A video recently surfaced on CNN.com of Craig Clasen, who last June when hunting for yellowfin tuna with his friend and a film crew. When a tiger shark attacked his friend, Craig fought back with his spear gun and struggled with the shark for over 2 hours before the shark finally died. You can view the video here.
Although he now has a winning cocktail party story to tell, Craig’s experience caused him to miss out on his tuna dinner. He DID manage to catch another species of fish, however. Shark is a fairly popular meat in certain circles. In Asia, shark’s fin soup has become increasingly popular in the past couple decades, although it has been served for centuries. Additionally, steaks of shark meat are cooked in similar styles to other fish and beef, such as grilled and marinated.* Wait a minute, though, before running out to your nearest Safeway and demanding a bunch of shark steaks.
Many environmental groups such as PETA present vehement arguments against the hunting and consumption of shark meat. According to these campaigns, tens of millions of sharks die every year due to barbaric hunting methods such as “finning“: sharks are caught, their fins cut off for the popular soup dish, for example, and the sharks are thrown back into the water to die a slow death from starvation or drowning, robbed of the important functions of their fins. While this is one pretty graphic example against shark hunting, there is a more pragmatic argument, as well.
The ecological implications are potentially disastrous. It’s all about the predator-prey relationship: Great sharks like the tiger and hammerhead (two of the most often hunted) feed on animals such as smaller sharks, rays, and skates. These mid size animals feed on smaller animals like shellfish- oysters, clams, and scallops. As the shark population is decimated by hunting and finning, the mid size animals flourish, which causes a dramatic drop in the supply of small animals like our beloved shellfish.
Not only does this imbalance an entire global ecosystem of flora and fauna, it severely impacts the economies of the seafood industries that rely on the capture and sale of the ever-popular shellfish. I know, it’s almost mind-boggling to discover that ridding ourselves of a nightmare like “Jaws”could backfire and contribute further to our economic woes. But the truth is humans are the great sharks’ only real predator, and therefore only we have the ability to stop this scenario from worsening.
While our adventurous foodie natures and discerning palates might encourage us to follow Craig’s lead and switch from tuna to shark on our next fishing trip, we have a responsibility at the top of the food chain to safeguard the biological diversity and fragile ecosystems that make our planet so special. And if that doesn’t strike a chord with you, just think about how much you like oysters. From Craig’s experience we can learn to stick with tuna or trout for our hunting expeditions. And maybe take a film crew next time along with our fishing poles and bait.
*Note: I didn’t add any recipes for shark meat dishes due to the controversial nature of hunting and consuming this food.
Related articles
- Shark fin soup alters an ecosystem (cnn.com)
- Photography: How Overfishing Takes Place (isiria.wordpress.com)
- EU launches plan to protect sharks (guardian.co.uk)
- Die, Shark. Die, Shark. Die, Shark. [Spear Fishing] (deadspin.com)