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Sat 26 Nov 2005
Basking shark swims onto list of endangered species
EBEN HARRELL

A SHARK that summers in Scottish waters is to be given international protection due to fears that it is on the brink of extinction.

The basking shark, the world's second largest fish, can be found in warm seas off the coasts of 48 different countries. In the UK, the shark traditionally spends the summer in Gulf Stream waters near Cornwall, but global warming has led to an increase in sightings off Scotland's west coast.

Delegates from the 95 signatories to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) agreed at a conference in Kenya this week to add the fish to a list of endangered species that require international protection.

The basking shark was added to a "red list" of endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1996. But as the shark is migratory, it requires protection by multiple governments, which it received yesterday.

Delegates agreed to meet again to hammer out the details of protection schemes.

Susan Lieberman of WWF International said: "This initial agreement is very significant. We look forward to the governments of the world collaborating for the benefit of the conservation of migratory sharks."

Basking sharks can reach lengths of 11 metres and weigh up to seven tonnes. They are plankton feeders, and can be spotted on the ocean surface with their mouths agape.

Females have a long gestation period and give birth to few young, making the population unstable when stocks are depleted. The fish has been protected in UK waters since 1998, but they are vulnerable to accidental catches, beachings, entanglements and collisions, wildlife experts said. They are also still hunted illegally in many countries.

The attempt to add the species to the list was spearheaded by delegates from the UK and Australia, according to sources at the convention.

UK biodiversity minister Jim Knight said: "We are incredibly lucky to have the basking shark as a regular visitor to our shores and it is appalling that an unsustainable demand for its meat and fins could be a real threat to its future.

"The basking shark is an amazing creature and I am determined that we do everything in our power to protect it."

The basking shark was one of 11 species to be added to the convention's protection list, which now includes 118 species.

The Basra reed warbler, a small brown and white bird which breeds in the Meso-potamian marshlands of southern Iraq, thought to be the original Garden of Eden, is also on the list.

Experts say the warbler's numbers have dwindled because of heavy drainage of the marshlands under Saddam Hussein's rule, part of Saddam's systematic harrassment of the Marsh Arabs, who inhabited the area.

Another species to be given special status is the Bukhara deer, which inhabits central Asia's arid zones, migrating across countries including Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Threatened by habitat destruction and possibly pesticide contamination, the Bukhara deer population is 800-900.

Other species which made the endangered listing are seabirds the Balearic shearwater and Henderson's petrel; Malagasy pond heron; red knot bird; spotted ground thrush and the short-beaked common dolphin.

New species on the endangered list

Red Knot - a medium-sized shorebird which breeds on islands in the Arctic regions of Canada and winters along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Also found in Europe and Asia.

Basra Reed Warbler - small brown bird, breeds in southern Iraq.

Bukhara Deer - central Asia's only true deer, it migrates across Tajikistan and Uzbekistan where it is threatened by habitat destruction and pollution. Only 800 to 900 survive.

Henderson's Petrel - a dwindling population preyed on by rats on the tiny, uninhabited Henderson Island in the South Pacific. Rat threat now being addressed.

Malagasy Pond Heron - found in southern Africa, rare elsewhere on the continent.

Balearic Shearwater - breeds on cliffs in the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean.

Spotted Ground Thrush - its woodland habitat in East Africa is being destroyed.

Short-Beaked Common Dolphin - thousands still being caught in tuna nets, with other dolphin species, in the eastern tropical Pacific, though its plight may be improving.

Madacascar Squacco Heron - in decline as wetlands disappear.

Atlantic Sturgeon - migrating fish that has been exploited for caviar for many years.

©2005 Scotsman.com

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November 22, 2005
Findings
Ocean Explorer Becomes One With the Sharks
By JOHN SCHWARTZ

There have been many men inside sharks through the ages, but only one has wanted to be there, and his name is Cousteau.

The familiar name carries with it a well-established sense of seawater, science and showmanship. But this Cousteau is Fabien, the 38-year-old grandson of Jacques and an ocean explorer in his own right.

Fabien Cousteau is studying the behavior of great white sharks. They have gotten an unfair reputation as soulless killers, he said in an interview. Reading stories about shark attacks, he said, "It struck me about how much misinformation about sharks is out there." With a new documentary that will be shown on CBS later this year, he's out to show that they are, well, not exactly cuddly, but not evil either.

One problem with monitoring sharks, he said, is that it is so hard to observe them without affecting their behavior. The shark cages, the bait - it all adds up, he said, to footage of gaping mouths and churning water foamed with blood.

The idea for a shark submarine came to him, he said, from the adventures of Tintin, a comic strip character created by a Belgian artist. In "Red Rackham's Treasure," Tintin explores the sea in a shark-shaped sub. "I was 7 years old when I read it," said Mr. Cousteau, who was born in Paris but lives in New York.

He named his submersible Troy, for another animal-shaped vehicle with invaders inside. Piloting the 14-foot craft was not a joy. "Troy is definitely not for the claustrophobic!" he wrote in an e-mail message after the interview. He compared the experience to "being in a womb."

The interior is filled with water, and he uses a rebreather. He carried six hours of air on each dive, but would usually become uncomfortably chilled after a couple of hours.

Mr. Cousteau's gamble paid off, he said, when the groups of sharks he approached off the coasts of Mexico allowed him to cruise along with them. "The sharks were willing to be around us," he said. He found that some - perhaps not the brightest of the bunch - were apparently fooled by the swimming fake.

"The fact that it even remotely worked, remotely resembled a swimming shark, was really neat," he said.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company