Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 7 February 2017

U.S.: Oceanic whitetip shark warrants ‘threatened’ listing

PATRICK WHITTLE Oceana. The group has
Associated Press also pushed for a broader
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ban on the U.S. shark fin
— The oceanic whitetip trade, which is already re-
shark’s declining status in stricted.
the wild warrants listing as “In order to truly combat
threatened under the En- the global trade of shark
dangered Species Act, an fins, which kills tens of mil-
arm of the federal govern- lions of sharks every year,
ment has determined. we need to pass a full ban
The shark is found around in the U.S. on the buying
the world, mostly in open and selling of shark fins,”
water, and the conserva- Snyder said.
tion group Defenders of Attacks on humans by the
Wildlife called on the gov- sharks are extremely rare.
ernment to list the species. Oceanic whitetips are
The listing would be the thought to be responsible
most widespread shark list- for some of the deaths of
ing in the U.S. to date. sailors who were aboard
The National Marine Fisher- the USS Indianapolis, a
ies Service said in a docu- Navy cruiser that was sunk
ment published in the Fed- during World War II. But
eral Register in December there have been only 10
that the sharks are indeed In this June 21, 2008, photo provided by the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and documented non-pro-
likely to become endan- Atmospheric Science, a whitetip shark swims off Cat Island in the Bahamas. voked attacks on humans
gered in all or at least a Associated Press by the sharks, according to
significant portion of their the Florida Museum, which
range “within the foresee- Pacific Ocean since the very large pectoral fins, der, a campaign director collects records about
able future.” 1990s, and 50 percent to and so they have fetched for conservation group shark attacks.q
Threats to the sharks in- 85 percent in the Atlantic a high price on the inter-
clude fishing pressure all Ocean since the 1950s, national market in Asia,” Binge Eater: Black hole taking
over the world, as their fins said Chelsey Young, a nat- Young said. “It incentivized
are prized in Asian markets ural resource manage- the fin trade.” over decade to devour star
for use in soup. ment specialist for the fish- The fisheries service is col-
The sharks have declined eries service. lecting public comments MARCIA DUNN ing frenzies have been ob-
by 80 to 90 percent in the “The oceanic whitetip has about the shark’s status un- AP Aerospace Writer served since the 1990s, but
til March and is expected CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. they’ve lasted just a year.
to make a final decision in (AP) — Scientists have de- At 11 years and counting,
November. Listing the spe- tected a black hole that’s this is the longest known
cies as threatened would taken a record-breaking one yet. Lin and his team
afford it protections aimed decade to devour a star — used data from orbiting X-
at recovery. and it’s still chewing away. ray telescopes to study the
The shark is also listed as The food fest is happening monstrous munching. X-ray
“vulnerable” on the Inter- in a small galaxy 1.8 billion flares erupt when a star
national Union for Conser- light-years from Earth. gets swallowed by a black
vation of Nature Red List of University of New Hamp- hole and cooked millions of
Threatened Species. Ad- shire research scientist degrees. Black holes clear-
ditional protections would Dacheng (dah-CHENG) Lin ly like their stars well done.
only help, said Lora Sny- said that black hole feed- q