Sharks have lived on Earth for more than 400 million years. There are between 450 and 500 known species of sharks. Sharks are one of the most important species that wander the Earth. They are in charge of keeping the marine ecosystem healthy. Being one of the biggest predators in the sea, sharks have an essential role keeping the food chain organized; making sure species below them don’t exceed in number, or the opposite. By removing the weak and sick of a species, sharks make sure diseases don’t spread, and only the healthy fish are able to reproduce. Around 70% of the oxygen required by humans to survive is provided by the oceans. Plankton, microscopic aquatic organisms that float near the surface of the water, is the primary source of food for many animals in the ocean. Plankton also absorbs carbon dioxide and turns it into oxygen. Now, you may wonder, what does plankton have to do with sharks? It’s actually all linked. If sharks were wiped from the surface of Earth, the growth of the smaller species of fish below them in the food chain will no longer be regulated. These fish would grow in number uncontrollably and eat more of the next species than there is to eat, and so on, …show more content…
Of which, 70% are killed for shark fin soup, and the other 30% die due to habitat destruction and irresponsible fishing. On the other hand, sharks kill less than 10 people a year. The deaths registered involving cows are more than 20 people a year. Ants kill around 30 people a year. Due to allergies, bees lead to death to more than 53 people. Even those animals, thought to be human’s best friend, kill 186 people per year. The digit of deaths attributed to humans is insane, around 475 thousand deaths a year. Sharks, compared to all the animals in the list above, are harmless, helpless creatures, which we should protect instead of fear. After all, if their existence in the ecosystem ends, so does
The Great Shark debate – to cull or not to cull, has been at the forefront of the minds of conservationists, as well as the general population for many decades now. The opinions of everyone are divided, according to their personal experiences, and views on what is right and wrong for the environment.
So why do we need sharks? Well, Sharks help keep the ocean healthy and clean for over 450 million years. They also help remove half of the worlds green house gases and produces oxygen more than all of the rainforest's combined! Sharks are just as important as all the trees in the world because they have one thing in common, provide us with oxygen. Without the sharks help we wouldn't be able to get rid as much of the greenhouse gases as we want to, which means global warming would have a lower rate of happening faster. Most importantly they provide us with food. How? They would usually eat the old, sick or slower fish in the population of the ocean to the right size so the prey species don't cause harm to ecosystem by becoming to populated. They are also at the top of the food web. If all the sharks went extinct the entire food web would collapse causing many other species of fish to disappear. So instead of killing the sharks, we could lure them away to somewhere else. As they have a huge impact to the environment.
As they are at the top of the food chain, sharks play a very important role in the oceans in a way that an average fish does not. Sharks keep populations of other fish healthy and in proper proportion for their ecosystem. By preying on the old, sick or slower fish in a population, they prevent the spread of disease and prevent outbreaks that could be devastating. According to Ransom Myers from Shark savers, “sharks may be gone within the next decades if we continue to kill them, resulting in the loss of important foods that we depend on for survival, causing a marine ecosystem imbalance.” At the same time, I accept that shark nets could be useful, especially in shark infested areas that have been renowned as spots where many attacks have occurred, but I still believe, as you would, that scientists should spend more resources on working out why it is becoming more common for sharks to be entering shallower waters, looking for food – namely seals, who just happen to look like
One of the governments main reasons for culling the sharks is because they are coming in too close to the shores and becoming a potential threat to swimmers. But why is this happening? This is due to a change in shark feeding habits, but because they are eating more human of course not! Rather because us humans are over fishing and eliminating the fish/food sources of which sharks normally feed on. This is forcing sharks to come in closer to find food. Us as humans have forced sharks to come in closer and are now killing sharks because of our a...
As Stephen Covey once declared, “Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition- such as lifting weight- we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.” This may seem like no sweat, but in reality it is laborious to do. Nevertheless, there are many people who embody this quote in our everyday lives and even in literature. The short story The Truth About Sharks by Joan Bauer, depicts such a person. In this anecdote, the experience that the protagonist, Beth faced, taught her to stand up for herself and therefore feel empowered. She went from a sullen teenager who was unable to stand up to her uncle and one who felt insecure in the shadow of her cousin, to someone with the confidence to rise above. The Truth About Sharks portrays a vital change that happened to Beth as a result of her being falsely accused of shoplifting and the challenges she faced to clear her name. This article renders a dynamic change that occurred in the main character, Beth who demonstrated the theme stand up for what you think is right.
The bull shark may be responsible for many shark attacks in the world but I believe that we have no right to kill them. Sharks are very important to animals food cycles and if the food cycles get messed up it can greatly effect the world. In fact, the bull shark is more vulnerable to human impact due to their ability to live in fresh and salt water but many sharks that are killed are for either shark fin soup or their liver oil. The sharks liver oil has many uses now but it started as a machine lubricant. Another way that sharks die is by recreational fishing. The sharks can get caught up in the fishermen's nets and eventually suffocate and die. As an environmental community, I feel like we need to inform people about shark habits and how to keep sharks safe. The water is their home and we are
How many more fatal shark attacks will it take for someone in authority to acknowledge the damages, economically and socially, caused to human beings by sharks? We must legalise the culling of sharks. Sharks do not only brutally attack us humans but they also kill us. Culling sharks may not be the most pleasing way to find a solution but it is the most effective, quickest and easiest method. Scientists have argued that culling sharks will bring the ecosystem crashing down but this in fact is not true.
