Maltese shark plea

Dive South Africa is a Pretoria based blog dedicated to news and articles relating to scuba diving, shark attacks, marine and environmental issues in South Africa and around the world. This post discusses sharks around Malta:

Sharks whose main prey is tuna will follow tuna, so a few years back, when tuna-farming was not practised, tuna migrated past the Maltese Islands every year and sharks followed. So whether it is tuna in a farm or tuna in the wild, sharks will be there. In fact, it was reported that the shortfin mako was trapped in the tuna fishing lines, chasing wild tuna..

If sharks were removed from their ecosystem around the Maltese Islands, the effect could be to create an imbalance in the numbers of the species upon which they feed. This imbalance could in turn negatively affect the availability of food and other resources all the way down the food chain which could eventually threaten commercial fishing. For example, octopuses eat lobsters and sharks eat octopuses. A declining number of sharks could not control the octopuses eating the lobsters... and if that does not worry you, maybe this will. Sharks are immune to most diseases, including cancer, and are the subject of intense medical research that could one day benefit man..

Nature Trust (Malta) is embarking on a Shark, Skate and Ray Identification programme that will assist scientists and conservation groups, to determine whether or not some species require protection. More information from: info@naturetrustmalta.org

SharkTrust.org