Richard Branson urges against shark hunting following Mick Fanning attack
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Version 0 of 1. Sir Richard Branson has called for sharks to be protected rather than hunted down and killed in the wake of an attack on one of the world’s leading surfers. The billionaire entrepreneur called for restraint following Mick Fanning’s encounter with a shark on the coast of South Africa, in which he fought it off by punching the predator on the back. Fanning escaped unhurt but there have been other attacks recently in which swimmers were killed or badly injured, with a man killed in front of his daughter off Tasmania just last week. Shark attacks often lead to hunts to kill the animals, even after fictionalised accounts – notoriously, after the release of the blockbuster film Jaws, the number of large sharks off the US east coast is estimated to have been halved. Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, has now urged that sharks be given much greater protection rather than be killed either in retribution or as the key ingredient in shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy. In a blog post following Fanning’s amazing escape, Branson praised him and a fellow surfer, Julian Wilson, who swam out to his aid as “true role models” but urged: “The coverage of this highly unusual event should not be used as an excuse to mount further campaigns to kill even more sharks. “We need to introduce more shark sanctuaries, establish stronger global protections and tackle the demand for shark fin soup and other shark products. We absolutely do not need to kill more sharks.” Related: Mick Fanning shark encounter: South African town mulls drones and spotters He added: “Shark attacks on humans are extremely rare. I have swum with many species of sharks on many occasions, including tiger sharks and great white sharks. I have always found it a remarkable, peaceful experience, and I wholeheartedly believe they have no interest in humans as food. “By removing sharks from reef ecosystems, which have been swimming there for 440 million years, the natural food web is broken. Fewer sharks in the ocean results in less healthy coral, and therefore fewer fish, which damages food security, hurts the health of the ocean and reduces tourism dollars too.” Up to 100m sharks are estimated to be killed by fishermen every year, many of them for their fins for soup. A quarter of sharks and their close relatives – rays and chimeras – are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Earlier this year one of the world’s biggest shark sanctuaries was created – over 1.1m square miles of the western Pacific Ocean – by the Federated States of Micronesia. Measures to create shark sanctuaries have also taken place in parts of the Caribbean, including the British Virgin Islands where Sir Richard has his Necker Island retreat. However, he said: “Far more needs to be done.” |