The Dorsal Fin

Australia’s The 7pm Project has recently posted the following feature on declining shark populations on YouTube.

The video addresses the effects of overfishing and finning on shark populations. Unfortunately, the feature is plagued with the “magic number”, claiming 100 million sharks are killed each year, which is not backed by any solid research (research-backed estimates put the number in 26 million to 73 million range, which is staggering in its own right).

Magic numbers aside, the feature does bring up valid points, including how the media has helped to contribute to misconceptions about the dangers of sharks toward humans. Ian Gordon points out that most people know very little about shark behavior and biology. He also notes that he has been around sharks for 30 years and if sharks were as dangerous as many people believe, he would likely be dead by now.

YouTube user SharkTrustUK posted a series of shark conservation videos today from Simon Spear. Among the videos is the one below featuring some fantastic tiger shark footage from Aliwal Shoal, South Africa. According to the video information, 8 tiger sharks were illegally poached from the marine reserve where this footage was shot just days afterward.