Too many Sharks? I wish!Really???
Did USP Marine School head Joeli Veitiyaki really say this???
For now, I'm assuming that the journo has made an error.
Maybe Joeli said something on the lines of if we don't stop overfishing, Shark populations will remain depressed, or the like.
At least, that's the hope.
But just for the record: the campaign aims at halting the precipitous decrease of Fiji's Sharks which would have devastating effects on marine ecosystems!
Apart from the truly remarkable event of witnessing a marine academic speak out against urgently required marine conservation measures, claiming that Sharks would ever overpopulate, or whatever, would reveal a catastrophic ignorance of Shark biology and of the role they play in their habitats, and of the most basic and fundamental insights of Ecology!
Sharks out-breeding their spawning prey??? And, what about predator/prey relationships, feedback loops, trophic cascades etc???
Really???
Protecting the nurseries?
Certainly, but this on top of a blanket protection of Sharks, this in order to protect them against incidental mortality when they reside in one of the most important hot spots!
So here's to it having been a mistake.
And: to seeing a correction in the Fiji Times!
