LONDON - Marine scientists scouring deep oceans for the presence of any new shark species population have stated that 70 percent of the world's oceans are shark-free. An international team of reserachers at the University of Aberdeen concluded that the shark population is fast dwindling and that the species have failed to thrive at depths of 3,000 meters or more.
"Sharks are apparently confined to around 30 percent of the world's oceans, and all populations are therefore within reach of human fisheries, near the surface and at the edges of deep water, around islands, seamounts and the continents," said Monty Priede of the Aberdeen University. His team was hoping to see hitherto unknown species of sharks colonizing deep ocean beds, but they found that below a depth of 1.86 miles, the ocean is virtually shark free.
"Sharks are already threatened worldwide by the intensity of fishing activity, but our finding suggests they may be more vulnerable to over-exploitation than was previously thought," Priede observed. Scientists scoured the oceans for nearly 20 years and analyzed data that was 150 years old.
Their findings are published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of The Royal Society, Biological Series. "As far as we can see there is no hidden reserve of sharks in the deep sea. All we see, is all there is, it's highly unlikely we are going to find anymore," the authors concluded.
The scientists also built their findings using data from a study conducted at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Iceland and the Azores in 2004. The team also analyzed data from the university of Aberdeen's Oceanlab, which began developing landers, or remotely operated vehicles two decades ago.
