Sharks and mantis population decreased over 70%; now an endangered species

[stroopwafel]

If there couldn't be any more depressing news about the environment this here is a new 'milestone'. Oceans literally being fished empty not only threaten the ecosystem but also the food supply for millions of people and the future of entire countries.

End of the Line: Oceanic sharks and rays in 50-year decline — Marine Megafauna Foundation

A devastating new study documents an alarming decline of oceanic shark and ray populations – 71% over the past 50 years – primarily due to overfishing. The study confirms fears that high levels of decline in pelagic sharks and rays are happening on a worldwide scale.

marinemegafauna.org

 

[Agema]

If there couldn't be any more depressing news about the environment this here is a new 'milestone'. Oceans literally being fished empty not only threaten the ecosystem but also the food supply for millions of people and the future of entire countries.

End of the Line: Oceanic sharks and rays in 50-year decline — Marine Megafauna Foundation

A devastating new study documents an alarming decline of oceanic shark and ray populations – 71% over the past 50 years – primarily due to overfishing. The study confirms fears that high levels of decline in pelagic sharks and rays are happening on a worldwide scale.

marinemegafauna.org

Well, gotta get the fins for shark fin soup from somewhere. What finer reason to shatter ecosystems than an easily replaceable stew ingredient?

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Ah yes. The continual decline of the ecosystems we depend upon thanks to the capitalist inertia we are not given the chance or tools to resist or fight. I almost forgot.

 

[Gordon_4]

If there couldn't be any more depressing news about the environment this here is a new 'milestone'. Oceans literally being fished empty not only threaten the ecosystem but also the food supply for millions of people and the future of entire countries.

End of the Line: Oceanic sharks and rays in 50-year decline — Marine Megafauna Foundation

A devastating new study documents an alarming decline of oceanic shark and ray populations – 71% over the past 50 years – primarily due to overfishing. The study confirms fears that high levels of decline in pelagic sharks and rays are happening on a worldwide scale.

marinemegafauna.org

It’s getting harder and harder for me to generate sympathy for people who are taken - if not eaten - by sharks because not only are we in their house trashing the joint like a bunch of drunken sailors, we’re starving them to death too.

But hey, as apex predators, sharks can at least under certain conditions get their own back. Manta rays can’t even do that.

Also I think auto-correct fucked your thread title since it says ‘Mantis’ and not ‘Mantas’

 

[Agema]

It’s getting harder and harder for me to generate sympathy for people who are taken - if not eaten - by sharks because not only are we in their house trashing the joint like a bunch of drunken sailors, we’re starving them to death too.

I met a Botswanan whose son was a helicopter pilot working with the Botswanan military. Apparently, his job was mostly dropping off elements of the Botswanan army around the country to hunt poachers. I'm normally opposed to the death penalty, but I think the way poachers have been butchering elephants, hippos, rhinos and so on towards extinction, I just can't bring myself to object to killing them.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I met a Botswanan whose son was a helicopter pilot working with the Botswanan military. Apparently, his job was mostly dropping off elements of the Botswanan army around the country to hunt poachers. I'm normally opposed to the death penalty, but I think the way poachers have been butchering elephants, hippos, rhinos and so on towards extinction, I just can't bring myself to object to killing them.

In a lot of the places where the military has to deal with poachers, the poachers are killing humans that get in their way as well.

OTOH, if I lived in an area with large predators, I'd probably approve of people hunting those.

 

[Agema]

In a lot of the places where the military has to deal with poachers, the poachers are killing humans that get in their way as well.

OTOH, if I lived in an area with large predators, I'd probably approve of people hunting those.

Yes. Poachers are ruthless and brutal; many are really paramilitary organised crime gangs, as bad as the worst drug cartels.

I'm pretty skeptical of claims of dangerous animals. Tigers, bears and even more supposedly placid animals like elephants can cause trouble, but they normally avoid humans and attacks are rare. Broadly, I think it's an excuse to exterminate them for convenience and economic gain. I'm willing to bet you the average person who kills a supposedly dangerous tiger threatening his village is able to make a healthy profit selling the skin, teeth, etc. When people see that, it's amazing just how much more vocal some may become about how threatening the animals are.

Elephants are a bit of a problem in Botswana. Botswana has protected its elephants where several neighbouring countries have not (often due to civil disorder), and as elephants are not stupid creatures tens of thousands of them migrated to Botswana. This has led to elephant overpopulation and clashes with villages. Consequently, as some of these countries such as Angola have now stabilised and offer safer habitats, Botswana is trying to repatriate elephants back to their old stomping grounds.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Yes. Poachers are ruthless and brutal; many are really paramilitary organised crime gangs, as bad as the worst drug cartels.

I'm pretty skeptical of claims of dangerous animals. Tigers, bears and even more supposedly placid animals like elephants can cause trouble, but they normally avoid humans and attacks are rare. Broadly, I think it's an excuse to exterminate them for convenience and economic gain. I'm willing to bet you the average person who kills a supposedly dangerous tiger threatening his village is able to make a healthy profit selling the skin, teeth, etc. When people see that, it's amazing just how much more vocal some may become about how threatening the animals are.

Elephants are a bit of a problem in Botswana. Botswana has protected its elephants where several neighbouring countries have not (often due to civil disorder), and as elephants are not stupid creatures tens of thousands of them migrated to Botswana. This has led to elephant overpopulation and clashes with villages. Consequently, as some of these countries such as Angola have now stabilised and offer safer habitats, Botswana is trying to repatriate elephants back to their old stomping grounds.

Something I don't think people think about enough is how much we do this sort of thing around our own homes. We refuse to allow animals to adapt to us for our own convenience, keeping insects from making nests, raccoons from eating our trash, etc. etc. We try to make where we exist as sterile as possible.

 

[Agema]

Something I don't think people think about enough is how much we do this sort of thing around our own homes. We refuse to allow animals to adapt to us for our own convenience, keeping insects from making nests, raccoons from eating our trash, etc. etc. We try to make where we exist as sterile as possible.

I think we could certainly be more accommodating, but what I think is often more problematic is the vast spread of human influence beyond our immediate dwellings. The amount of "built up" terrain (residential and industrial buildings, roads and railways, gardens and urban parks, etc.) even in a densely populated country like the UK is only ~10%. There is a huge amount of the world left for animals even if we kept our bit sterile. I think a bigger problem comes from agriculture: land clearance, insecticides, killing livestock predators, etc. And of course in the seas, fishing.

In many cases we could still do all these things if we just restrained the most stupidly destructive stuff done the name of profits. Some of the intenstive fishing called "bottom trawling" rakes chains over the seabed to drive up the catch into the nets: it is estimated to destroy up to 20 kg of sea life for 1 kg of catch. There's no need to cut the Amazon rainforest down, never mind that the land claimed can rapidly lose productivity anyway. It's just quick profits for scumbags, and we all pay the cost in the long run.

 

[Gergar12]

If we ever survive climate change and find another Earth in space, we should make sure to treat it better than our own planet.

But knowing our species we will just mine the living crap out of it.