Caught in the crossfire

The basking, oceanic whitetip, whale, great white, silky, plus all types of saw, thresher, and hammerhead sharks have protection outside marine parks. The rest – from juvenile blacktip sharks sold live in Cartimar to bamboo catsharks peddled for food along Macapagal Boulevard (I documented one being killed and it went viral early this year) – are still being taken. Though direct shark hunting is horrible, the greatest global killer of sharks is a phenomenon called bycatch, or the unintended capture of non-target species, which, according to a 2009 study by R. Wayne Davies and colleagues published in the journal Marine Policy, accounts for up to 40 percent of annual global fish hauls.

Devices called tuna longlines, in particular, sport as many as tens of thousands of baited hooks waiting to snag and drown everything from tuna to turtles to sharks. The reduction of the once vast schools of prey like sardines and mackerel also leaves our seas less hospitable for Bruce and friends.