Speaking of sharks, a good example of the unintended consequences of policies pushed by envirowhackos.....
The Jaws of Government
Are the feds to blame for the shark attacks?
By Sean Paige, the Warren Brookes Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute
August 8, 2001 1:00 p.m.
.......the horrific, near-fatal shark attack on a boy off a Florida beach in July — followed just days ago by a similar mauling in the Bahamas — may be nothing more than blind bad luck, a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a statistical improbability.
At least, that's how we're expected to view such shocking encounters with nature. No one can be blamed, we're advised by "experts." A boy, doing what boys do, simply crossed paths with a shark doing what sharks do. Like themes are sounded whenever we read (as we do with what seems increasing frequency) of bear attacks, mountain lions chasing joggers, "reintroduced" wolf packs raiding ranches, alligators menacing golfers, or coyotes snatching house pets. If humankind is going to encroach upon nature, we're told, we have to accept the fact that we're not always going to come out on top in the food chain. It's just nature's way.
But more than mere happenstance may lie behind the sudden, shocking return of the shark. In a curious juxtaposition of trends, shark attacks last year reached record levels in the world (79), in the U.S. (49), and in Florida (34 documented cases) — even as scientists and government officials are claiming that the animals are being chased toward extinction by fishermen looking for thrill kills. And shark attacks in the U.S. have increased dramatically since 1993 — which is when the federal government began mandating deep cuts in the number of sharks that could be caught for sport or profit.
Proponents of such regulations are understandably reluctant to recognize the possibility of cause and effect. After all, word of the shark's imminent demise comes from no less an authority than Jaws author Peter Benchley, who has made his name alternately vilifying and lionizing the Great White. "I couldn't write 'Jaws' today," the author and "full-time ocean conservationist" recently confessed to a magazine.
We hear it from environmental groups, including the National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Ocean Conservancy (formerly the Center for Marine Conservation). We see it on the Discovery Channel, the Nature Channel, and Animal Planet. Watch in awe as the "perfect killing machine" devours this roped-to-the-boat leg of lamb! the shark programs seem to say. But don't hate, or fear, or lash out in anger at the poor, misunderstood shark: As an "apex predator," it plays a beneficial role in the natural world. The author of "Summer of the Shark," a recent Time magazine cover story, churned up enough menace and bloodlust to make it jump off the rack — yet still dutifully regurgitated the sharks-as-victims line. "Humans are much more dangerous to sharks, which tend to end up in soup or medicine," the article reminded readers, before trotting out the usual statistical comparisons between shark attacks, lightning strikes, and Christmas-tree-light electrocutions.
nationalreview.com |
