Congress passes shark protection act!

This bill includes a strict ban on finning in our waters and closes a previous loophole. Yaaaaay!! :woohoo: For the sharks and all endangered marine life!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/20/AR2010122004046.html

Feels just like 1859.

I assume you know that the oceans' health, including that of their inhabitants, will mirror humans'.

This is a big deal, thank you for the good news. :)

Recommended.

Not that I have unrecommended or recommended for that matter - but it is entirely possible that people that think this is good news, yet not want it to rise above other stories that they find more urgent or important.

But good news indeed.

I realize that others many not agree, I just don't understand why.

Thanks for your reply, I'll take all the good news I can get these days. :)

worrying about the sharks. Glad the Congress has its priorities in order.

Even predators such as sharks are important. Wipe out sharks, and there'd be an overabundance of whatever it is they eat...and then the whole life system in the ocean goes out of whack.

As for "priorities," what happens in congress isn't a zero-sum game.

why not sharks..I, personally am happy this passed...

In this case, they managed something important. You may not be aware of this, but we are bringing sea life fast to extinction across the board.

It is likely your great-grandchildren will never have a fish fry that isn't jellyfish. We are NOT learning how to manage the planet properly.

This is a small, but nonetheless significant step in the right direction.

Shark finning is a barbaric practice to satisfy the demand in China for dried shark fins, a very expensive ingredient used to make soup. The animals are frequently thrown back into the water alive to die a slow death.

Sharks themselves are an important part of the ecosystem and many are threatened or endangered. The legislation is long overdue.

Sadly, ignorance and callousness know no political boundaries. :(

Though "colossal ignorance" may even still be an understatement.

If sharks were cute and perky like dolphins they would have been afforded the same protection years ago.

Predator-prey models are argubly the building blocks of the bio- and ecosystems as biomasses are grown out of their resource masses. Species compete, evolve and disperse simply for the purpose of seeking resources to sustain their struggle for their very existence. Depending on their specific settings of applications, they can take the forms of resource-consumer, plant-herbivore, parasite-host, tumor cells (virus)-immune system, susceptible-infectious interactions, etc. They deal with the general loss-win interactions and hence may have applications outside of ecosystems. When seemingly competitive interactions are carefully examined, they are often in fact some forms of predator-prey interaction in disguise.
.
.
.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tzPp2B8ilb0J:www.scholarpedia.org/article/Predator-prey_model+predator+prey+model&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

These are normally slow moving oscillations that keep within broad limits, and are relatively benign as to ecology. But seriously disrupt either part of that model, and the result will most likely be WIDE swings, and a host of unintended consequences!

I hope and pray that Sen. Kerry's cetacean protection bill will finally get out of committee and receive the vote it,and the magnificent beings it is trying to protect, a vote.

:kick:

http://images.google.com.hk/imgres?q=quint&hl=zh-CN&newwindow=1&safe=strict&sa=G&gbv=2&biw=1024&bih=576&tbs=isch:1&tbnid=u52JU1u3xOWsnM:&imgrefurl=http://iceboxmovies.blogspot.com/&imgurl=&zoom=1&w=450&h=300&iact=rc&dur=390&ei=lfgSTfjmMIGOvQPwueXgDQ&oei=lfgSTfjmMIGOvQPwueXgDQ&esq=1&page=1&tbnh=122&tbnw=163&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=65&ty=71

but not too late to :kick: