Study says shark gone from Gulf | Houston Chronicle

[Ediacara]

Feb. 4, 2004, 10:48AM

Study says shark gone from Gulf
Others disagree that whitetip nearly extinct

By DINA CAPPIELLO
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Environment Writer



A shark that was once as common in the Gulf of Mexico as bloodthirsty mosquitoes along the Texas coast is now virtually extinct from the region, according to research published today in the journal Ecology Letters.

By comparing data collected in the 1950s to accidental catch taken in the 1990s aboard commercial fishing vessels, two Canadian scientists estimate that the population of oceanic whitetip sharks has declined in the Gulf by more than 99 percent -- a number that the federal government said Tuesday was likely overestimated.

The study spells more trouble for big fish and sharks, which are slow-growing species that give birth to few young and are already on the decline elsewhere. In the Gulf of Mexico, the whitetip joins green turtles and blue fin tuna on the locally extinct list, although the shark still exists in the warm waters of the world's oceans.

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[ixion]

1. very sad... if we keep it up

we'll kill every last wild animal on the planet. :-(

[donsu]

3. including humans - we are animals too

nt

[alfredo]

4. Ever play the drinking game where you put a tissue over a glass of

some vile mixture of booze, then put a nickel in the center of the tissue. Each person burns a hole in the tissue. When a hole weakens the tissue to the point the nickel falls into the glass. That person has to drink the booze to retrieve the nickel.

Sooner or later the tissue that keeps us from the abyss will weaken to the point it will not be able to support us.

[shamanstar]

7. isnt that the goal?

eliminate the competition? daniel quinn's ishmael made a lot of sense to me.

[mbperrin]

2. Just the latest environmental initiative by the *Bush folks!

The Clean Water program - gets rid of all those pesky lifeforms that are cluttering our water!

[Exultant Democracy]

5. Humanity....worst species ever.

[NickB79]

6. I already know what a Repub. friend of mine will say

"Good riddence, less man-eaters in the water." Of course he's totally incapable of grasping the concepts of a balanced food change, the important roles sharks play in the ocean's ecosystems, or the fact that more people are killed by bees than sharks annually.