I found my first fossil shark tooth in 1955 on dry land in an area of the Deep South that was 420 miles from the nearest saltwater.  This Sand-tiger tooth was to me then (and continues to be) a thing of wonder.  As you can imagine, I had many questions, some unanswered to this day.  In 1966, I learned to SCUBA dive courtesy of the US Navy, and spent many hours in the South Pacific swimming with the sharks found around several Pacific islands.  The Tigers, Gray Nurse, Blues, Hammerheads, Makos and an occasional Great White that lazily checked me out were to me some of the most amazing and awe inspiring creatures that inhabited the oceans.  I saw sharks every time I went diving.  Sadly, this is not the case with today's divers who go for months without sighting any of these larger species.

There are approximately 368 Species of shark that roam the world's oceans that are divided into 30 Families and 8 Orders.  Unfortunately the future is bleak for these magnificent animals. It has been estimated that many of the shark species that are alive today will be extinct in 50 years and some may become ecologically extinct (numbers decrease until the population is no longer sustainable) within the next 10 years.  This problem is exacerbated by the shark's slow growth, late maturity and small number of offspring.

World-wide each year there are only about 100 shark attacks on humans.  Only an average of 10 people die each year from shark bites.  The world-wide market for shark fin soup is largely responsible for the slaughter of more than 100,000,000 (100 MILLION) sharks each year in the oceans of the world.  China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia are the main consumers.  In Hawaii alone, the consumption of FINS ALONE is estimated at 37,500 pounds per year.  Both suppliers and consumers are in our view, short-sighted, irresponsible and immoral.  This ratio of 1 human killed to 10 million sharks killed is appalling.

Shark "finning" is a cruel and wasteful method of supplying the demand for shark fin soup.  Boats from mainly third world countries generally lack on-board refrigeration to preserve the meat for food.  After catching the animal using "long lines", these fishermen cut the highly prized Dorsal Fin off and throw the animal back overboard to slowly die from starvation, exsanguination or attack from other predators.  The fin is then dried and stored for eventual sale.  The fin is only 1 to 4% of the shark's total body mass, so up to 99% of the animal is wasted.  Processed shark fin can sell to restaurants for as high as $90 per pound and the final product as high as $100 per bowl.

If the animal is large enough, it is killed on board and the jaws cut out before tossing the carcass back into the water.  Large Great White teeth retail for several hundred dollars and large jaws for several thousand.

A recent study conducted by scientists at Dalhousie University in Canada analyzed shark populations from 1986 to 2000 and estimated that the population of six species have been reduced by more than 50% in the last 8-15 years.

The study specifically shows the population decline in six species:

      -- Hammerheads: 89%
      -- White sharks: 79%
      -- Tiger Sharks: 65%
      -- Coastal Species: 61%
      -- Threshers: 80%
      -- Blue Sharks: 60%

For the mathematically challenged this means that if in 1986 there were 10,000 Great White Sharks alive in the Atlantic Ocean, in the year 2000 there were only 2,100.  If there were 10,000 Hammerheads, in 2000 there were only 1,100.  This decease in population, if not checked, will mean the loss of some of the world's most magnificent predators and the imbalance of the ecology of the world's oceans.

WE HUMANS SHOULD TO BE THE STEWARDS AND GUARDIANS OF OUR WORLD'S RESOURCES, BUT GREED IS A VERY POWERFUL MOTIVATOR.    DEALERS WHO BUY AND SELL MODERN TEETH AND JAWS MUST SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LOSS OF THESE CREATURES.

MegMawL DOES NOT CONDONE, ENCOURAGE OR SUPPORT THIS CARNAGE.