Residents of Cornwall, United Kingdom, were horrified to find a thresher shark washed up on their beaches recently, according to Forbes.
"While difficult to say for certain, early findings suggest the animal's death may have been the result of line caught sport fishing," said Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Conservation Officer Matt Slater, per the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. "Bycatch, the accidental entanglement of marine animals in fishing gear, poses a major risk to sharks and other ocean wildlife."
What's happening?
The 14-foot-long shark was found at Par Sands Beach in the southwest of England. Someone walking their dog found the body and called the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, which deployed a team of volunteers to take it to postmortem examination. The examination revealed damage to the mouth and signs of hemorrhaging. These likely occurred before the animal died.
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Why are thresher sharks important?
Thresher sharks are eye-catching predators that use an elongated tail fin to corral and stun prey. They typically live close to ocean coastlines around the world and migrate frequently. The common thresher is currently listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which is one step away from endangered. Its Pacific cousin, the pelagic thresher, is endangered, however.
Predators are ecologically significant for their ability to regulate prey populations. Without such checks and balances, prey species can overgrow and strip ecosystems of resources. This can starve all species sharing the habitat.
What's being done about thresher shark conservation?
The United States has a wide range of shark protection laws, particularly against the harvesting of fins. Meanwhile, the U.K. has few protections specific to thresher sharks. It does, however, have a bycatch prevention initiative, which could include unintended deaths of ecologically significant predators like the thresher shark.
We've seen successful rehabilitation efforts for predators like otters, bald eagles, ospreys, and leopards. There's good reason to be optimistic that shark populations can be equally protected and supported by interest groups and government agencies.
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