International Whale Shark Day 2024 is on Friday, August 30, 2024: Shark nets HELP!!!?

Friday, August 30, 2024 is International Whale Shark Day 2024. International Whale Shark Day International Whale Shark Day

A shark net is a submerged net placed around beaches to reduce the occurrence of interactions between sharks and swimmers.

This is some good information = link is below.

Shark nets do not offer complete protection but work on the principle of 'fewer sharks = fewer attacks'. They reduce shark attack occurrence via shark mortality. Reducing the local shark populations is believed to reduce the chance of an attack. The large mesh size of the nets is designed specifically to capture sharks and prevent their escape until eventually, they drown. Due to boating activity, the nets also float 4m or more below the surface and do not connect with the shoreline (excluding Hong Kong's shark barrier nets) thus allowing sharks the opportunity to swim over and around nets.

Shark nets also have a high incidence of bycatch including threatened and endangered species such as some turtles, dugongs, dolphins and whales [1]. Animal rights groups suggest alternatives such as surf lifesaving, public education on shark behaviour, chemical and electrical repellents, and drum lines. Drum lines are baited hooks aimed at catching only large sharks (though turtles are sometimes hooked).

Simplified diagram of shark net in New South Wales, AustraliaIn New South Wales, Australia, 51 beaches are netted. The nets are maintained by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. The nets are generally 150 metres long, 6 m wide and "bottom-set" on the seabed in depths of 10 m. The nets can be 500 metres from the beach. The mesh is sized 50 - 60 centimetres. Nets are lifted every 24 to 48 hours for servicing so as to prevent rotting, to clean out debris and to remove dead sharks and other marine life. It is said that 35 - 50% of the sharks are entangled from the beach side. Acoustic "pingers" have been fitted to the nets to warn off dolphins and whales and the nets are not in place in winter, the whale migration season. The Department states that the nets have "never been regarded as a means of absolutely preventing any attacks", but help to deter sharks from establishing territories. The netting program began in 1937. In the 70 years that the nets have been in operation, there has been only one fatal attack on a netted beach.

In Queensland, Australia, drum lines are used. The Shark Safety Program has been in place since the early 1960s. A fatal attack in January 2006 on a North Stradbroke Island beach, was on a beach protected by drum lines.

In Hong Kong, after the shark-attack death of 3 swimmers over 10 days in 1995, the government installed shark nets on all 32 gazetted beaches. Unlike the long-line and gill-net designs common in Australia and South Africa, these are permanent installations and are barrier nets. They have zero by-catch and are in fact some of the most bio-diverse areas in HK waters, as they form artificial enclosures which act as marine reserves. There have been zero fatalities or by-catch since installation in 1995.

The Hong Kong nets are generally 35 mm square on the surface 2 m and 100 mm square thereafter. They are suspended off 225 mm HDPE pipe or BL14 Marine Float Lines, and anchored strongly to resist the many typhoons and waves up to 10 m. The design philosophy draws heavily on international aqua-culture experience. They are anti-fouled, and spend an average of 9 months a year in the water. An average net enclosure would be 500 m long and either semi-circular or rectangular in shape. They are diver-inspected a minimum of two times a week, and independent verification is required. They exclude larger fish and predators but do not capture any other sea-creatures. They also exclude floating refuse, and clearly define the swimming area. They can be clearly picked out on Google Earth - at 22^14'38" North, 114^11'26" East, see "Repulse Bay".[citation needed] or Google Maps

They are operated and maintained by independent contractors, selected under competitive public tender by the Hong Kong government and inspected by a third party. This ensures consistent quality service and value-for-money. The cost of netting Hong Kong’s beaches is a small fraction of total running costs for a public entertainment venue.

Whales & Dolphins & Sharks being slaughtered by the thousands?

There is not allot you can do. We make it illegal to hunt the animals, we have fish and wildlife officers that help control poaching, to satisfy hunters, and environmentalists we put limits on how many animals can be killed, as to keep hunters happy but also allow a sustainable population to grow. We build sanctuaries, and have national parks.

