Whale sharks extinct

From Vulnerable to Endangered – The Whale Shark from lamaveproject on Vimeo.

Red List assessments by the new International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) show that increasing human pressure on whale sharks is putting them at risk of extinction. Whale sharks are now listed as a threat.

Numbers of sharks (Typus Rhincodon), the world’s largest live fish, has cut more than half over the past 75 years as these slow-moving sharks are still fishing and being killed by ship’s commanders.

The largest whale shark tested was 12.65 meters (41.5 feet) long and weighed around 21.5 tonnes (47,000 pounds). Whale sharks have a mouth that can be 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) wide, containing 300 to 350 rows of tiny teeth and 10 seed pods that it uses to filter food.

Although conservation action in India, the Philippines and Taiwan has ended large-scale shark fishing in these countries, they are still fishing elsewhere, including in the south. China and Oman. Because whale sharks and tuna are often present together, fishermen often target tuna.

“While the international trade in sharks is regulated through the listing of species on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), more needs to be done at home to prevent porpoise sharks. protection at national level, ”said Simon Pierce, chief Red List assessor, member of the IUCN Sexual Species Commission (SSC) Shark Specialist Group, and co-founder of the Marine Megafauna Foundation.

“It’s frightening to see such iconic species go extinct,” said Jane Smart, IUCN’s global species program director. “These new IUCN Red List evaluations underline the urgency of the conservation community working strategically to protect the amazing diversity of our planet’s life. The world’s oceans and forests will continue to provide us with food and other benefits if we continue to do so. ”

Unregulated fishing is also behind the rapidly declining numbers of the unique shark (Eusphyra blochii), whose morphology makes it very vulnerable to engage in fishing nets. This species of hammerhead shark has moved from Near Danger to Danger on the IUCN Red List.

While it is difficult to say how many people remain, recent studies of fish markets in Indonesia found that there was only one finch shark among about 20,000 sharks of other species. A similar pattern is expected across Asian countries where inshore fishing is intensive and largely unregulated.

A full update to the IUCN Red List of endangered species, including assessments of many other species, will be announced at the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress to be held in Hawai’i from September 1 to 10.

The IUCN Congress is expected to see key decisions on improving high-ocean management under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.