PARIS: A single reef shark can be worth nearly two million dollars in tourism revenue over its lifetime, according to a study released by researchers in Australia. The analysis from the Pacific island nation of Palau shows that sharks — hunted worldwide for their fins, a Chinese delicacy — are worth many times more to some local economies alive than dead. “Sharks can literally be a ‘million-dollar' species and a significant economic driver,” said lead author Mark Meekan, a scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. “Our study shows that these animals can contribute far more as a tourism resource than as a catch target,” he said. Sharks have reigned at the top of the ocean food chain for hundreds of millions of years. But because they mature slowly and produce few offspring, the consummate marine predators have proven vulnerable to industrial-scale fishing. Tens of millions of the coastal and open-water sharks are harvested every year to supply a burgeoning appetite for meat and especially shark-fin soup. The researchers found that the annual value to the Palau tourism industry of an individual reef shark at one of the country's major scuba-diving sites is $179,000 a year, or about $1.9 million over the animal's lifetime.
