This is a short article about the declining numbers of shark and how we are now tracking sharks based on thier DNA. For this post just write about 1 interesting point that they bring up. (agian for full credit you must actually share your thoughts, not just "this is cool" or "this sucks")
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091203-sharks-fins-soup-dna.html
i think it is interesting that they are using dna to find out where they come from. i can't really see how they would even determine that. i think it is dumn though that U.S. people are trying to stop these hunters from hunting sharks that are obviously in different countries i mean really. if its aloud in their country we should have the right to stop them.
ReplyDelete-Mikel Cole period 4.
i though it was f*** up that they, the asians, would just cut off the fins and then just throw them back to die. it would be different if they killed the shark and eat it all and not just the fins.
ReplyDeleteBrandon Davis
i find it interesting that they can determine what ocean the shark came from just by taking a small tissue sample from it's fin. I wonder how much dog is worth there it might be interesting to find out what dogs are worth more or less than shark fin.
ReplyDelete-Calvin Clark
Per.4
What I found interesting is that after they cut off the fins of the sharks, they through the sharks back into the ocean to die. Its more sad because we're not able to stop them from being so crude. but who knows maybe this thing with the DNA will be able to stop them.
ReplyDeleteBecky Lopez
per 4
Now a days there is so many new ways to tag and track sharks i wouldn't be the least suprise if they could track them using DNA. This means that we can more fully study them without finding them and placeing a giant tag on them, with out the giant tag the shark is better off.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Marsden
Per3
I think it's interesting that the scientists have found a way to find out where the sharks come from by using their DNA.
ReplyDeleteI think it's wrong that they are hunting for shark in the places where they are endangered, like in the western Atlantic. I think it's horrible that they cut off the fins of the sharks and then just throw them back in to the ocean again. It's not just a waste of meat and making the decreasing of sharks worse; It's also cruel.
So I hope that they will be able to use this new DNA technique to stop this cruel shark hunting.
- Ida Holmlund
I personally think that using the tracking DNA in sharks is cool, because it gives us a good look into waht sharks do, and what their migrational systems are. If we didnt have them, then we may not be able to see where that specific shark may have come from.
ReplyDeleteLauren McGovern
Per. 4th
I find the very last bit of this article really interesting. The fact that sharks are SO OLD and that they are starting to show signs of extinction frankly makes me feel embarrassed to live in this era. The shark is a mighty animal, and just like many other animals throughout history we are destroying its natural population through consumerism and selfishness. Soup! They are dying for SOUP, if we end up dying through some chain of events through the extinction of shark, how horrible would it be if we look back and say yup, we are about to be snuffed out of reality because we really liked a kind of soup. Go humans.
ReplyDeletei think its totally awesome that they throw the dead sharks back into the ocean, i hope they threw some chemicals and some trash in to! i think it is really incredibly they can take a small sample to figuer out where there comming from but why not save all that money and just patrol the areas with the coast guard or the police????? even if you know where there comming from still doesnt stop them right?
ReplyDelete----alden----
Yeah I think DNA is one of the most valuable piece of technology we have.
ReplyDeleteI found interesting how rapidly the sharks are declining worldwide, and then the sea would turn into nothing but prey species like stingrays and them wiping out commercial fishes.
Taylor Minter P.4
I believe that the most interesting part to me was that 57 out of the 67 sharks that they tested were from the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific. These are where populations of sharks are very low and considered an endangered species. I also thought that the last part of the article was interesting how the shark population could affect all of ocean life. I can't believe that we are wiping out the shark population with soup!
ReplyDeleteJoshua Luce
I think that this is a fun topic it is very cool that they can track sharks from DNA the only thing is that people are using it as an excuse to hunt sharks. People should just let them be whdoes it matter that that they are in veryan places at certain times just let them be.
ReplyDeleteKaddee mueller
ewe thats kinda gross that they put them back in the ocean and a waste... its pretty cool that we can track were the sharks come from =] but its sad the poeple would waste them like that. soon theyll become endagered too!
