BIOtheNUMBERS

More than 1,000 species of sharks and rays inhabit the earth’s oceans

Basking sharks filter up to 1,500 gallons of water per hour

The smallest is a lantern shark, averaging just 8 inches

The largest fish in the world is the whale shark and can reach lengths of over 40 to 60 feet

The fastest shark is the Mako, which has reached speeds of more than 45 miles per hour

Blue sharks have been tracked swimming more than 10,000 miles

Sharks may hear a fish a mile away

Sharks can smell blood in the water from 1/3 of a mile away

The Spiny dogfish has a gestation period close to 2 years, which makes it one of the longest of any animals

Spiny dogfish females are thought to reach breeding age at 35 years

Dusky shark females reach breeding age at 20 years

The smalltooth sawfish population has declined by 99%

The IUCN estimates that 20% of sharks are in danger of extinction

Worldwide shark takes have tripled since 1985

Tens of millions of sharks are accidentally caught as bycatch in commercial fisheries each year

According to Oceana, “estimates of the total number of sharks killed each year for their fins range from 26 to 73 million per year.”

Data: Ocean Conservancy and Oceana

Quotes taken from the Nature Conservancy’s 2009 report ‘Shellfish Reefs at Risk: A Global Analysis of Problems and Solutions’

“In most individual bays and ecoregions there has been a >90% loss in oyster reef habitat. In some bays, losses are >99%”

“Globally, 85% of oyster reefs have been lost, making oyster reefs one of the most severely impacted marine ecosystem on the planet”

“In 1864 alone, 700 million European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) were consumed in London, employing up to 120,000 men in Britain to dredge oysters”

“Shell piles in the southwest of France contain over 1 trillion shells apiece”

“Chesapeake Bay reefs are closer to 1% remaining than 10% remaining”

“They [oyster reefs] are functionally extinct with less than 1% of prior abundances remaining in many bays (37% of bays) and ecoregions (28% of ecoregions), particularly in North America, Australia and Europe”

“Nearly half of the assessed shellfish populations were either moderately or highly threatened by overfishing and environmental degradation”

“Oyster reefs are at less than 10% of prior abundance in most bays (70%) and ecoregions (63%)”

“Most wild Ostrea edulis populations in Europe were removed between 100 and nearly 1000 years ago, but in just the past decade (1990s), a wild population in the Gulf of Thessaloniki (Greece) collapsed from more than 1000 tonnes of harvest annually to a point where it is now difficult to find just 60 individual oysters with a dredge”

In the South Tasman Rise, high seas south of Australia, fishing records show that 1.6 tons of coral was hauled aboard trawling vessels per hour in 1997.  In that year, more than 10,000 tons of coral bycatch was estimated to be captured, but less than 4,000 tons of their actual orange roughy target was caught (Deep Sea Conservation Coalition).

The United Nations Environment Programme recorded more than 4.4 million pounds of coral and sponge bycatch in the Aleutian Islands between 1990-2002.

In September 2008, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization failed to reach an agreement that would protect threatened deep-sea zones, although they partially closed two seamount areas with the caveat that 20% is still open to exploratory fishing (NAFO).

“Orange Roughy, one of the most commercially fished deep-water species. Orange Roughy can live for around 150 years and do not begin to breed until they are around 25 years old, making them extremely susceptible to over-fishing.” (NOAA)

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