creatures as they move seemingly effortlessly across the reef hunting for prey! We humans on the other hand must look very stupid and clumsy to them as we are all weird shapes and have bits dangling and sticking out and are constantly blowing bubbles! The Sharks and other Marine Creatures must really look upon us with amusement!
Without the many species of Shark to control other marine populations, the whole Marine Ec-osystem would fall into chaos as has happened in some areas of the world already! When the infamous book and movie Jaws by Peter Benchley first came out in the 1970’s it managed to cause a world panic and the aftermath of which was the wholesale slaughter of Millions of Sharks in every corner of the world and unfortunately, this trend still continues until today with leading Marine Experts estimating that up to 100 million Sharks are killed each year, a lot of these Sharks are caught alive, have their fins removed and then are dumped back unceremoniously into the Ocean still alive only to suffer a very slow and probably painful death!
In Australia, the Great White and Tiger Sharks were mostly killed with the result that the Seal Populations which were their main food were allowed to expand enormously just because there were no predators to keep the numbers in check and with this type of Unbalanced Population Explosion the local fish stocks came under great pressure and local fishermen lost their lively hood as a consequence! Sport fishing for Sharks is also a very big business world wide!
White Tip Reef Shark Taking a Rest!
Because of the enormous market for Shark Fins, all around the globe Sharks are being hunted to near extinction in many areas! Sharks are very slow breeders with many species not becoming mature or able to breed until the age of around 20 years old and even then most sharks will only deliver between 1 and 20 young at a time! The Sand Tiger Shark gives birth to only 1 offspring at a time because while still in the womb the strongest pup will kill and eat the rest of it siblings and will be born fully functional like the mother only smaller! Some Sharks have live birth while others deposit egg cases on the sea bed!
As I was saying earlier, it is always a thrill to see Sharks in their natural habitat doing what sharks do! Unfortunately now, it is much more common to sea dead Sharks on the back of a truck or on sale by the roadside or in some market place! It is very rare nowadays also that you will see the complete Shark because usually they have already had their fins removed! Even the smallest of the juvenile sharks are treated this way, size or age means nothing to the local fishermen as it is a means to put food on the table for his family! Most fishermen do not target Sharks but do take them as bi-catch, there is no catch and release system in the Philippines!
A Sharks Tale!
There are some groups of fishermen who do actually target sharks by using multiple hooked long lines which are strung out over a long distance and are specially designed to catch Sharks! unfortunately these are the type of people who give fishermen a bad name because in order to find a good bait to put on their hooks to attract the Sharks they Harpoon Dolphins, cut them up and use them as the bait which to say the least is an especially unforgivable method of fishing which only the most heartless of people are capable of doing in order to fish!
A Truck Laod of Finned Shark Carcases!
The Philippine Government is talking of passing a bill to stop this stupid kind of slaughter by banning the landing of Sharks and Rays in the Philippines and also banning the use and sale of Shark Products including Shark Fin Soup any where in the country! Maybe if the Politicians can stop squabbling between themselves for a while then this bill might be made into a law!
Finned Shark Carcase!
If Sharks are allowed to be slaughtered in the numbers that they are today then I am very sure that the order in the Marine Ecosystem will collapse and the state of the Oceans will suffer damage leading to a disaster which not even Man and Mother Nature will be able to repair so its time to act now and find ways to stop the stupidity and stop this unnecessary Slaughter of such an important member of the Marine World! Lets hope that it is not already too late!
An easy way to show your disgust at such barbaric practices is very simple, if you go to a restaurant which has Shark Fin Soup or other Shark Products on the menu, inform the management that you disagree with this practice and walk out and find another place to eat! It might do some good, you will never know until you try!
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Thanks Chris,
Good story. You know..it seems everytime I read something bad about the Philippines it has its roots back here in the US. The movie “Jaws” was a perfect example. Or is it the tons and tons of shark fin soup we find on our supermarket shelves? To be honest, I love to eat shark. Better than Sailfish any day. Then there isn’t a lot of them left anymore. So I guess the answer lies within me. I am the problem, once again. Thanks for the reminder. Need to do better.
Brings to mind the Japanese story on Fox about the local community opening season on the slaughter of Dolphins . And , while the Philippine government is making laws regarding sharks or other sea creatures they should also include the Mangrove Forest destruction as the Philippines has now lost roughly 70% of it’s Mangrove . Perhaps the issue is not making new laws but just enforcing the ones on the books ?
Hi Edward,
I used to eat Shark also but not any more as I have seen what happens to them! The world need to take a stand on all practices which cause the destruction of a species whatever it is!
Have a nice day!
Hi Alan,
Unfortunatly here thare are so many laws in existance and the government keep on adding to them but there is no way that they can be enforced on the 7,000 + islands! It needs the cooperation of the people to make things happen so I believe that education is a main player in the problem!
Hello Edward
Everytime I see something about Sharks on the discovery channel, I stay there and listen carefuly. I still remember some gruesome memories of young sharks capitive in tanks (IN CHINA) were taken and cut up alive on the kitchen table for everyone to see!!! The Philippine government would have a very hard time policing shark killing because they already have a very very hard time stopping dynamite fishing…which I have seen with my own eyes in Samar. I feel the same dismay as you do and hopefully something will be done soon enough.
PS: I wish gravatar would work and post my pic
Im based in Michigan now,used to live in Southern Philippines not far from where you are right now.I was surprised to see a shark meat for sale in a KROGER grocery store.Its a freshly cut meat.I dont know whats the law on the sale of shark meat here, cause Im not so familiar with it.Just asking.
Hi Chris
I’m sure the Philippines are not exclusive in the slaughter of sharks but its the voice of the people which can bring about change. Australia and New Zealand have a total ban now on catching white pointers and im sure other species will soon be added as research confirms how bad the situation really is for them, its unfortunate that many nations continue to plunder international waters with no thought to sustainability sharks are not exclusive in this respect until what amounts to marine species being added to CITIES then i think the future is not good
I really enjoyed reading this article. I haven’t seen a shark up close but am definitely looking forward to meeting some of them soon. especially the ones in Sorsogon.
Thank you for writing about this and for choosing the Philippines as your home.
I also added you to my Blogroll and LinkLuv page.
Hi Jason,
You are correct when you say that the sharks suffer so much before they die! I hope that the Philippines can do something to stop the sharks being killed in such huge numbers but the unfortunate thing is that there are other Asian Countries who will take the catch if local fishermen are not allowed to land it here!
Hi,
I hope that you get to meet the sharks in the open ocean on day and you will appreciate the beauty of the Apex Predator!
Hi Ronald,
I do not know what the laws on sharks are and there are lots of them around the world! The best way to get peoples interest is not to buy the meat, if enough people do not buy then the market will not buy and the fishermen will have no market!
Hi Les,
The problem here and in many places is the fact that laws are easy to make but very difficult to enforce! Unfortunatly a Philippino Fisherman will keep everything that he catches, this includes baby anything, even Clown Fish so it needs a big education drive and strict laws to make any form of change happen!CITIES is a good thing if its put into practice but here there are illegal fish on sale and we have even reported it but nobody does anything about it!
I hope that the world wakes up before the sharks and other endangered species dissappear forever!
Hi Isis,
I hope that you see plenty of Whale Sharks in Sorsogon, they are magnificent creatures!