Hobie Cat Forums

I apologise in advance for using this forum for a topic unrelated to Hobies, but being a lover of the sea and of all things that cruise on it and under it, I think we all have a common interest in protecting the ocean that we all enjoy so much.

Call me naive but for some reason I thought that shark finning was illegal in Australia. But on the weekend, in a Sydney fish market, there they were in plastic tubs, ready for me to buy for a whole $1.99 / kg. I then had to get home to the computer to do some research and sure enough found out that it's not only legal but the Australian Gov't has just announced a further slaughter of sharks on the Great Barrier Reef with a quota set at 78,000.

If you find time to read the attached file and find this practice as abhorrent as I do, there is a petition that will value your support.

http://www.taasfa.com/

Thanks.

_________________


Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

Good post. Signed!

_________________

Slaughter; I was appalled at this killing just for soup! I had no idea this was happening. Thank you so much for bring it to my attention. You have my Support.....!

_________________
“Remember life is short- eat dessert first.”
The world is 70% water – So that means we should spend 70% more time sailing than mowing lawns!
Larry

Signed.

Thanks for letting us know.

_________________
Randy
"Honu-Pulelehua"
2012 TI Dune
"When the going gets tough, the tough drink tea." Jon Turk

Thanks Slaughter, and all this time, I just thought it was a problem with foreign fishermen illegally taking shark fin in out territorial waters. It is disgusting to realise that the Australian government actually allows a quote for this barbaric practice. Let's hope enough people sign the petition to get the law changed.

Shark finning is a shameful problem that we have here in Costa Rica, there are legal loop holes that people use to do this. It is illegal, but still being done in a massive way.

People who eat shark fin soup without thinking about the environmental consequences remind me of the American Bison hunters who killed 30 million buffalo for their hides and threw the meat away...until there were only a couple of hundred left in the US.
Sharks are the apex predator on most reefs. The whole ecology of the reef will change perhaps for the worse.
We killed off most of the wolves in the American West...with their re-introduction we are just realizing the damage we did by killing them off.
However, wolves can double their numbers every couple of years...it takes decades, if ever, to get shark populations to go back up.

Bison were killed for another reason, by destroying their food supply the indians were much weaker and easier to control. Never forget there is usually a political side to government policies. Sharks are scary, fewer sharks = less scary = bounty on sharks = more tourism... Indians kill settlers = indians are bad = kill their food = easier to kill indians = bounty on bison.

Or just my humble opinion

J

_________________
2011 Golden Papaya TI with a 250 square foot spinnaker!
also a more manageable 100 square foot spinny...
&
the TI3 rear ama mod

I think shark finning it's very dangerous if big sharks it's your target. Children can't do this. Take extra careful in doing this.

Waterproof spray

_________________
Waterproof spray

I didn't want to bring in the political side of 'over-killing'...I agree that the Bison were killed to deprive the American Indians their main dietary source. Equally, the Japanese Government still allows 'scientific whaling' to occur. They have many tons of frozen whale meat sitting in storage, never touched. The Japanese whalers have such a political control on the government that the killing continues.

Perhaps...we need to get the social media involved to stop the Australian shark slaughter.
I was planning on visiting the Great Barrier Reef on my next visit. But I have now decided I would rather visit Perth and go on a Great White tour.

Sharks are also killed to show how "macho" some men are. Frankly, I think it is pathetic. Any idiot can capture & kill a shark--it takes no real skill or intelligence. Men who do this ought to grow up.

Keith

_________________
I sail: S FL, Key Largo, Everglades to Cape Romano, Ft Desoto, Cedar Key

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

Also anglers should be more careful about what they do to discard old fishing line, just about every time I go fishing I find lots of fishing line left behind by careless people, the last trip to Pavilion I collected a bunch of line and a piece of nylon net. how can people be so unconcerned or indifferent to do this regurlarly? Any how this photo I took while driving back from Chokoloskee on Sun 18. a stork tangled in the tree's with fishing line. This ruined the rest of my day.
Gil

Sharks we need
So take care all
We must save THE sea

Great work thanks

thanks for putting this up dude, i to was under the impression shark finning was illegal in Australia.

_________________

You'd think so wouldn't you. Tony Bourke and Anna Bligh signed the agreement just before she was booted out. And then he goes and big notes himself as an environmentalist with this latest fishing zone legislation. Sounds good until you read between the lines. Go figure. I'm not talk'n politics, just common sense.

I got so P'd off I sent him a letter with a cartoon. But he must have thought it was so funny cause he forgot to reply.




Glad we are on the same page Dave.

_________________


Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.