Wednesday 24 October 2012

For the Greater Good: A Call To Remove Unnecessary Shark Control Methods

By Ryan Pearson 
In a world where man has negatively impacted so many facets of the natural environment just to feed the planets vast human population, I pose the question “How is it justifiable to decimate entire populations of marine species to protect our leisurely pursuits?” Looking into the future, the rapidly expanding human population is likely to have more and more seemingly unavoidable impacts on natural systems through things like climate change, over-fishing, eutrophication, and the input of anthropogenic pollutants (Ricel and Garcia, 2011). It is clear that many necessary human endeavours will have some significant negative impacts, with potentially dire repercussions for the state of the entire planet. Research indicates that by 2050, a 50% increase in fishery production from 2011 levels will be required just to feed the human population (Ricel and Garcia, 2011).  This is a figure that many agree the oceans simply can’t hope to support. Despite a general awareness of these impacts, humans often campaign for and implement further destructive mechanisms that are not necessary for the survival of our species, but may have dire consequences for others. Shark control programs are one such example.