| The only thing scarier than a shark at the beach is the prospect of fishing them to extinction |
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June 6, 2008 The very idea of sharks swimming in waters enjoyed by surfers and swimmers is frightening. But what's more alarming is the worry that these magnificent carnivores are rapidly disappearing. That point was lost recently on the government of Mexico, which undertook a full-bore massacre of dozens of sharks. There have been three shark attacks, two of them fatal, on Mexico's Pacific coast near Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo since April 28. The attacks, rarities there, left marine biologists wondering what prompted the sharks to turn so aggressive. Officials in Guerrero State did not wait for the answer, but allowed fishermen to ignore restrictions and pull in as many sharks as they could. The Mexican navy strung baited lines, hooking dozens of sharks and hanging up their carcasses along beaches like trophies. Thankfully, protests by environmentalists and the advice of shark researchers halted the killing in favor of more practical measures, including posting warnings, adding lifeguards and beefing up emergency response. And, according to a report in The New York Times, the navy is now patrolling the coastline and biologists are tagging sharks to determine why the sharks are suddenly so attracted to surfers.
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