Editor:
Sharks are beautiful, majestic and fearsome creatures, and one of the keys to our survival. So why are we killing them? Every year, around 10-100 million sharks are killed by humans, while over the last five years, an average of only three people were killed annually by sharks. One of the ways sharks are being killed is called shark finning. The sharks are caught, pulled on board, and have their fins cut off by knife. The sharks are then thrown overboard where they cannot swim and are left to die. The fins are then returned to mainland to be sold dry or put into a Chinese delicacy, shark fin soup. Sharks keep the ocean in check, and healthy oceans are paramount to the stability of our planet. Oceans provide air we breathe, climate we require, and fuel the productivity of our food web. Sharks keep these oceans healthy and thriving. That’s why we all need to encourage Gov. Brown to pass bill AB376 concerning the ban of shark finning in California.
Thank you,
Stella Favaro, Age 11
www.sharkhope.org
Sonoma, California
How do sharks keep the ocean so supposedly “healthy and thriving” which it gives every appearance of being other than? Even if so you might just as easily say that of the sea wasp or any other creature of the deep—-I will grant, however, that just lopping their fins off like that and brainlessly chucking them, still alive, overboard to slowly drown is about typical of people all over the globe who are either confirmed sociopaths or aren’t particularly bright: shark meat is edible and the rest of the carcass can and should be made use of as well. Commercial fishing can still be pursued but humanely at least in some measure.