Autora convidada
Elisa Massafferri
Passionate about animals and nature, she decided to pursue a career and is now a graduate student in Biological Sciences at UNIRIO.
Unbridled fishing can cause damage to the balance of the marine ecosystem and food chains, since eliminating totally, or a significant part of top-chain animals such as sharks, causes an overpopulation of their prey and consequently a compromise of lower trophic levels. It was revealed by Mongabay, an illegal fin market fueled by a company that until then only fished and sold tuna to Mitsubishi.
The interviewees indicated, in addition to fishing and illegal sale of sharks, terrible living and working conditions.
It was found that one of the most notorious boats of DOF (Dalian Ocean Fishing), had 5 Indonesian sailors who fell ill and died in 2019 and 2020. The same vessel even extracted 743 kg of dried shark fin, which is equivalent to 4,583 individual sharks in a 13-month period, a former worker testified to Mongabay. Fishing is going so far that according to photos, some of the fins smuggled were from whitetip sharks, critically endangered animals whose retention is illegal under any circumstances.
I think the most impressive thing about all this is that shark meat, or Dogfish, as it is marketed, is not good for us humans. This happens because, since sharks are top-predators, they accumulate heavy metals (such as mercury) from the entire trophic chain, which can be lethal to us. So why? What is the need to end all life and resources that are given by nature?
When I was little I had the illusion that the only animals that were consumed were the ones I ate and had access to, and those are chicken, beef and fish. I grew up and became more and more impressed because there is not a single animal that escapes human exploitation. Alligators, rabbits, lobsters, insects, are some examples. Too bad we are so blind to see that we depend on nature and not the other way around.