ReplyDeleteChelsea Hanson
I think that the poachers (which is exactly what they are) taking the fin is wrong... maybe if they used every part of the shark then it might be okay but the fact that they are left to die is BS... They should either take the whole thing or leave it alone
ReplyDeletehaha maybe this is why sharks attack surfers... to get revenge... rather than taking the whole thing they just take an arm or a leg hahaha
the fact that they can track sharks origins by the dna is pretty tight
Mike Krause
I agree with some of my class mates on the fact that just taking their fins is absolutley wrong in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it is very cool that we can track where they are but i feel that with as much money as we have that they should find a different way to track the sharks without having to hurt them in any way. I also agree with the student who siad that when shark attacks happen it is complete revenge. No but on a serious note threr needs to be an alternative way to track them and find the information they are looking for.
ReplyDeleteJake Whisler
I actually heard about this two years ago. I think its sick and messed up that the Asians even think this is acceptable.Its sad enough when animals go extinct but to go extinct this way is even worse. I think its great we are trying to stop this and I hope we are succesful.
ReplyDeleteLanie Quinowski
How interesting it is to see us repeat our past despite how well we know it. This isn't the first, nor will it be the last, time humans hunt down animals to the ends of the earth for something of theirs that we see as valuable. But it's in our nature to hunt. We may have machines and advanced weaponry to help us, but anatomically speaking, we were born to hunt.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we have also gained a great deal of intelligence since man first made the spark of fire. These giant creatures may have something we can take, not as a "need" but as a "want", and can easily be captured and killed by our kind...should we do it? As history shows us, humans tend to think so.
But with this superior intelligence and greater sentience than our ancestors, we've at least made an effort to undo or stop the poaching of these astounding creatures.
Perhaps this is the curse of superior intelligence. Morals and ethics begin to take shape and we begin to question whether or not we should use our technology to benefit others, or ourselves.
~John Emmett
per. 3
It's cool that people can actually find out which ocean a shark came from. It's like what they do with humans by finding out where we come from originally. I wouldn't mind being someone who determines which ocean a specific shark came from.
ReplyDeleteTyra
fickel
ReplyDeletethe soulless asians need to be eaten by the sharks that they cut the fins off what a**holes the people that did that need to die
I think it cool that they can track the sharks just by taking their D.N.A. But I dont like the fack that people have to hurt them just to find out their D.N.A.
ReplyDelete-Krystle Hernandez
Period.4th
I think the government's technology is advancing way to far. They're now tracking sharks by DNA, satellites are getting more and more defined. I think that if shark populations are supposed to decrease, they will and we should let nature run its course.
ReplyDeleteNicole Pritchard
I think that the entire human race is too smart for their own good. So many things are messed up in the world. I know that animals shouldn't be treated this way, but i am personally much more worried about how the asian culture will go on without shark fin soup.
ReplyDeleteWhat would americans say if an asian organization came to the U.S. and told us to stop killing turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.
I agree that it should be monitered, but if they want to kill sharks for their fins, so be it.
-seth reynolds
The way they are tracking the sharks is odd cause there are many other ways to determine where the sharks have come from rather than taking a piece of their fin. we dont take a piece of our arms to figure out where we have come from. Its wrong but atleast the government is attempting to save some of these sharks that are endangered.
ReplyDelete-Camden Long
First off stop hating on the asians alright it's rude and its sad. it's Also rude they cut the fins of and stuff but what are we gonna do? I do think its messed up to F with endangered animals. and i think people should ust leave em alone. whats the point.
ReplyDeleteAlex Thomas (slag)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOkay here's my view on the situation. Yes, the sharks are on a rapid global decline - and there is not too much we can furthur do to prevent the coming extinction of the shark. (with exceptions, I'll elaborate later on)
ReplyDeleteThe Asians who eat the fins of shark are definately not the only ones who should be blamed for something like this, but then again they shouldn't (in my opinion) be proscecuted for age-long traditions, should they?
Ontop if the Chinese eating shark soup, the Australians enjoy shark fish and chips, the Scandinavian celebrate their winter months by eating rotten shark- who's to say they shouldn't eat this? We, the mighty Americans? Or the sharks. Hm.
