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Health & Fitness

Its Sharktober- Celebrate the Shark


Surfers along the central coast call this time of year Sharktober.  This is the season when the white sharks of the north east Pacific population return from an incredible migration of over 2000 miles to feed on elephant seals and sea lions. Each fall white sharks are observed in increasing numbers around the seal colonies of Ano Nuevo and the Farallon Islands, and occasionally along the coastline.
Surfers often observe white sharks patrolling the surfline. A few weeks ago a white shark followed a dying fin whale that eventually beached itself on Stinson Beach causing park officials to close the beach for five days. The shark went away and the surfers returned to the waves without incident.

Occasionally sharks make a mistake and bite a surfer.  When there is an incident, like that of local surfer Jonathan Kathrein, the papers and press go into a literal feeding frenzy. Reports are loaded with adjectives like “grisly death” and “white sharks swarming” and "blood thirsty man eaters".  Jon survived the ordeal and went on to write several books, including one I helped write called  Surviving the Shark, where he reports the media following the accident were more fearsome than the shark.
What is needed, Jonathan and other Shark Survivors argue, is a shift in our perspective.  Most shark bites are accidental and far more rare than we would believe given the media attention. Sharks are in fact more endangered than dangerous.
What the papers fail to report is the headline Man Bites Shark! For every shark bite on humans, there are hundreds of thousands of sharks killed every year. One study estimates one hundred million sharks are being killed for the fins to make shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy. We are overfishing sharks out of the ocean.  Yet scientific studies have demonstrated that sharks play a vital role for healthy ocean ecosystems. Numerous studies have been published on the benefit of sharks to coral Caribbean reefs and fish populations, further reinforcing the ecological importance of sharks.

 As the top- or apex predator, sharks are the regulators of fish and marine mammals. They cull the weak, the stupid and the sick, thereby strengthening the remaining population. The removal of apex predators can cause what is called a trophic cascade. Fish or marine mammals without predatory pressure reproduce and deplete the fish on the next level of the food chain. This in turn has impacts on the population beneath thereby disrupting the balance and health of the oceans.
The killing of sharks for fins is illegal in US waters. However, there is new language proposed in our own Federal Conservation Act that will allow loopholes in our laws that will allow some sharks to be finned and making the anti finning law difficult to enforce.  Supporting our Sanctuaries, strengthening our existing regulations and stopping the consumption of shark products like shark fin soup can all help increase the protection of the pelagic sharks that visit our waters.  This Sharktober, Shark Stewards will be celebrating sharks with shark awareness events including Farallon Island wildlife excursions, emphasizing the importance of sharks to the Bay and Sanctuary, as well as looking at the entire ecosystem of the Gulf of the Farallones from plankton to sharks. Join us for an unforgettable experience and Let Sharks Live!
Want to learn more or help support our work fighting shark finning or the shark fin trade please visit www.sharkstewards.org.

an excerpt from a longer blog written by Sea Steward's David McGuire

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