KEY POINTS:
Sharks are monsters of the ocean - creatures of myth and movie. Or so they say. In reality, they are the victims of the horror stories, not the perpetrators, as shark populations worldwide decline.
Sharks are not the top ocean predators - humans in fishing boats command that
spot. A total of 112 species of shark are found in New Zealand waters, 70 of which are caught in our fisheries.
Of these, 28 are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of species threatened with extinction.
Only one threatened species - the great white shark - is protected in New Zealand. It is ironic that this species, which was portrayed in the Jaws films as a relentless human killer, is now at risk of extinction largely at the hands of humans.
Fishers work under the Quota Management System but there's so little information about shark populations - with good information on only three of the 70 species caught in our fisheries - that it is hard to know if present catch levels are sustainable.
Our longline tuna fishery catches twice as many blue sharks as "by-catch" as it does tuna. Ministry of Fisheries data shows that between 2003 and 2006 the proportion of tuna caught by tuna fishers was as low as 13 per cent and 18 per cent of total landed fish.
But between 22 per cent and 34 per cent of their total take was blue shark. It's no surprise that scientists label the tuna industry the blue shark fishery.
Blue sharks are recognised internationally as a threatened species by the IUCN and are estimated by Australia's national science agency to have declined by 40 per cent in the Tasman Sea over the past decade. Ministry figures also show that from 2002-2007 more than 80 per cent of blue sharks caught in New Zealand had just their fins landed, with their carcasses dumped at sea.
Forest & Bird believes we should be doing more to protect sharks. Shark finning - cutting off the high-priced fins and dumping the rest of the body at sea - should be banned. The wasteful practice, in which the fins are kept for shark fin soup, is contributing to the decline of shark populations worldwide.
Shark fins are also marketed as shark cartilage and sold as claimed health benefits.
Finning sharks while they are still alive is illegal under animal welfare laws but there is video evidence this still happens. A Department of Conservation worker reported seeing a fishing boat in Abel Tasman National Park waters in 2007 with 29 finned sand sharks, some still alive. And in late 2007, French Pass tourist operation Sea Safaris found recently finned carpet sharks while filming for the BBC. Some were alive.
Finning dead sharks is legal in New Zealand waters, though it's banned in many countries.
We know that sharks are long-lived, slow-breeding fish that are highly vulnerable to over-fishing. If we allow finning to continue, we are adding to the serious decline in shark populations caused by this wasteful and abhorrent practice.
High-profile chefs and food writers Peta Mathias, Richard Till, Annabel Langbein, Peter Calder and Julie Le Clerc support a campaign to help stop shark finning. The New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council also backs the pledge, and a Colmar-Brunton poll last year found that 83 per cent of New Zealanders support a ban on shark finning.
Forest & Bird believes we must follow Australia, South Africa, the European Union and Costa Rica and make it mandatory that sharks are landed whole as a disincentive to shark finning.
The great white shark being autopsied at Auckland Museum tomorrow was caught in Kaipara Harbour in a gill net, or set net. It is another casualty of set nets, which indiscriminately catch non-target fish, dolphins, seals and seabirds. They are banned or heavily regulated in many countries, and New Zealand fishers should replace them with better, more selective fishing techniques.
Let's look at the facts, not the myths, about sharks, and act to stop their decline.
* Kirstie Knowles is the marine conservation advocate for Forest & Bird.