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Open Fire!

created on: 17.06.2015 | by: Jürgen Oeder | Category(s): News, Umwelt

The Pacific island nation of Palau has set fire to four Vietnamese vessels caught illegally fishing operating in its waters. “We wanted to send a very strong message. Captains will be prosecuted and jailed. Nothing will be gained from poaching in Palau. From one fisherman to another, respect Palau,” President Tommy Remengesau Jr. said after the boats were burned on June 12. 15 boats from Vietnam have been seized within the last year with more than 25 tons of Palau’s marine species. The island nation created the world’s first shark sanctuary six years ago, but has only one patrol boat to help protect its sharks fighting extinction and to battle poachers from across southeast Asia. Courtesy: PEW Cheritable Trust Indonesia has also taken action against poachers, recently blowing up and sinking 41 foreign fishing vessels from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. But what about recreational fishing for sharks? Many of us are becoming increasingly  committed to environmental protection and “free” our catch. However, it is not well known that this gift of life might only last a few days. Some species of sharks exhaust themselves so much during the fight on a line that they can still die from it weeks later. The large amounts of lactate released in their muscles can damage organs irrevocably. Hammerhead sharks are extremely sensitive, as U.S. biologist A. J. Gallagher and his colleagues found in a field study. In this case, the hammerhead sharks that were caught on a long drumline fought so much that more than half of them died within 3 weeks. As little as 20-30 minutes of fighting are enough for lethal acidification of the blood. With bull sharks, which are considered by us anglers to be robust, over a quarter of the animals died after 2 weeks. One can only speculate about the chance of survival for sharks which have fought  to exhaustion from the beach.  I myself stopped fishing for sharks since I took a very instructive and impressive research trip with the shark expert, Prof. Samuel Gruber.