Yesterday I was looking through the BBC news pages here on the computer when I spotted an item about Tagging Sharks. It interested me, down here in Devon we get visits from several types of shark including the Great White. Ok there have only been unconfirmed reports of Great Whites but one can hope. The most famous shark we get round here is the Basking Shark. The second biggest fish in the sea. Swims around all day with it's mouth wide open feeding. Harmless, unless you are plankton of course. So I clicked on the link and the article appeared. University types were in some foreign land catching sharks and fitting them with tags. Not much is known about sharks, where they spend their summer holidays, what they do on a Saturday night, how they entertain themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon in the English Channel. Things like that.
Then suddenly, tucked away near the bottom was this, and I quote," Many species found here are endangered but Scotland still issues permits to allow finning - the practice of cutting fins off the living shark and dumping the low-value carcass at sea." That's all it said, nothing about how barbaric this practice is and what we need to do to get Scotland to stop allowing sharks to die in such a needless, stupid way. As a species we have, almost, stopped hunting whales, Problem for the sharks is they have had a bit of a bad press. They are always eating people; if you go to Australia the locals will tell you what a dangerous place it is. Crocodiles, spiders, snakes, box jelly fish, even water buffalo kill hundreds of people every year but the biggest killer is by far the shark. Load of cobblers. In the last hundred years the biggest wildlife killer in Australia is the humble bee. Averaging about 5 people a year. (It would appear someone has realized and is going round killing all the bees.) Anyway finning is not nice, it is not the sort of thing that comes to mind when you think of Scotland, whisky, dramatic mountains and lochs, shortbread, people speaking a language that I am assured is in fact English (OK I'll buy that, reluctantly) midges and football fans ripping Wembley Football pitch up, are on the list, but now all I can picture is giant oil tankers leaving Scottish port carrying thousands of gallons of Shark Fin Soup to the Far East.
I’m not sure how wide spread this practice is but it should stop now. Write to Alex Salmond leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party at mailto:FirstMinister@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Then suddenly, tucked away near the bottom was this, and I quote," Many species found here are endangered but Scotland still issues permits to allow finning - the practice of cutting fins off the living shark and dumping the low-value carcass at sea." That's all it said, nothing about how barbaric this practice is and what we need to do to get Scotland to stop allowing sharks to die in such a needless, stupid way. As a species we have, almost, stopped hunting whales, Problem for the sharks is they have had a bit of a bad press. They are always eating people; if you go to Australia the locals will tell you what a dangerous place it is. Crocodiles, spiders, snakes, box jelly fish, even water buffalo kill hundreds of people every year but the biggest killer is by far the shark. Load of cobblers. In the last hundred years the biggest wildlife killer in Australia is the humble bee. Averaging about 5 people a year. (It would appear someone has realized and is going round killing all the bees.) Anyway finning is not nice, it is not the sort of thing that comes to mind when you think of Scotland, whisky, dramatic mountains and lochs, shortbread, people speaking a language that I am assured is in fact English (OK I'll buy that, reluctantly) midges and football fans ripping Wembley Football pitch up, are on the list, but now all I can picture is giant oil tankers leaving Scottish port carrying thousands of gallons of Shark Fin Soup to the Far East.
I’m not sure how wide spread this practice is but it should stop now. Write to Alex Salmond leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party at mailto:FirstMinister@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
and ask him to stop it.
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