From FLORIDA TODAY and other sources

   A recent article journal Science suggests that longline fishermen harvesting tuna and swordfish from the Atlantic and nearby waters has resulted in a 50% decline in shark populations in the past 15 years. Large, slow-growing coastal sharks like the hammerhead, sandbar, and dusky are extremely susceptible to over-fishing. The problem is further aggravated by the lack of adequate management measures to protect sharks from indiscriminate fishing. Researchers at Dalhousie University believe that declining shark populations is a global phenomenon. The study showed that hammerhead populations had reduced by 89%, tiger sharks by 65%, great whites by 79%, blue sharks by 60%, and threshers by 80%. Dr. Grant Gilmore, of Dynamac Corporation, believes that hammerheads are more prone to die on fishing lines than other sharks and this hinders rescue efforts because they die before they can be saved. As hammerhead populations decrease, their chief prey the sting rays increase in numbers consuming more shellfish and clams causing an imbalance in the ecosystem. Dr. Ransom Myers, from Dalhousie University, believes that establishing refuges with complete prohibition on fishing would provide a safe habitat for sharks and other fishes to feed and reproduce and eventually increase fish catch for commercial fishing fleets. The National Marine Fisheries Service is facing a lawsuit filed in federal court by Earthjustice, on behalf of The Ocean Conservancy and National Audubon Society, for inadequate protection from over fishing and failure to increase coastal shark populations. Excluding public comment and failure to perform appropriate environmental assessment of the full impacts of its emergency rule.(incorporate)

   Despite a ban on harvesting of shark fins for shark fin soup by the United States, countries like Spain and Japan continue to harvest sharks for their fins. Researchers are concerned about declining shark populations as sharks are at the top of the food chain and any imbalance would affect the entire food web.