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Sharkwater debut at UK cinemas
L'Oreal - Because Shark's are Worth It!
Horrid day at Harrods
Ocean's twelve
Calendar girl takes top shot
Making a killing out of sharks
Keeping the faith
Dead in the water
Oceanic whitetip closer to extinction
Bite-Back serves up shark victory
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Dead in the water
 Despite evidence that shows commercial fishermen have destroyed underwater habits the size of Europe with indiscriminate trawling methods, new research has conclusively linked industrial fishing for sharks to the demise of coral reef eco-systems.
Research carried out by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego and the Integrative Ecology Group in Seville, Spain, studied intricate predator-prey interactions as part of a detailed food web. It proved that the removal of sharks from the food network caused a domino effect of changes that altered the balance in the reef eco-system.
Without sharks, its carnivorous prey including fish likes groupers, increased in numbers. The exaggerated numbers of these fish in turn hunted on algae eating fish species such as parrotfish. The decline in algae eating fish species resulted in a massive proliferation of algae that transformed the identity of the reef.
Effectively the world's coral reefs and breeding grounds are being dealt a devastating double-whammy by intense industrial fishing methods and colossal quotas. At the same time as deep water species and coral reefs are being destroyed by trawlers, longliners are annihilating crucial pelagic species.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, commented: "Right now, the entire marine eco-system is being perverted by human activity. This study is further evidence of how and why overfishing represents the biggest single threat to the marine environment."
Already it is estimated that 11% of all coral reefs have been destroyed by commercial fishing methods and a further 16% severely damaged during the 1998 El Nino event - when water temperatures climbed. Looking ahead, marine scientists have predicted that an additional 32% of coral reefs maybe lost in the next 30 years if human threats are not reduced.
Against this shameful backdrop 100 million sharks are being slaughtered each year as worldwide popularity for its meat, fins, cartilage and jaws reaches an all time high.
Graham Buckingham said: "We have all the evidence we need to understand the problems. All we need now is the compassion and integrity to reverse the situation."
Bite-Back plans to alter the dynamics of the fishing industry and reverse the slide towards extinction for large pelagic fish including sharks, swordfish and marlin along with deep-water species such as monkfish and orange roughy by reducing retail and consumer demand.
So far, supporters of Bite-Back's cutting edge email campaign have motivated ASDA to remove shark meat from 190 stores, prompted Tesco to stop selling swordfish and marlin in all its supermarkets, encouraged Waitrose to halt sales of orange roughy. Sainsbury's no longer sells pre-packed swordfish and marlin as a result of the campaign.
Even the trendy noodle bar, Wagamama agreed to stop selling shark meat in its nationwide chain of restaurants.
It can be done. Bite-Back is doing it. Please send Bite-Back's campaign emails to offending supermarkets today.
Click here to send your own Bite-Back campaign email to other offending supermarket chains
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