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lets make a difference and save sharks
Lets put an end to the shark fin industry
With millions of sharks being slaughtered every year for the shark fin industry many species of shark are close to extinction - to the extent even the gentle giant the Whale shark is not safe from this barbaric industry.
The sharks are caught on long lines which are basically a mono-filament line ranging from 1 mile long (1.6km) up to 62 miles long (100km). The line has floats set every 100 meters and below the float a secondary line 5 meters long with a baited hook at the end.
The lines are normally left adrift for 12 -24 hours and are indiscriminate on what they catch, be it sharks, Dolphins, turtles, sea birds and other marine life.
The shameful part of this fishing is that most are dead on retrieval and in the case of the sharks they just chop of the fins and discard the rest of the body back in the ocean regardless if the shark is alive or dead at the time the fins are removed.
Up to 73 million sharks will be killed this year, that works out to over 10,000 sharks every hour!
Sharks have been on this planet for over 450 million years and assist in keeping our Oceans healthy and therefore assist in our very own existence. In 10 years time sharks will be wiped out if nothing is done to stop whats going on today.
Just to give you an example of the impact on other wildlife:
As many as 100 million hooks a year are set by the Japanese fleet alone in the Southern bluefin tuna fishery. Tens of thousands of birds are being killed annually.
One conservative calculation for albatross killed on Japanese long-liners is 44,000 per year.
The actual figure could be double that, according to researchers, but data on albatross kills by other nations' fishing vessels is not available.
To help stop this extinction we need to get the message out to as many people as possible:
for more information and to help stop long lining click here