THE article titled “Better protection for six” (Nation, The Star, Jan 3; online at tinyurl.com/star-sharks) reported that the Federal government has agreed to conserve four sharks and two ray species.
Marine scientist have discovered that sharks are a critical keystone species. They maintain the balance of life in the sea and keep our coral reefs healthy. Recent Australian research has shown that a healthy shark population is crucial to the health of coral reefs.
But fishermen kill millions of sharks each year for their fins. We need to ban shark finning, as the practice is called, improve our enforcement and stop foreign fishermen from entering our waters to capture sharks if we really want to save our sharks.
Parts of Malaysia’s seas fall within two 200 ecoregions (the Anda-man Sea Ecoregion and the Sula-wesi Sea Ecoregion) and we are an integral part of the ecological Coral Triangle that is home to at least 500 species of reef-building corals.
With so much sensitive sea area, marine conservation and sustainable management of marine resources are vital.
LIONEL PERERA
Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan
