In this Shark Tale, Man Preys, Sharks are the Victims

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/26/AR2007052601261.html?hpid=topnews
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Fish Story's New Reality Is That Man Bites Shark
It's 4 of Us a Year, Millions of Them

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 27, 2007; Page A01

LAS BARRANCAS, Mexico -- Year after year, beach season brings accounts of harrowing shark attacks as people around the world plunge into the surf to escape summer's heat.

But the reality is that these fearsome predators kill an average of four people worldwide every year, while humans kill anywhere from 26 million to 73 million sharks annually, according to recent calculations by an international team of scientists.

With the latter toll mounting rapidly in recent years, there has been a growing realization that something must be done to prevent sharks from disappearing from the planet.

Two weeks ago, Mexico, which has a large shark fishery, enacted a new law that protects three species, bans the practice of shark "finning" -- slicing off the fins of a newly caught shark and tossing the animal back in the ocean to die -- and requires authorities to monitor the activities of large shark-fishing boats. Early next month, officials from around the globe will meet in The Hague, Netherlands, to decide whether to put tight new controls on the trade in two heavily fished species, spiny dogfish and porbeagle, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"For most of human history, sharks have been seen as a threat to us," David Balton, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for oceans and fisheries, said in a recent interview. "Only recently are we beginning to see we're a threat to them."

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