AkaroA Association, educate, inform, and aware people of endangered species and their environment

Industrial fishing

Often chaotic, industrial fishing has largely started to dig the heritage of the oceans, to the point of being reduced to hunt at depths of more and larger insipid fish, lacking a sufficiency rapid renewal of traditional pelagic species.

Sharks are the first to suffer from the shortage of fish.

A song by our friend and artist Louise du Toit dedicated to wonderful wildlife of seas and oceans!

The Great White Shark The major impacts on white sharks primarily come from the actions of humans:

Recreational fishing with the intent to get a record (the goalis to capture the largest fish) and trophies (jaws and teeth).

Opportunistic fisheries to get gadgets with business value (jaws and teeth if they come from large and rare animals), and other products (particularly the wings).

Artisanal fisheries

Programs to protect bathers

Persecution by other users of the sea (fishermen and fish farmers).

Degradation of the habitat of the sharks.

Reduced prey be excessive fishing.

Disruption caused by the adoption of uncontrolled ecotourism operations (in some areas).

AkaroA defends the heritage of the seas and oceans

Awareness of the real threats to the resources that the seas and oceans provide us.

Educate young people trough lectures, discussions, featured stories... involve them.

Support existing organizations that work everyday to protect this great natural resource.

A living shark is worth a thousand dead

This Chinese proverb illustrates a reality still on...

Over fishing, pollution, systematic extermination with lines, nets and explosives... many negative factors that make the life of a shark precious.Its low rate of reproduction cannot balance the losses.

Among the 355 species of sharks that inhabit the oceans, very few deserve to be classified as "dangrous". We all really should agree on this term...

Each year worldwide, less than 100 attacks were attributed to sharks and thirty were fatal.

Among the 5 most dangerous species, we find:

the Great White Shark
the Tiger Shark
the whitetip Shark
the Hammerheard Shark
lThe Bull Shark

Fifteen other species of smaller size are involved in attacks but it is most often of exceptional circumstances.

The morphology of the shark and its highly developed senses make it a vey effective creature.

Beautiful, powerful, stealthy, perfectly adapted and sovereign in its liquid element where, despite our desire for wold domination, sharks remain strangers for us...

Such a success has its origin 400 million years ago deep within the Paleozoic era (Paleozoic: 570 to 245 million years).

Mike Rutzen and the Great White Shark

Mike Rutzen is an expert in the Great White Shark and a defender of sharks in general.

Mike is famous through cageless dives with sharks, including the Great White Shark.

Over the years, Mike has learned how to free dive with sharks, by observing therm, he could interpret the behavior of sharks to avoid being attacked.

For example, he is able to dive a shark into catalepsy stroking his nose with just the tactile sensors (Lorenzini bulbs).

"The shark is a sensor mass. Its skin is rough, like a fine sandpaper. The Great White Shark that can live on average until age 40, eats mainly fish, seals, squid and other sharks. The southern whale is also on its menu, including its babies.
It lives at the rhythm of nature and migration and can travel hundred of miles in search of food.
The fur seal is a popular dish, their grease is a good energy resource. When the females come to give birth in Cape Town, South Africa, the Great White Shark, from Australia is heading towards the Cape in seach of this resource. It happens that it comes closer to shore to eat some fish."

Mike has seen a Great White Shark in a meter deep!

"The shark hunt a dawn when the seals return to shore. Its strategy: an explosion of energy. Its hunts zigzag leaps out of the water, propelled by its powerful tail, the wounds of a large bite and eats in a hurry to prevent other sharks to devour its prey. Can we talk about intelligence...? It is a fact, a Great White Shark is an outstanding strategist, gifted with fabulous physical aptitudes..."

A legend that always fascinated Mike Rutzen.

The ultimate weapon: Carcharodon Megalodon

By th end of the Cretaceous, when the large marine reptiles disappeared, the sea was full of food: fish and invertebrates of all sizes.

In this huge pantry, an outsized predator will gradually dominate... Carcharodon Megalodon shark or great white teeth, from the Lamnidae family already present in the Cretaceous.

This family consists of today of the Great White Shark and Mako Shark (or Porbeagle Shark). However, according to recent theories based on the study of teeth, the Great White Shark's ancestor could be a Mako shark fossil "Isurus Bastalis". Its size was about 15 meters.

Sources : Requins en liberté de Gérard Soury, Ed Nathan

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