The extinction risk for many species may have been seriously underestimated new research published in the journal Nature has shown. The methodology currently used to determine extinction risk is flawed! Current methodology includes birth-to-death ratio and environmental conditions. These are two useful measures, but researchers Brett Melbourne and Alan Hastings believe that there are other overlooked assessment criteria that are overlooked: physical size of individual members of a species; behavior of individual members of a species; and most importantly--male-to-female ratio. If these other criteria are factored mathematically, many species may be 100 times greater to become extinct that previously thought!

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In China, endangered Tigers are cut in half for easier transport to Tiger meat restaurants.

Just in time for your summer barbecues--Monkey Meat!

You may now get back to your hot dogs and beer,

--El Tiburon

P.S. Call me a hippie, but I don't think one's food should have a recognizable smile.

technorati tags: Summer, Endangered Species, Math, Beer, Monkeys, Tigers, Sharks, Chinese Food, Bushmeat, Hot Dogs

It is believed that the Oceanic Whitetip Shark is extinct in the Gulf of Mexico. Because of destructive and careless longline fishing practices by the Tuna industry and Shark finning, the Oceanic Whitetip--once the most populous large Shark in the world--are down over 99 percent from the figures recorded in 1950. Silky Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico are down around 90 percent from the 1950 figures. 270,000 Sharks are killed everyday to keep up with the demand for Shark fins and meat. It is getting so bad that legal or not legal, businesses that sell Shark products should be considered by responsible citizens as agents of environmental devastation. Any responsible person should boycott every fish market or restaurant that sells Shark fins or Shark meat. Any person with a bit more "character" should do something a bit more active in letting these businesses know that they are complicit in an environmental holocaust. Let them know that they suck.

Read.

Oceanic Whitetips are one of our favorite Sharks. If a boat capsizes in the open ocean, let's say like the USS Indianapolis, Oceanic Whitetips are the ones that show up first to say hello! Their role in the ocean is to take care of anything that doesn't really belong there.

--Sharky

technorati tags: , Sharks, endangered species, Oceanic Whitetip Sharks, Silky Sharks, USS Indianapolis, Shark Fin Soup, Chinese Food, Commercial Fishing

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Please somebody pinch one of my claspers, I think I'm dreaming. For the second time in a week, a U.S. government organization moved to protect Sharks. First they make Shark finning operations harder to operate. Now this:

On July 24, new Shark fishing regulations go into effect. Two species in particular are being protected. The annual quota for Sandbar Sharks--a species prized by scumbags for their large fins--is lowered 85 percent. The annual quota for Porbeagle Sharks--a species prized by the French for their flesh--will be tightened even further, from 92 metric tons to 1.7.

Both these species of Sharks have suffered greatly in recent years from the insatiable Asian appetite for Shark fin soup. Now if the NOAA would only tighten quotas on Thresher, Mako, and Blue Sharks--the species most prized by decadent Shark fishing tournaments--us Sharks might have a fighting chance.

But just so this post isn't all environmental and educational, look a new picture of Bruce Grime's thumb. It was nearly bitten off by a Bull Shark in May. He was the one that actually survived Mexican Shark scare 2008 in Zihuatanejo.

Yuck! Clean your fingernails, Bruce!
[source]

Mmmmm....tight regulations,

--Sharky

technorati tags: Sharks, Sandbar Sharks, Porbeagle Sharks, Bull Sharks, Thresher Sharks, Mako Sharks, Blue Sharks, NOAA, Zihuatanejo, Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Chinese Food, Shark Fin Soup

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Now if we can only give the death penalty to long line fishermen.

An anti-Shark Finning bill was approved by a voice vote by the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday.

“There’s a hell of a lot of two-legged sharks around that are a lot more dangerous than the ones with fins in the ocean,” said Neil Abercrombie , D-Hawaii.

[source]

Shark finning has technically been illegal in the United States since the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000. The new bill closes a loophole that allowed for the transfer of Shark fins at sea from vessel to vessel without the corresponding Shark carcasses. This bullshit is now illegal. This will make it much harder for large scale Shark finning operations to get their bloody cargo back to Asia for Shark fin soup. The panel also adopted by voice vote an amendment by Eni F.H. Faleomavaega , D-Am. Samoa, to require all fishermen to land their sharks with the fins still attached. This is a minor victory for Sharks. Huzzah.

Try to make soup out of this.

Stamp out culinary barbarism,

--Sharky

technorati tags: Shark finning, Shark Fin Soup, Chinese Food, Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, Somoa, Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii, Deomocrats, House of Representatives, Sharks, Great White Sharks

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Probably. The Washington-based Lenfest Ocean Program report, using records from fishermen's logs, shark landings, museum specimens, and visual sightings to estimate the number and size of the Mediterranean sharks during the past two centuries has shown that the number of Sharks on the Mediterranean has fallen by 97 percent over two centuries. Who cares? We all should because when the top of the food chain is removed, the middle of the food chain is able to eat up all the bottom of the food chain all willy-nilly. Once that happens, the whole ocean collapses. Once the ocean collapses, so does your little society of hairless Apes.

While we love to beat on recreational and trophy Shark fishermen all day and night, because their activities are mean, decadent, and unnecessary, the main reason that Sharks are in this much peril is the insatiable East Asian appetite for Shark Fin Soup.

"The Mediterranean has been fished since Roman times, it's a historical thing," said Ferretti. "But now [modern] fishing has a big impact on the shark population."

[Source]

Exponential Destruction

Here is the really scary statistic: While Sharks as a whole are down 97% in the Mediterranean, Hammerheads and Thresher Sharks are down more than 99.99%!

Now back to your celebrity news,

--Sharky

technorati tags: Sharks, Mediterranean Sea, Thresher Sharks, Hammerhead Sharks, endangered species, Shark Fin Soup, Chinese Food

Jared Ingersoll, top chef of Dank Street Depot in Syndey believes that Shark Fin Soup and other Shark fin dishes should be banned in Australia, Shark finning should be criminalized, and the importation of Shark fins from other countries should be stopped, because it is all driving Sharks to extinction.

While Shark finning is technically illegal in Australia, Australia imports 10,000kg of dried shark fins every year from countries that have not banned finning, including China and The Philippines. This translates into 26,000 dead Sharks. Shark populations have dropped 90 percent in the past 30 years due to Asia's new affluence and an insatiable appetite for Shark fin.

If you don't believe me click here and watch the video.

--Sharky

technorati tags: Sharks, Top+Chef, Shark Finning, Shark Fin Soup, Australia, Sydney, Jared Ingersoll

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