This is probably not the best time to post an article like this, questioning annual shark kill statistics, when efforts are being made to outlaw shark fin soup in California as we speak, since many of these numbers are the very ones being used in that effort–nonetheless, in the interest of credibility, we need to look at where we are getting our scientific data.
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“In 2011, with many conservation organizations escalating their campaigns and rhetoric against the shark fin trade, there are few news articles, web sites or blogs that don’t mention the millions of sharks killed each year. But I almost never see any reference to the 38 million, which was after all, my best estimate. Frequently I see “73 million” without any reference to this being my highest estimate, and almost as often I see “100 million,” an estimate that was published in Time magazine in 1997 but for which I can find no scientific basis.”
“Selective and slanted use of information devalues and marginalizes researchers who are working hard to impartially present the data.”
Even more troubling, some sources quote these figures as “the number of sharks killed for their fins”, or “the number of sharks finned” (carcasses discarded at sea), or the “number of sharks finned alive” every year. The truth is that no one knows how many sharks are killed for their fins, how many have their carcasses dumped at sea, or how many sharks are alive when finned. We simply don’t have that information, nor do we know whether these numbers have been sustained every year since 2000.”
Source: Shelley Clarke: “Examining Scientific Integrity In the Global Shark Fin Trade”
http://www.seaweb.org/getinvolved/oceanvoices/ShellyClarke.php?utm_source=Save+Our+Seas+Foundation+Newsletter&utm_campaign=6a5c60ecaa-Newsletter-8_2011&utm_medium=email
