The Dorsal Fin

Update:Patti Banner, the radio personality seen reluctantly eating the shark meat in the video, has posted a response in the comments section of this post. Please, visit the comments for her take on the event.

Apparently, Discovery Networks’ attempted shark conservation message was lost on KOLA 99.9′s Wake Up Bunch, as radio personality Patti Banner ate shark meat on the air “in honor of Shark Week,” according to the YouTube video information posted by the radio station.

DiscoveryNetworks has posted the video above to their YouTube Channel. The video focuses on the repercussions of the extinction of sharks as top ocean predators. Researcher Andy DeHart of the National Aquarium points out the impact of the shark finning market on shark popluations but also notes that roughly half of the sharks killed each day as a result of accidental bycatch. DeHart goes on to say that of the roughly 400 species of sharks only 30 species are heavily fished. However, within those thirty species are some of the apex predators which help control stingray and fish populations. DeHart concludes the video discussing how the slow reproductive nature and small number of pups of some shark species also puts them at greater risk for extinction.

Wild Aid has recently posted several animal conservation PSA videos to their YouTube Channel, including an English version of a shark conservation PSA above, which features 1984 Olympic gold medalist (10m platform diving), Zhou Jihong. The original version (posted a few years ago) of this PSA was in Mandarin and focused on the “duty” of humans to protect sharks and the world’s ocean ecosystems. Wild Aid has produced several shark conservation PSA videos featuring prominent Chinese athletes aimed at curbing demand in the Chinese shark fin soup market.

DiscoveryNetworks' Featured Videos on YouTube appear to focus on shark attacks on humans.

It seems that Discovery Networks’ fixation on promoting shark attack footage has stretched beyond their annual Shark Week. Today while browsing through YouTube for recent shark-related videos, I was presented with “Featured Videos” ads from DiscoveryNetworks‘ YouTube channel. I guess it shouldn’t really come as any surprise that Discovery is continuing to push shark attack footage on YouTube. Their promotion of Shark Week 2009 was centered around over-the-top fictionalized shark on human violence, including cheesy videos of fake shark attacks, which appeared on YouTube.

It should be noted that these shark attack ads for showed up while searching on the term “shark” (not “shark attack”) using the “upload date” filter, despite the fact that the videos are listed as being uploaded “1 year ago.” Of course, I realize this all part of YouTube’s marketing of “Featured Videos,” but Discovery Networks certainly has a hand in which videos are promoted. Two shark attack videos certainly seem like odd choices for a company that claims to be conservation-minded.

NOTE: The video below was produced prior to the defeat of the proposal to protect hammerhead sharks. WARNING: Video contains footage of shark finning.

A proposal introduced by the U.S. and Palau to protect hammerhead sharks (including the endangered scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead, and the threatened smooth hammerhead) was defeated yesterday in Doha, Qatar at the CITES conference, according to an AP report. U.S. Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland said, “The greatest threat to the hammerhead is from harvest for the international fin trade and the fin of the species is among highly valued of the trade,” and that regional fisheries bodies have done nothing to regulate the trade of this species.

Opposition to the proposal, led by Japan and supported by countries dependent on the shark fin trade, argued, “it would be difficult to differentiate the hammerheads from other species and would deprive poor fishing nations of much needed income.”

The notion that it would be difficult to differentiate any of the three species of hammerheads from other species is laughable, at best. Hammerhead sharks have a very distinct appearance, hence the name “hammerhead.” The latter half of the argument seems like a valid one from a financial standpoint, but it is also a flawed argument when it comes to establishing regulations to keep hammerhead shark populations at sustainable levels. If “poor fishing nations” rely on income from harvesting these species, it would only make sense that regulating the trade of the species would be beneficial to those nations. If these species become extinct or reach near-extinction levels due to over-harvesting, where will that leave the fishermen and those whose livelihood depends on this particular trade?

As was the case with last week’s multiple marine species protection proposal defeats, at the end of the day money talks. The wealthier markets that import these shark fins sell them at a huge mark-up, while the fishermen of the “poor fishing nations” only end up with a tiny fraction of what the shark fins are ultimately sold to the consumer for. I wonder if the countries with the major markets for shark fins would be open to the idea of paying the “poor fishing nations” a much higher percentage of the fins’ market value, since they are clearly concerned with the livelihood of these poorer nations.