Why keeping sharks alive makes economic sense

[Petert71]

Very interesting article arguing why it makes sense to ban the hunting of sharks.

The researchers found that the annual value to the Palau tourism industry of an individual reef shark at one of the country's major scuba-diving sites is 179,000 dollars (121,000 euros) a year, or about 1.9 million dollars (1.3 million euros) over the animal's lifetime.

Full article can be found here...
'Million-dollar sharks' a boon to eco-tourism: report - Yahoo! News

 

[smellzlikefish]

I'm glad somebody was able to put dollar amounts to them. I personally find it frustrating trying to explain trophic cascades to laymen/women and have nearly given up trying. Top-down control of ecosystems is highly controversial, difficult to prove, and even more difficult to explain.

 

[Wantonmien]

Peter71

Nice to see the article was also picked up by and published in one of Taiwan leading newspapers - though I don't know if it got into the Taiwanese (Chinese) language press here.

Sharks worth far more alive than dead, researchers say - Taipei Times