There has been multiple animals brought back from the brink of extinction such as the American alligator, where in the 70s there was only a few thousand to today where there are over 2 million. Through falconry the Peregrine falcon has been brought back.

Unfortunately we can't do allot about the slaughter of marine animals, as no country has control in international waters. Countries can ban these actions, so the shark fins for example can't be sold once brought back to port, but the fisherman can still slaughter the sharks.

Then there are countries that have no bans on this. Or there are loop holes in the law. Take the Japanese research whaling fleet for example. The IWC is the only organization controlling whaling, they set a limit on how many whales of a specific species can be hunted annually, the Japanese stay under that limit. Commercial whaling is banned but research whaling isn't. The antarctic whale sanctuary bans commercial whaling not research whaling.

So all in all we can't stop it all. You got to understand in poorer countries animals have to die or forests cut down so people can survive, or in Africa when a leopard kills a farmers cow, the leopard will be killed.

However people in S.America need to realize that they would make more money taking people on tours of the Amazon then they would cutting it down and growing crops. Same with fining, you will make more taking people out on your boat and show them sharks then you would selling there fins.

Body length/weight of a newborn blue whale?

Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. These magnificent marine mammals rule the oceans at up to 100 feet (30 meters) long and upwards of 200 tons (181 metric tons). Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant. Their hearts, as much as an automobile.

Blue whales reach these mind-boggling dimensions on a diet composed nearly exclusively of tiny shrimplike animals called krill. During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of krill a day.

Blue whales are baleen whales, which means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen, attached to their upper jaws. The giant animals feed by first gulping an enormous mouthful of water, expanding the pleated skin on their throat and belly to take it in. Then the whale's massive tongue forces the water out through the thin, overlapping baleen plates. Thousands of krill are left behind—and then swallowed.

Blue whales look true blue underwater, but on the surface their coloring is more a mottled blue-gray. Their underbellies take on a yellowish hue from the millions of microorganisms that take up residence in their skin. The blue whale has a broad, flat head and a long, tapered body that ends in wide, triangular flukes.

Blue whales live in all the world's oceans, occasionally swimming in small groups but usually alone or in pairs. They often spend summers feeding in polar waters and undertake lengthy migrations towards the Equator as winter arrives.

These graceful swimmers cruise the ocean at more than five miles an hour (eight kilometers an hour), but accelerate to more than 20 miles an hour (32 kilometers an hour) when they are agitated. Blue whales are among the loudest animals on the planet. They emit a series of pulses, groans, and moans, and it’s thought that, in good conditions, blue whales can hear each other up to 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away. Scientists think they use these vocalizations not only to communicate, but, along with their excellent hearing, to sonar-navigate the lightless ocean depths.

Really Big Babies

Blue whale calves enter the world already ranking among the planet's largest creatures. After about a year inside its mother's womb, a baby blue whale emerges weighing up to 3 tons (2.7 metric tons) and stretching to 25 feet (8 meters). It gorges on nothing but mother's milk and gains about 200 pounds (91 kilograms) every day for its first year.

Blue whales are among Earth's longest-lived animals. Scientists have discovered that by counting the layers of a deceased whale's waxlike earplugs, they can get a close estimate of the animal's age. The oldest blue whale found using this method was determined to be around 110 years old. Average lifespan is estimated at around 80 to 90 years.

Between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales are believed to still swim the world's oceans. Aggressive hunting in the 1900s by whalers seeking whale oil drove them to the brink of extinction. Between 1900 and the mid-1960s, some 360,000 blue whales were slaughtered. They finally came under protection with the 1966 International Whaling Commission, but they've managed only a minor recovery since then.

Blue whales have few predators but are known to fall victim to attacks by sharks and killer whales, and many are injured or die each year from impacts with large ships. Blue whales are currently classified as endangered on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List.