However, Paul Allen the co-founder of Microsoft is spearheading a new project aiming at helping conserve sharks across the globe. Previously, the organization funded a series of scientific studies on understanding ocean health, human brain, and space flights.
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Taking a cue from terrestrial animal surveys, marine researchers and conservationists are gearing up to “camera trap” sharks to take an accurate of count of their global numbers.
There are underwater cameras placed in several seas in the world to monitor shark populations, but these have not been sufficient to give an accurate figure on the number of sharks in the wild – especially in places like the Indian Ocean islands, southern and eastern Africa, Indo-Pacific, as well as tropical western Atlantic.
The senior philanthropy director at Vulcan Dunes Ives said the initiative came to fruition after she attended a 2014 ocean summit, where the conservations were focused on why so many sharks were being lost each year. The new data will be consolidated with thousands of hours of existing BRUV data to form a single dataset for analysis to produce the first global standardized survey of shark, ray and skates in coral reef environments.
She notes, “A recent worldwide Union for the Conservation of Nature report indicated that we don’t have the data we need to accurately assess the current population status for nearly half of shark and ray species”.
This new project, the Global FinPrint project, is expected to “help inform more effective conservation efforts”. “Global FinPrint will help us better understand one of the ocean’s great mysteries: What is happening with fragile marine ecosystems when sharks are removed?” noted Prof. “This could be a big problem for these ecosystems because sharks and rays, which are also in trouble in many places, may be important for keeping the oceans healthy”.
The population of reef sharks is considered as “near-threatened” due to commercial fishing and depletion of coral reefs, caused by illegal fishing by humans. Michelle Heupel, Aaron MacNeil and Mark Meekan, Australian Institute of Marine Science.
The data from the survey will be made available in the coming years through an open-access platform containing information on species density, habitats and diversity trends. These are hugely important questions.
The aim behind the Global FinPrint initiative is to provide key data to design and implement plans to ensure sharks are not being pushed to extinction.
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Such concerns have to be met because many countries reply on healthy coral reefs for food security, tourism and coastal protection.
