Baby Hammerhead Sharks Openly Sold At M’sia Market; Among List Of Protected Wildlife

By
Vanessa Ong
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If you know what an earworm is, you’ll know how annoying the song, “Baby Shark” is.

I mean, it has probably been played a million times a day. Not to be overdramatic, but I would literally cry if I were to hear the whole song one more time.

But as much as I hate the song, I love sharks. Sharks are king of the ocean. They are super cool and badass. Most importantly, they exist to balance the ocean’s ecosystem.

So when I first saw this news, I was, of course, even more upset than I was when I heard “Baby Shark” play for the ten-thousandth time.

Baby Hammerhead Sharks For Sale

According to Malaysian Nature Society members, baby hammerhead sharks were spotted being sold openly in the central fish market in Miri city centre.

Image: The Star

This picture, showing a basket full of baby hammerhead sharks, was shared on social media.

This gathered concerns from both netizens and nature lovers. They questioned whether there is any need for Sarawak fishermen to net these sharks, or for us to consume it.

Endangered Species

Needless to say, this is really upsetting because the population of hammerhead sharks are currently decreasing.

In fact, certain species are already endangered, such as the scalloped hammerhead shark. 

There are certain factors that make hammerhead sharks vulnerable.

Firstly, they are just like humans. They reach maturity after several years, and have few babies like we do. This means that they are vulnerable to over-fishing as they do not reproduce rapidly like fishes do.

Secondly, the unique shape of their head (a hammer) makes it even easier for them to get caught in fishing nets. This results in over-fishing easily.

Taking Actions Against It

Hence, to take action against this undesirable act, pictures have been forwarded to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), the wildlife enforcement agency in Sarawak.

Chief executive officer of SFC, Zolkipli Mohamad Aton, stated that it is hard to determine the exact species of these baby sharks from the pictures.

This is because there are nine species of hammerheads along the Sarawak coastal waters in the South China Sea.

Out of nine, four species are listed as protected wildlife. These are the Oceanic Whitetip, Smooth Hammerhead, Great Hammerhead and Wing Head.

To add, Zolkipli said that his enforcement unit would need to determine the exact species of the hammerhead sold in the Miri market with the Fisheries Department.

I’m hoping that they would eventually put a stop to this and prevent any shark poaching in the future. It is inhumane, torturous and it creates an unbalance in the ecosystem.

Heck, I would rather listen to “Baby Shark” the whole day now than to read another news about shark poaching.

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Vanessa Ong
Email: [email protected]