The Million-Dollar Shark

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-lees/134610871/sizes/z/in/photostream/"StormyDog</a>Allan Lee

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

Sitting in the Pacific Ocean near the Philippines, the island nation of Palau doesn’t have much land. It is, however, surrounded by warm waters that make it a tropical getaway for tourists. One of its attractions is sharks, and a recent study shows that a single reef shark can generate nearly $2 million for the country during its lifetime. At a time when shark populations are very threatened due to overfishing and a renewed hunger for shark-fin soup, Palau has chosen to make its waters a shark sanctuary. And for good reason too: the new study estimates that shark-diving brings $18 million to Palau each year, 8% of the GDP. If killed and sold for meat and parts, a shark would only get Palau fishermen around $1000 each. It looks like sharks are worth far more to Palau alive than they are dead, from an economy-sustaining point of view as well as an environmental one. You can see a few of Palau’s tourism stars in the video below.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate