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Why shark finning should be illegal
Research paper about shark finning
Essay on shark finning
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What is Shark Finning, why is it done and what are the consequences?
I am writing this essay about ‘shark finning’. What is it and why is it done? Shark finning is when the shark is captured and the fins are cut off to sell. The shark fins are used in medicines in China but are also used as a decoration in shark fin soup. There are many problems due to only the fins being taken. Firstly the sharks are thrown back into the ocean still alive, without their fins they are not able to swim causing them to drown. The Second problem is that the shark fin has no nutritional value in the soup and is there for no good reason, the only reason they are used in the soup is because the Chinese see them as a delicacy. These are both very good reasons why sharks shouldn’t be hunted and killed for their fins; however, it still happens on such a massive scale.
Shark finning kills more than 10,000 per hour worldwide and is a problem due to the sharks importance within the ecosystem, if we continue to kill this many sharks they will soon be extinct. Sharks take 25 years to reach sexual activity this means we are killing them faster than they can reproduce. Sharks have been around for four hundred million years and in that time they have never changed but they have changed everything around them. They have shifted underwater life into what it is today being the perfect predator.
I’ve done a lot of research on sharks and shark finning and the more Learn about the problem the more I realize that it has a massive effect on us humans. I’ve flipped through shark books and looked it up on the internet, I also asked people who work in aquariums and the beach about this problem and they all seem to agree that it needs to stop; the question is how can we stop ...
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... could increase and the problem would be solved, that way the cultural delicacy that has been around for so many years stays untouched and the sharks aren’t killed for only their fins.
So in conclusion the problem is solvable and both sides of the debate can be happy, I just hope this can happen before we realize what we are doing to the environment and ourselves. Using primary and secondary research I was able to reflect upon the ethical issue as best as I can, I gave my own personal opinion and have explored ideas of how to solve the ongoing problem. I have to state that killing shark for all their resources isn’t wrong but overfishing and finning the sharks is cruel and the main reason the sharks are heading towards extinction. There needs to be a law put into place and it needs to happen as soon as possible before we are in serious trouble.
Ben Stanhope
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
...doesn't have to exist. If there aren't many sharks left, just about everything would be affected. From the food web to the climate which would then link to climate change. People should focus on the BIG problems and worry less about the smaller problems that wouldn't affect everyone. If swimmers and surfers would take a chance and risk their lives in the sharks homes then it's their decision, we shouldn't have to worry about that. Each and everyone of us has a brain, which is used for thinking and creating new ideas. If everyone speak out then the world would hear our ideas to solve the problem. It doesn't matter how stupid your ideas may sound or if you're not a celebrity. Everyone has a voice! If everyone tries to stop the culling of sharks then the law will one day be abolished. We can set an example for other countries to follow! Let's show them what we can do!
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
There are many different options available to us rather than the vicious act of shark killing.
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...
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,
Back in the dynasty the Emperors would serve the dish to honor the guest, because they believed it had healing benefits from the concurring of a shark (Fairclough, Caty). Fin soup still occurs today even when not on special (Fairclough, Caty). In addition the shark fins for can sell for a pretty penny anywhere from $500 a pound or even $1,000 a kilogram (Fairclough, Caty). As a matter of fact, fishermen in Melbour, Segal would export $1300 pounds worth of shark fins a week. It was recorded that a single adult fin sells for $80 and a two-meter monster can sell for $300. Additionally, 1 out of every 100 sharks reported killed between 2000-2008 comes from these fisherman(Hinshaw, Drew). (commentary) about Its question that fisherman practice “unsustainable finning” because it does pay nice , but the amount of money gained by finning isn’t comparable to how much sharks are worth to our economy. The global value of shark finning is around $630 million but is declining, while shark tourism is worth $312 million and promises to be worth $780 million in 20 years ( source 8). Human activity of finning isn’t the only reason to the decline of Great White sharks, human protection is another
Information (sub-point): The solution to the problem of shark finning is to sign petitions and force the government to pass legislature that will ban shark finning, as well as ban the import of shark fins. In 2000, Bill Clinton signed the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 (SFPA), which “banned finning on any fishing vessel within United States territorial waters, and on all U.S.-flagged fishing vessels in international waters” (Speigel, 2011). Currently, it is also illegal to hunt sharks in many parts around the world due to various restrictions set by other government, but it is not illegal to import and sell shark fins. Finding shark fins in the US can be as easy as walking into an Asian restaurant and ordering shark fin soup. If we truly want to make a difference, and see a rise in the shark populations around the world, we need to ban the sell and trade of shark fins
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 ...
The first groups/people that I have chose that are for shark culling are the Western Australian Government including WA premier Colin Barnett and a lady called Krystle Westwood. The reason KryColin Barnett and the Western Australian Government wants to cull sharks is because innocent civilians are being scared, harrassed and potentially bitten and killed by sharks at local crowded beaches. One of the main jobs that the Western Australian Government has to do is to keep their people safe, and if their people are in danger they will do almost anything in order to keep them safe. Aswell as this, shark signtings, shark attacks and news about deaths from shark attacks can catch onto the news and travel around Australia and sometimes the world. This news
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.
Deciding whether or not to continue the ban on commercial whaling is not a personal decision, but more so a moral obligation to the environment. It is necessary to take into account the effects that whaling has had on the economy and environment and there have been no positive factors since it has become an unnecessary part of daily lives. Overall, it is up to each member country of the IWC on what regulations they want to adhere to but there is an obvious decision that they should make. If they chose to continue killing whales, then there needs to be an alternative way of enforcing the IWC’s policy.
Shark finning is “the process of slicing off a shark’s fin and discarding the rest of the still-living body, often by dumping it back into the ocean”(Fairclough). The reason why fishermen chose to keep the fins and discard the bodies is because the shark’s body have less value compared to their fins. Their fins could sell “as much as $500 per pound ($1,100 per kilogram)”(Fairclough). Even though it is only used in a Chinese dish, there are other countries that had also practiced shark finning. In 2008, based on Oceana table of “Origins of shark fin exports to Hong Kong”, the world’s top exporters were Spain, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, and United Arab Emirates. Even the United States of America was on the list and is one of the top 10 countries that have exported shark fins to Hong Kong. Shark finning also caused the 14 shark species population to decrease dramatically to the point of extinction. Even though the main cause of shark species extinction is from shark finning, another factor would be how they
Introduction One particularly interesting sea creature is the whale shark, formally known as Rhincondon typus; it was first discovered in 1828 by Andrew Smith (Rowat 2012). This large fish is found globally in warm tropical oceans and prefers to stay within 200 meters of the ocean’s surface in waters ranging from 4.2 to 28.7 degrees Celsius (Stevens 2006). This creature can be found all across the globe in warm tropical seas. Aggregations of whale sharks have been seen off the coast of Australia at times, although it is primarily a creature of solitude. Whale sharks are filter feeders that consume plankton as well as small fish and are harmless to humans.