Word: sharking
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...easy to like hammerhead sharks. Ugly to the point of freakishness, stupid beyond mere brutishness, the species is one of nature's least agreeable creations. Nonetheless it was bad news last week when the journal Science published a paper revealing that the unloved hammerhead, as well as many other species of shark, is vanishing faster than we imagined. If the beleaguered predators--consumed as delicacies, hunted as trophies and inadvertently caught by fishing fleets seeking other game--should ever disappear entirely, the world's oceans could be in serious trouble...
...boat has room in its hold, the sharks may be kept with the rest of the catch and sold for their meat. If not, their fins, prized on the market for shark-fin soup, may be cut off and the rest of the animal--alive and bleeding--tossed back. In 2000, former President Bill Clinton signed an order banning shark finning, but that covers only U.S. fleets, and whether all of them comply is hard to know...
Using the number of sharks caught on longlines as an index of the number surviving in the wild, the Dalhousie team came up with some alarming figures. From 1986 to 2000, nearly all shark species may have declined at least 50%, with the populations of some approaching collapse. Tiger-shark populations are down 65%, the legendary white shark has fallen 79%, and the hammerhead is in the worst shape of all, down a staggering...
...heart disease. Should you fish or cut bait? So far it's a draw, with two major studies coming to opposite conclusions. Until more studies are completed, doctors believe that the benefits of fish outweigh the risks, except for pregnant women and nursing moms, who should avoid swordfish and shark to protect their babies from mercury exposure...
Think of Storm Stories as Behind the Music with rain; it searches history and recent news for stories of struggle and triumph, from World War II sailors capsized in shark-infested waters to families made homeless by tornadoes. (If there isn't a storm on the radar, there's always one in the video vault.) Half an hour in length, the show is meant to extend the average viewer tune-in of 12 minutes. "If the same people watch 10% longer," says Burke, "it's the same as growing your ratings...