Current Event #2

Rj Ambrose 

For this current event I read a very interesting article, called "An Ocean That is no Longer Wild" by Lonny Lippsett. There are many BIG species in the ocean, and many of those bigger spices are being killed in enormous numbers. Last year the estimate shark kill rate was 100 million. Many of the sharks that are caught are used for a very famous sharkfin soup in Asia. The problem with that is that the sharks are only used for their fin, then are thrown in the waste to die. The shark population is taking a great hit because of it, sharks cannot simply reproduce 3 million eggs they can only have around 10 pups. They are starting to do a research project on big fish like sharks, rays, tuna, and swordfish. scientist are putting this experiment together to retain more knowledge on the parts that they play in the underwater ecosystem. Scientist are going to plant an anchor with a tag attached into muscle tissue just below the dorsal fin to sharks, tuna, swordfish, etc.. After a certain amount of time the tag will be released from under the dorsal fin, and will then float to the surface for the scientist to retrieve. Somethings that get tracked during the experiment are basic habitats, average speed, depth that it swims at, and also seasonal change. It is vital that these fish stay healthy and living, they play one of the biggest roles in the ecosystem. They help maintain diversity underwater and we must conserve the diversity that we have maintained. 


This topic affects many different aspects of underwater life. Underwater temperatures will also change causing other species to die. Scientist state that so far the underwater ecosystem is normal, but they predict that within the next ten years ample change will occur. If all of the fish were to disappear the entire environment will be looked at in a completely different way. This is why change is a must, if you want to see big fish in ten years from now.   


This was filled with many negatives and positives. First I am going to talk about the negatives. They did lots of these very expensive experiments on these fish, but they never gave us a clear reason why the fish are being killed. 100 million sharks couldn't possibly be killed just for a soup. They could maybe give us other reason why the sharks are being killed. Now for the positives, I would have to say that the main positive was the information on the experiment. They gave us fantastic detail on the ending results which was super helpful.      


Lippsett, Lonny. "An Ocean That's No Longer Wild." : Oceanus Magazine. Oceanus Magazine, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=178909>.