Now we could decide to begin a program to tag the marine animals with microchips (RFID), for that is not a completely new concept; the microchips have been around for over ten years, and organisations such as Canada's Ocean Tracking Network have begun tracking their fish with RFID chips; AND! not only that but the microchips are much, much cheaper than the specific marine animal tags ($30 v. $3,500). I guess the major downfall with that plan is that it might be a little difficult to find someone to fund a project to tag all the existing sharks, with microchips. ^.^
So I figure, if no one is going to begin worldwide a "save the sharks" gang, then we should find a way to use the 95% of the shark that is gone to waste after the finning process. Contrary to what you might think, shark is used for many things- food, fertiliser, cancer cures, arthritis drugs, anti-hypertension... With things like this, we could definately save parts of the shark and efficiently use the remainder of the body.
Holistic medicine uses crushed and dried shark cartilage to reduce and relieve the pain; with similar uses for arthritis. The cartilage used for this comes from the head carilage of the shark as well as the fins, but I think the fins should be left for the ones who eat it as a luxurious food at fancy weddings! And the heads of all the illegally poached sharks should be enough to start a global cancer cure.
Basically if the UN got smart and decided that the death of the sharks was something big enough to care about, and fight people on* then they should dice up the sharks and distribute evenly.
I would have mentioned creating laws against the killing of these precious animals, but it has been done to perfection so far; Spain and Norway (the two largest suppliers to Hong Kong) have already passed laws against hunting them within the last eight years; as well as USA, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand- the list is endless, but the results have hardly kicked in.
* such as the European mafia, (no joke!) who have been funding shark finning in Costa Rica for the past few years...
Well, to start off, I think that it is a little ridiculous that they use about 73 millions of sharks for the Shark-fin soup annually and also that the ones that don't have fins or when they cut them off are just let back into the water where they then die because they are unable to swim to the top to get air. I think that the sharks that they use will soon become endangered because so many are being killed so we can eat their fins. We should stop killing them because we can find other things to eat then their fins.
ReplyDeleteI think that they should change the fishing rules for sharks. For example, Ban all shark fishing for every other year or two years in a row. Or something of that sort. If this were to happen, I think that the shark population would gradually start rising again.
Joey Ames, Period 3
Science, let alone life, always has its interesting methods and/or approaches-whether or not they are liked or disliked-i think what is important is the results. So when it comes to using the dna and fins, that it is fascinating, for it is just another example of discovery through approaches and methods that allows us to be a step ahead-i don't neccesatily approve of how its done, and hope that it can be done in another more humane way i suppose, but non-the-less, it is pretty cool what we can learn from things like this
ReplyDeleteAndrew Stork
I do not think there is anything wrong with using shark DNA to find there point of originality. As humans, we're naturally curious. We want to learn, and using DNA to expand our knowledge. Although, I do not think that taking a sharks fin is needed, just to get DNA. Unless, the sharks are already dead, then it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeletePreston Jones
Ok the DNA thing isn't so bad but it is so messed up that they just throw them back to die!!!! You wouldn't just buy a cat or a dog and cut of its tail for DNA and then throw it out on the street! you wouldn't cut off some kids legs and then drop them off some place they don't know! It's cruel and uncalled for. I do not agree with them doing this just for some oh-so-amazing soup. That is crap.
ReplyDeleteMegan Pittman
Period 3
so i do think that its wrong to cut off there fins. there are plenty of other ways to the find out there DNA. thought its good that people are trying to stop them from doing this they need to find other ways to find there DNA.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Bacon
It is absolutely horrible that people do this. If hammer head sharks are knocked out of an ecosystem there could be potentially dangerous consequences. I like the fact that people are trying to save this amazing species of shark from extinction by tracking the dna from shark fins that were already cut off.
ReplyDeleteZachary Thompson
i dont see how we can track sharks by dna it just doesnt make sense to me i mean there are millions out there i think were trying to be too smart for our own good
ReplyDeletecolt alaniz
If the shark is wiped out, what other predators would be left? Scientists have only explored what? 2% of the ocean? There could be more predators lurkin' out there. Considering the "Butterfly Effect" what would happen to the oceans if the sharks were to be extinct? Would some of the hidden predators come out from the depths?
ReplyDeleteB Gann.