Just recently I found this article about the Basking Sharks off of BA.
It saddens me that such gentle creatures could have been subjected to the brutal forces of human fishing practices.
The Basking Shark is the 2nd largest shark in the ocean; under that of the Whale Shark. The Whale Shark is also on the endangered species list – once again mainly due to commercial fishing practices which were rife through third world countries. Thankfully with the combined effort of researchers and passionate individuals many of these countries have now banned the commercial fishing for Whale Shark. Our industry here in Australia; have been the leaders of Eco Tourism with Whale Sharks and have been used as an example to teach these other countries that a Whale Shark is more valuable to the countries economy alive rather than dead.
The Whale Shark unlike the basking shark were mainly killed for food; their meat being referred to as ‘Tofu Meat’ due to it’s tender white texture. The article that I refer to here – suggests the primary reason for the slaughter of thousands of Basking Sharks was primarily because they were classified as ‘pests’ by the commercial fishing industry – due to their large size they were often caught up in nets which were set out for salmon. The article also says the main way they would kill the sharks was with a blade fastened to the front of the boats hull – where they would senslessly cut them in half.
Other marine life were also targets; such as seals, sea lions, black bears, mergansers, and kingfishers.
Thankfully humans are becoming more aware – the only question now is – is it too late?
It is a really interesting article – you can go here to read it.
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/519239
Conservationist and marine biologist 
I often read and hear comparisons between the Great Barrier Reef and our own Ningaloo Reef. Some say the GBR can’t be beaten, others that Ningaloo is far superior.
