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| -Short Attention Span Theater- | ||
| Worlds Largest Fish Is Shrinking | ||
| 2005-05-16 | ||
The world's largest fish, the gentle and solitary whale shark, is getting smaller, an international conference heard this week.
Researchers don't know exactly why the fish is shrinking. But they speculate that over-fishing in unprotected international waters, injuries caused by collisions with sea vessels and a drop in the average age of the fish could be reasons. "Any fish population that is undergoing unsustainable mortality usually shows a drop in average size of individual fish, and a drop in abundance. So what we're seeing at Ningaloo is particularly worrying, because these waters are protected," says Meekan. "If we're losing the adults in the population, leaving only juvenile whale sharks, then we'll have no population there to reproduce. That's a real concern." The whale shark is an elusive, slow growing, plankton-eating, oceanic fish. It only occasionally ventures to a handful of coastlines around the world, including those along India, the Seychelles, Kenya and Somalia. Because of this very little is known about them. Only one pregnant female has ever been found and she had a litter of 300 pups. Meekan says 'top order' animals such as large sharks are a good barometer of the ocean health. "They're like the canary in the coal mine, so we do need to pay attention to the signals they are giving us." Protecting the whale shark Conference delegates called for countries to try harder to protect the whale shark and its habitat. They called for a move away from harvesting the sharks to sustainable alternatives, like carefully managed ecotourism. "The evidence points to serious declines in the abundance of whale sharks in some parts of the world following even short periods of exloitation," the delegates say in a communiqué released at the end of the conference.
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| Posted by:Spavirt Pheng6042 |
| #20 BTW, congratulations on acquiring a Natalie! Girl children can be highly amusing as they grow up, and their fathers even more so (I just discovered today that Mr. Wife's first rule of dating is that his daughters may not do so until they earn a black belt -- which occurred last December. None of the XX members of his household were informed about this... and fortunately he didn't hold me to the same rule back when we were young!). I wish y'all ever increasing joy as your little one (and any siblings) grows up, and hope only enough sorrow comes your way that is needed -- like salt -- to make your joys sweeter. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-05-17 00:06 |
| #19 Does whale shark meat make good sushi? How much Japanese "research" has involved bits of recently deceased whale shark? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-05-16 23:59 |
| #18 Natalie, actually. With regard to the shrinking whale shark, it should try using its nose to flip a beach ball through an oversized baskeball hoop. Always good for a protein snack from the adoring public. Alternately swimming on its side with one fin out of the water in a pseudo wave is another excellent way to solicit a meal. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-05-16 21:19 |
| #17 W00t! Super Hose is ba-a-a-ck! Congrats on your new daughter. You named her Fredwina, right? |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-05-16 20:48 |
| #16 Ship has always remembered my original hose story that featured my fellow Sea World employee, Shamu. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-05-16 20:21 |
| #15 Congrats! (I wondered if that Shamu thingy would generate a response, lol - you know it's Ship, right? He wears so many hats, heh.) |
| Posted by: .com 2005-05-16 20:14 |
| #14 My wife and I were blessed with another daughter. I have been burping. :-) |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-05-16 20:06 |
| #13 Wimps. Where ya been Hose Man? |
| Posted by: Shamu 2005-05-16 19:33 |
| #12 Too many Koran flushed out to sea, you see. |
| Posted by: john 2005-05-16 13:48 |
| #11 Whatever it is, something fishy is going on, that's for sure. |
| Posted by: Mike 2005-05-16 13:12 |
| #10 Speaking of polio vaccines, I think Michael Moore is due for a booster shot soon... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-05-16 12:26 |
| #9 The world's largest fish, the gentle and solitary whale shark, is getting smaller, an international conference heard this week. Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi are looking smaller now too; I think it's the steroid testing policy... |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-05-16 11:57 |
| #8 I blame Bush and his warmongering, imperialistic policies. Plus, he's a Christian, and everyone knows God punished the whale that ate Jonah Goldberg. . . . Huh? It's a Whale SHARK? Um . . . never mind. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2005-05-16 11:52 |
| #7 Ningaloo is the last undeveloped warm water coast line in the world. Ten years ago I paddled a canoe up most of its length. There was not a single inhabited building along the entire coast (there is an abandoned whaling station) and I doubt it has changed. Forget about the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo is far more impressive. I realize migratory animals are at risk when they leave protected areas but if anywhere is secure for these animals Nigaloo is. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-05-16 10:48 |
| #6 ..when a beaver mugged me and took my golden trout? Golden trout in CO? A transplant maybe? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-05-16 10:48 |
| #5 "if only W had signed Kyoto" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-16 10:05 |
| #4 I blame the South Beach diet and Vogue magazine. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-05-16 09:30 |
| #3 Maybe the water is getting colder. |
| Posted by: Miss Gunn 2005-05-16 09:27 |
| #2 Maybe Mother Nature decided that smaller is better when it comes to being a whale shark and natural selection is at work? |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-05-16 8:23:40 AM |
| #1 "Mark Meekan and colleagues from the Australian Institute of Marine Science studied continuous records from log books filled out by ecotourist operators operating at Ningaloo Reef." A fine example of rigorous metholodgy for grant money. then again, did I ever tell you about the time in Colorado '57, when a beaver mugged me and took my golden trout? |
| Posted by: Ebbeque Ebbairong7947 2005-05-16 01:49 |