The Bahamas become the latest country announcing ban on shark fishing in order to protect the ancient sea predator. The Atlantic Ocean archipelago said it was banning the commercial fishing of sharks in its 243,000 square miles (630,000 square kilometers) of water, along with the sale, import or export of shark products.
Neil McKinney, president of the Bahamas National Trust, which manages the country’s resources, said that the ban is desperately needed to protect the species from extinction. He also said that the sharks play extreme important role in balancing the ecosystem. According to the environmentalists around 73 million sharks are killed each year, generally by hacking off their fins, which can fetch lucrative prices as they are served in Chinese soups as a delicacy.
The Bahamas counts tourism as a major industry and a recent study found that shark diving was already worth ê80 million a year, a figure the government hopes will rise once the ban comes into force. McKinney said that the Bahamas remains one of the few location in the world where we have a relatively healthy shark population and a great diversity of species still exists, which is important if we’re going to keep that population and if they’re going to replenish other areas.
