Long live Hawaiian sharks! A new law, the first of its kind in the United States, may soon ban its killing. In addition to heavy fines, the penalty would be equated to a real crime. Furthermore, the ban would not only affect endangered species but all sharks.
Long live Hawaiian sharks! A new law, the first of its kind in the United States, may soon ban its killing. In addition to heavy fines, the penalty would be equated to a real crime. Furthermore, the ban would not only affect endangered species but all sharks.
Painted in the cinema as evil and dangerous, sharks are among the species most at risk from man's fault. But soon, at least in the beautiful waters of Hawaii, they could swim safely.
The bill, put forward by Honolulu lawmakers on Wednesday, received widespread support from the public. Hundreds of calls and e-mails of support received from the authorities.
"These beautiful animals are wiped out in front of our eyes and people don't even realize what they're missing out on", he said Ocean Ramsey, conservationist and marine biologist from Hawaii who has spent years on the protection of these animals.
Worldwide, according to the WWF Approximately 100 million sharks are killed each year. Some species are even disappearing. In Asia, for example, they come fished for their fins with which the soup is prepared, a very expensive Chinese delicacy. Too bad that to procure the raw material, a macabre practice is used, lo shark finning, which consists in severing the fins of sharks and then throwing them dying back into the sea.
Banned in Europe since 2012, unfortunately it is carried out in many seas of the world. Last year, aboard a Singapore Airlines flight bound for Hong Kong About 980 kg of illegally traded shark fins have been found.
But this is not the only threat. While not a popular food source in Hawaii, they are often injured and left to die on the shores, used by local fishermen as bait to catch other fish.
Sharks have also been the target of tour operators' overnight excursions off Waikiki Beach on Oahu and other islands.
Hence the need to protect them with a special law, which punishes both those who kill them and those who injure them. In addition to protecting sharks, the law also extends the same protection to rays, other animals at risk.
The hope is that the proposal will be approved and taken as a model by other states of the world. Sharks are critical to Hawaii's ecosystem and seas around the world. "They are the immune system of the ocean," Ramsey said. Several studies have linked shark populations to the global health of the sea
“These animals have been around for 450 million years and during my lifetime many of them will go extinct. I want this to end. It's not right for them and it's not right for future generations, ”concludes Ramsey.
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Francesca Mancuso
