The oceans span across vast amounts of Earth and they being impacted by human disturbance. Due to the oceans being an open resource, many tragedy of the common problems are occurring. Among the problems, overharvesting is a notable one, specifically the decline in sharks due to shark finning. Only the fins of the shark is harvested in shark finning, the still-live leftover body is discarded back into the ocean to die of blood loss, suffocation, or predation (Wigginton, 2014). Between 2000 to 2010 it was estimated that between 100 million to 273 million sharks were harvested annually (Worm et al. 2013). This is a huge issue in regards to ocean dynamics. Since sharks are apex predators, their removal can cause a shift in the food chain causing cascading effects down to the marine floor.
Seeing that shark finning is such a large industry,
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2013). Oceana (2016) estimated that there is a $314 million USD industry from shark watchers. This means that there is a large ecotourism industry that uses the intrinsic values of sharks that can challenge the instrumental value of the sharks.
My perspective:
My perspective on this industry coincides most closely with the environmental groups with a splash of cultural connections. Sharks should not be harvested for their fins alone, the industry is not large enough for it be supported. There are alternatives that could be used instead of shark fin. Shark fins are know to be tasteless and are eaten for their gelatinous texture, meaning it could be substituted for something else.
In a food experiment, chef Corey Lee created a faux shark fin soup using hydrocolloids to simulate the same gelatinous texture shark fins have (Goodyear, 2011) .This shows that there are alternatives to the product. A quick google search for ‘ shark fin alternatives’ give you recipe options for using vermicelli noodles or other gelatin
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
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.
Under those circumstances, it is only appropriate to preserve the lives of Sharks and acknowledge their importance to the ecosystem, because without them, the aquatic world may collapse and affect the world on the surface likewise. With the ecosystem gone, the niche of the Sharks are gone too, which lead to depletion of the rest of the marine life. This will cause much economic stress and lead to failure. We must know killing sharks are wrong, and we must stop it.
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
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.
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...
Shark slaughter has led to shark populations being rapidly decimated all around the globe. Fishermen report that sharks are also getting smaller because they are not being given enough time to fully mature. Although there are other fish that are targeted more than sharks, they are not exactly affected by the kind of endangerment that sharks are currently experiencin...
On the contrary, this belief is completely false. A shark 's fin is composed of cartilage. This is the same cartilage that can be found in humans, and it has no medicinal benefits whatsoever. The fact that the shark 's fin lacks any real use in medicine only amplifies the disgrace that the practice of shark finning is.
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.
Information (sub-point): Shark finning also has also drastically negatively affected the entire shark population. According to SharkSavers.org, “Shark populations face the threat of extinction in every part of the world primarily due to overfishing driven by the high demand for shark fins” (SharkSavers, 2013). It is also found that the global shark population has decreased by a drastic 90% over the last 50 years, and if change does not occur quickly, the entire shark population could potentially disappear
"The Pelagic Shark Research Foundation." The Pelagic Shark Research Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2014. .
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.
Shark finning is the practice of slicing off the shark's fins while the shark is still alive and throwing the rest of its body back into the ocean. Sharks thrown in shallow water will fall to the ocean floor die from either bleeding to death or drowning. If the shark is thrown back in deep water they can actually implode due to rapid changes in pressure within the shark’s limp body. They can also die by starving to death, being eaten by other fish. Shark fins are used to make a soup that is considered an Asian "delicacy". The reasons that sharks should be admired and not hunted are almost endless. Despite creating easy income for third world nation’s, shark finnig is a barbaric practice that needs to end
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”