Basking Sharks Populations Declining

According to experts at NOAA, it would appear that the number of basking sharks living in populations based in the Pacific Ocean has been steadily declining for years.

The experts have no declared the marine animals a “species of concern.” The announcement was made by experts at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service.

Conservation measures have been in place to protect these animals for decades, and fishermen have been deterred from trying to kill the beasts.

However, it would appear that these measures were insufficient in ensuring that the population bounced back to historic levels.

In an announcement they made Wednesday, the NOAA experts said that numbers of basking sharks appear to be dwindling regardless of what they try to do to protect them.

The animals were heavily culled until 1950, for both fishmeal and fish oil, but that practice subsided some time ago. In the 1970s, they were hunted because they tended to destroy fishing nets.

Those seeking to protect their equipment conducted a large extermination campaign, which all but achieved its purpose, OurAmazingPlanet reports. 

Even if the range of the basking shark is massive – spanning from the Equator to the Arctic – the animal appears to be incapable of rebounding from such devastation.

As a filter feeder collecting its food particles directly from the water, the basking shark lives mostly in coastal regions, where strong currents make phytoplankton converge. This is their main source of food.

The creatures are rather harmless, and reports of them having “unpleasant run-ins” with humans are scarce at best. Regardless, the eastern North Pacific population is now in danger of disappearing.

The last large group of basking sharks was seen in the area in 1993. While the sharks roamed the seas in very large groups – perhaps hundreds - in the past, they now only do so in groups of three.

The basking shark is endangered outside the US as well. It is listed as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

The Canadian Species at Risk Act makes it illegal to interact with the basking sharks by catching them, harassing them, or destroying their habitats.

In California, the law clearly states that keeping this species captive is illegal, even if the animal was caught as by catch.

Throughout the US, fishermen who get their hands on a basking shark need to release it immediately.