As a coastal country, Brazil's northern coastline (BNC) has the longest continuous mangrove forest in the world, and thanks to its rich biological resources, this area has become a paradise for many corals, crustaceans and offshore fish, but it has also attracted a large number of "fishing masters" to fish here, and over time, it has become one of the three major fishing grounds in Brazil.
According to statistics, the annual catch of the fishery is about 100,000 tons, in addition to the species of mackerel, salmon and cod, the proportion of cartilaginous fish, including sharks, rays, etc., also accounts for one-fifth of the total catch.
Sharks should all know that they are the top predators in the marine ecosystem, but in fact, many sharks are highly susceptible to human activities, such as the small tail shark we are going to talk about today.
The small tail shark belongs to a kind of true shark genus of the cartilaginous fish family, compared to the whale shark and man-eating shark we are familiar with, the body size is more slender, and the adult shark generally does not exceed 1.5m, which belongs to the more "delicate" shark.
Currently, the small-tailed shark lives mainly in coastal areas from the Gulf of Mexico to the south of Brazil, and is commonly found in shallow waters near the coast, especially near the estuaries where the continent flows into the ocean. They enjoy swimming on the muddy seabed and sometimes venture off to the coast, but don't worry, baby-tail sharks don't attack humans.
But in nature, the roles of hunters and prey may change at any time, and although they are not interested in humans, humans "feed" their bodies.
Before the 1980s, Brazil's north coast was home to the largest number of babytail sharks, but this is not the case now. According to a study jointly published by three Brazilian scientific institutions, the population of the small tail shark on Brazil's north coast has dropped by 90% compared with before, and it can be listed as a critically endangered species.
The reason for the sharp decline in their populations stems from local overfishing. Due to the huge demand in the international shark fin market, Brazil contributed 300,000 kg of shark fin soup between 2000 and 2011 alone. But with public pressure and improved environmental legislation in many countries, market trends have gradually changed, and global demand for shark fin soup is decreasing.
However, although shark fin soup is not so delicious, their fish meat is still quite fragrant whether it is braised, fried, steamed, so the shark population in the South Atlantic and even the entire ocean is still not having a good time.
Indeed, the Brazilian Government is aware of the consequences of overfishing the fisheries. As early as 2014, the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (MMA) issued Decree No. 445/2014 prohibiting fishing vessels from fishing in the sea from catching some protected fish such as catfish and Brazilian sea bream, and also formulated a national action plan for the protection of cartilaginous fish such as sharks and rays.
It's just a pity that the state is intentional, and the fishermen are ruthless. Because there are too many Brazilian "fishing masters", almost half of the Brazilian fishing industry, they drive relatively simple fishing boats in the configuration and capacity to find the sea where the fish are abundant, and then use the fishing nets with barbs to fish in a wide range.
This indiscriminate "attack method" makes it easy to catch small-tailed sharks swimming in the estuary. They are small, so they can easily be picked up by these fishing operations.
In addition, the small-tailed shark has a longer gestation period and a longer growth period for females and juvenile sharks than several other small coastal sharks, so they also have a longer time cycle to breed the next generation and develop to sexual maturity. As a result, most of the small-tailed sharks caught in the fishing industry are juvenile sharks, which may have been caught ashore before they reach the reproductive age, and this vicious circle further exacerbates population declines.
Not just the small-tailed shark, 8,188 species on the IUCN Red List by 2021 are considered critically endangered, and if left unchecked, they may disappear forever on the planet in a few decades.
Normally, when the Earth was in a period of natural evolution, it would take at least tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years for a species to go extinct, and now human activities have accelerated this time by more than 100 times.
For the small-tailed sharks, they were originally just a group of harmless marine natives, freely shuttling through the silt on the seabed, and as a large net full of spikes quietly fell, they found that they had nowhere to escape, and eventually died of bruises.
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Fish Fish Winner of the Silver Award for Excellent Popular Science Works of the China Association of Popular Science Writers, and a lover of various fish heads such as steamed fish heads and spicy fish heads.
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