Sharks have been on this earth for nearly 450 billion years. To put that into perspective, the first modern humans date back to about 60,000 years ago ("Our Mission: To save Sharks and Mantas”). Since then, both humans and sharks have evolved into the predatory mammals they are today. However, with the quick development of humans, civilization and technology, humans have not been able to fully understand the ways of sharks, although the motives of other human celebrities have been easy to understand and decipher. Because shark attacks have been becoming more televised, and sharks have been known to be more of a “threat” to humans, shark research foundations, such as the Shark Research Institute and the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, have been created to help give an understanding to these creatures. Over 100 million sharks are being killed each year, and there is a counter on the Bite-Back Shark and Marine Conservation website. As one spends more time on the home page, the number on the counter is constantly increasing, showing how many sharks are slaughtered in the year to come (“Bite-Back – Shark and Marine Conservation”). Even with research to show that sharks are valuable to the ocean and vulnerable, there are people that think otherwise (“The Pelagic Shark ...
Even though humans get injured and occasionally killed by sharks, this is much more uncommon than many people think. In the video, "Great White Predator," it states, "[Sharks] mainly eat one thing: seals," (“National Geographic”). Shark attacks are much less likely to occur than people may think. In fact, Peter Benchley says, "Around the world many, many more people die every year from bee stings, snakebites, falling off ladders, or drowning in bathtubs than from shark attack[s]," (“Great White Sharks”). People have a greater chance of dying while doing everyday chores than from sharks.
As I mentioned earlier, Sharks maintain the balance of the entire marine ecosystem! If the ocean’s ecosystem were to collapse, it would greatly affect life even on the surface. Sharks tend to eat fish who are much slower and sickly therefore they keep the population of fish in a healthier state. We depend on the oceans for the oxygen that we breathe because of certain species in the ocean that produce oxygen such as Phytoplankton, if Sharks were to be extinct, we would lose a great amount of the oxygen on Earth because the balance of living Phytoplankton and other species would not be enough. Furthermore, Sharks have been maintaining the balance of our ecosystem for 400 million years, if these sharks were to be gone, who would balance this heavy task? A number of scientific studies demonstrate that depletion of Sharks results in the loss of important fish and shellfish species from the food chain, including key fisheries such as tuna, which help the health o...
Sharks kill an average of about 12 humans per year. Humans kill an average of about 11,417 sharks per hour. Unfortunately, that number may not stop growing unless action is taken. Shark slaughter is becoming an ever expanding issue that could have devastating effects if it is not stopped. As a result of a tremendous increase of demand in shark fins in recent years, sharks are being finned and thrown back into the water where they are left to suffer an excruciating death which can take days to occur. Not only is the act cruel, but it also disrupts the natural ecosystem and may cause irreparable damage. Due to all of these effects, shark slaughter needs to be stopped, sooner than later.
In 2015 only 59 shark attacks have occurred around the world compared to the millions of sharks killed by humans every year. Due to these accidental shark attacks people tend to think that sharks, especially Great Whites are evil creatures with malice intentions when attacks do occur; but, on the contrary that is wrong. Sharks are not the only beautiful and unique creatures in the ocean, they also play a vital role in our ecosystem; however, due to human interference they might not be around much longer, through awareness sharks can be protected from endangerment.
When most people hear the word "shark", the image of a vicious killing machine pops into their head. They picture something out of the movie Jaws, where a massive Great White shark terrorizes an entire beach and eats dozens of people. However, this fictional story is nothing more than Hollywood entertainment. In the real world, the tables are turned. Humans are the ones who kill sharks, and not just by the dozens. It has been estimated that over 100 million sharks are killed every year by humans (http://www.iflscience.com). Some estimates claim that the actual number of sharks killed every year could be as high as 273 million (http://www.iflscience.com). In this research paper, I will inform you of the many ways that sharks are being killed,
Thesis: Sharks should be conserved because they are an important part of the ocean, attacks are often incidental, and human behavior influences the behavior of sharks.
They are creatures that have no clue what we are and are afraid of us. Every year, thousands of more people are killed by other people than by sharks; thousand more people are killed in car accidents than by sharks, and more people are killed by lightning strikes than by sharks. Each year humans kill tens of thousands of sharks, yet, there are fewer than 100 shark attacks upon humans. For example, The Great White shark also known as the man-eater, has the greatest reputation for attacking humans. Recent studies of Great Whites show that they mainly feed on sea-mammals. Seen from below the surface a person swimming with a shark looks much like a seal, with arms and legs sticking out. The shark usually surprises its victim, being a person or seal, by one massive bite, and then retreats in order to allow the victim to die before digesting the food. For this reason, many humans survived the attack of a Great White shark if they are saved before being eaten. Not only getting out of the water and be safe, but the result of loss, blood or