Mosquito kills 80 000 times more than shark

The mosquito kills 80 times more than the shark according to the Oceanographic Institute Fondation Albert-Ier-Prince de Monaco. | Infographic: The World

Robert Calcagno is director of the Oceanographic Institute Albert Foundation-I^er-Prince of-Monaco, an organization that works to defend sharks, too often perceived as terrible predators for humans. The scientist comes from publish the book Sharks, beyond the misunderstanding published by the Rocher-Institut Océanographique de Monaco. Interview.

Why take position in favor of sharks?

We strive to to change the eyes of the general public, lever a misunderstanding about them. These big predators are not big bad guys lurking at the bottom of the ocean. They are responsible for around ten deaths per year. Mosquitoes cause 80 times more. These figures on sharks are reliable: today there are several databases around the world that record every attack on humans.

Humans, on the other hand, fish tens of millions of sharks a year. Their populations cannot s'adapter not to such predation, they collapse. Many species are now on the verge of extinction or local extinction.

This year, we are organizing a series of free conferences for the general public on their subject, at the Maison des Oceans, rue Saint-Jacques, in Paris. And we come fromusher an exhibition at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, which will last until 2015. Visitors no longer come collect information they can us elsewhere they wish vivre an experience, emotions and that is why we show them, for example, concretely the speed of a movement of a shark-mako. There is something stay stunned and understand that it is useless to to run away in the presence of a shark: better him doing face. We propose finish the visit by dipping your hand into a basin that houses twelve specimens. It's a way to tie another contact ...

Isn't there all the same part of the population which you will have a hard time to convince ?

The 10 June, we organized a meeting in Monaco of different scientific, economic and sports actors from Réunion. NGOs, surfers, representatives of tourism - sharks are also an attraction, for divers, in particular - managed to exchange views during a constructive debate. They even signed a common text that day! Everyone agreed to ask more scientific studies, but without wait for too long the conclusions. It is necessary admit once and for all that the surf is a sports at risk that requires inquire before the practiceas we do before lancer in an escalation or in ski off road.

Why worry about the excessive rarity of sharks? What are the consequences for the marine ecosystem?

They have a key role in the ecosystem. They are found at the top of complex food webs, from where they prey on species that are becoming too numerous or on weak, sick animals that could contaminate their congeners. On part of the east coast of the United States, for example, men have caught so many sharks that they have eliminated them. The ray populations then developed, they decimated the scallops.

Do you think that international protection tools have failed?

Let's be fair: awareness is progressing. TheEuropean Union banned the practice of “finning” - the cutting of shark fins -, and I am also convinced that the finning soup will eventually passer de Fashion with young Chinese people. Several States, particularly in the Pacific, have recently established marine protected areas, sanctuaries for shelter the predator. And five more species have just been listed in the Convention on Trade international endangered species of wild flora and fauna, the Cites. But we are far from the mark: we should institute fishing quotas as for bluefin tuna.