A rare ‘endangered’ zebra shark that won the hearts of the Bahrain diving community has ended up on a slab of ice and sold at the fishmarket after being caught by an unscrupulous fisherman.
The docile creature was filmed by admirers earlier this month swimming near the kingdom’s Shetaya Oyster Reef and was becoming a key attraction for lovers of the natural world.
Sixteen-year-old Maryam Abdulla Isa, was heartbroken to spot it up for sale at the market for BD20.
“I was truly hurt and I felt very bad,” said the Naseem International School student, who lives with her family in Isa Town.
“It truly shocked me, because ever since I heard that divers had found the shark, I had been counting down the days until my next trip to Shetaya Oyster Reef.
“It has been one of my dreams to swim with a shark, and after getting my licence, my goal was to search for them.”
The zebra shark was first spotted by divers on November 6 at a depth of around 10 metres and three days later Miss Isa’s fellow divers saw the large fish propped lifeless on top of a portable fridge.
“When I saw the shark in the fishmarket, I said to myself that I am going to do everything I could to spread the word about this horrific act,” she explained. “I was very confused as to what drives someone to kill such a beautiful, peaceful and endangered animal.
“This shark could have been a tourist attraction. People would have paid well over the price of what it was sold for just to see it, swim with it and take pictures of it. Instead, this innocent creature was sold in a market in Bahrain, in a place where most people don’t even eat shark meat.”
Zebra sharks, which are often confused with leopard sharks, usually live in shallow coral reef habitats in tropical waters where they can wriggle into narrow crevices and caves in search of food.
They are nocturnal foragers, hunting for small fish, snails, sea urchins, crabs and other small invertebrates that hide out in crevices.
They are not considered dangerous to humans but, ironically, their biggest threat are humans.
It is often caught by a wide range of inshore fisheries and prized for its meat, sold fresh or salt-dried in markets throughout Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and elsewhere.
Its liver is also processed and its fins are chopped off for use in shark fin soup that remains a traditional Chinese delicacy.
While shark finning is illegal in the US, fins can still be bought and sold from unsustainable foreign fisheries, which are lacking or have ineffective shark finning bans.
The combination of these practices is driving down zebra shark populations in most of their range and they are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
Founded in 1964, the list is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.
Miss Isa is now on a mission to spread the spotted shark’s story in a bid to raise awareness and help stop the killing of endangered animals.
She said: “All creatures have a role to play in keeping the ecosystem balanced and each one made extinct can have a huge effect on the overall ecosystem.
“Research has shown that sharks attack 100 people every year, and only 64 of these attacks end up in deaths. While on the other hand, over 100 million sharks die every year as a result of human activity and climate change.
“Humans are killing these sharks without knowing their importance to the ecosystem. Sharks, as predators, help to maintain a good balance of the species below them in the marine food chain. Sharks even help clean up our oceans.
“We should start educating people about respecting marine life because issues like these are the ones who truly have an effect on our future and next generations.
“I think that this is a matter that the Government of Bahrain should hear about and I think that they are the only ones who are going to help make a difference.”
Miss Isa suggests launching a law that bans the hunting and fishing of endangered species.
“They should also ban these animals from being sold in the market,” she added.
“This is a worldwide issue that needs to be solved and in order to solve it, we need to start somewhere.
“I hope that people understand my message because I would love to dive into a sea full of rare and beautiful creatures.”
- Happier times, watch the beautiful zebra shark swimming in Bahrain waters – filmed by one of the appreciative divers – by placing your smartphone over the QR code.
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