So I asked leading shark ethologist and behaviourist, Professor Samuel 'doc' Gruber to elaborate. After pointing out how much pain women feel when they give birth, making the point that suffering has no effect on reproduction, he reminded me that sharks evolved their mating behaviours and the physical structures involved, separately from other animals.
Small, antibody-like proteins known as VNARs (Variable New Antigen Receptors) are derived from the immune systems of sharks, and appear to be extremely potent in preventing Covid-19, as well as its variants, and related coronaviruses from infecting human cells.
The ban does not apply to people with permits issued by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), shark fishing for public safety, sharks captured for self-defence, or sharks taken outside of state marine waters with required documentation.
According to Act 51, the conditions of non-commercial permits for the take of sharks “shall include native Hawaiian cultural protocol, size and species restrictions, and a prohibition on species listed as endangered or threatened.”
At the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) last week, North Atlantic fishing nations have pledged to ban catches of the shortfin mako shark.
The efforts to secure the ban was led by the UK, Canada and Senegal. The move means that the countries agreed to end overfishing immediately and to gradually achieve biomass levels that were enough to support maximum sustainable yield by 2070 for the species, according to an article in The Guardian.
Fish rubbing themselves against a shark's body may sound as if they have a death wish, but this is precisely what some fish have been spotted doing. And it turns out that such behaviour is more widespread and frequent than one would think.
A study led by the University of Miami (UM) Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science uncovered over 40 instances of fish rubbing themselves against a shark’s skin in over ten locations around the globe.
While chafing has been well documented between fish and inanimate objects, such as sand or rocky substrate, this shark-chaffing phenomenon appears to be the only scenario in nature where prey actively seek out and rub up against a predator.
Why sharks sometimes bite humans remains unclear, but potential reasons include mistaken identity, whereby sharks are thought to mistake humans for their typical prey; curiosity; hunger; and defensive/offensive aggression.
The mistaken identity theory has received little scientific scrutiny and the visual similarity between humans and pinnipeds at the surface has been debated largely on the basis of human visual perception, rather than that of sharks.
Researchers have discovered that the tiger sharks in the Atlantic are genetically different from the ones in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, according to a study published in the Journal of Heredity on 10 August 2021.
According to co-author Professor Mahmood Shivji, director of the Save Our Seas' Shark Research Centre, the two populations had not intermingled to reproduce for a long time. “This long-term separation between Atlantic and Indo-Pacific tiger sharks has resulted in them developing into separate populations, each with its own unique genetic diversity.”
Cape Cod's slow embrace of its shark reputation comes three summers after the popular vacation destination saw its first great white shark attacks in generations.
Businesses dreaded the negative perception seared into the public imagination by Jaws, the 1975 blockbuster movie about a man-eating great white shark that made its director, Stephen Spielberg, a household name.
Several years ago, there was a concern that it might have a negative impact on tourism. But we’ve been working to educate people about sharks and what we’ve actually seen is no negative impact.
— Paul Niedzwiecki, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce
Finding sharks off the coast of Cape Cod is not hard, with some shark tour operators using the same methods that shark researchers use to find the predators: drones, or an overhead "spotter" plane, to locate sharks and direct their boats to them.
Leaving aside the question of why shark scientists would work to undermine shark conservationists, its simplistic assertion focuses on just two unrelated subjects: the efforts to ban the shark fin trade, and the existence or not, of sustainable shark fisheries.
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is undeniably the most well known of the ocean’s many predators. It has, one could say, “form” and is widely considered as a ruthless and terrifying man-eater, which has taken the lives of many innocent swimmers, surfers and divers.
However, it is still unclear if the presence of a single neonate ('newborn'—ed) is an isolated event or evidence that the species is using the island for reproduction.
