Shark Conservation Research Paper

Shark conservation is an ideal that has been taken lightly by society for many years now. Sharks face the threat of being caught and slaughtered everyday. This threat causes major consequences to the entire ocean. Because sharks might appear to be frightening and aggressive in their own nature, people fear these animals. After learning about why theses creatures do what they do it can be easy to understand why sharks are here and why they need to stay. It is time to take the fear out of sharks and start fearing an ocean without them.

What is it that makes humans so fearful of sharks? In 1975, people did not have a clue how dangerous these animals can be and what they are capable of. In the summer of 1975, the famous movie Jaws hit the big

screen, taking the breath away from millions. Jaws was a mystery/drama with the plot of a murderous great white shark taking the lives of innocent beach goers. Society was astonished of the capability of what just one shark, just one, could do to cause so much damage and destruction to a coastal community. After the release of the movie, the monster label on sharks was officially established. As a result, people set out to hunt these creatures in order to save future lives of people who lived and visited these coastal areas. This movie changed the perspective on how people all over the world see sharks. The movie did not just spiral up fear, it also inspired millions of people to study these animals and what we can do to protect our people, without killing all of the sharks in the ocean..
To this day people are still fearful of these animals, some people will not even step into the water because of their fear of sharks.

What people do not know and understand is what these creatures do to create a clean and healthy oceanic environment. Sharks are the oceans’ apex predators, meaning they are the king of the deep just like the lions are to the safari, wolves are to the forests, bears, etc. Yes, if we were to come face to face with any of these apex predators it is roughly a fifty percent chance of the human coming out on top. No, we can not tame these animals or teach them not to eat humans, so it is natural for us to feel some kind of fear when we think about these animals. What we can do is to educate people all around the world to show why these animals can often target humans, and what we can do to prevent becoming targets. Simply by taking the time to learn about sharks one can easily take the fear we feel about sharks and bring out a new perspective. When people step into the ocean they must be aware that they are stepping into the home of millions of different sea creatures and must respect that. Sharks were not put on the earth to target and eat humans, sharks are here because they have the greatest impact on the ecology of the

ocean.
An ocean without sharks can sound quite appealing to the average beach goer, not having to worry about the threat of being bitten and dragged into the depths sounds very promising. But in the eyes of well educated scientist, and other individuals it is a major problem for marine ecosystems. Marine life needs a balanced ecosystem to survive. The balanced marine system supports, tourism, fishing, and other different types of activities. All these activities help coastal communities thrive. The absence of sharks takes away from both lively hoods and the natural environment. It is bizarre to think about, but sharks are actually worth more alive than dead, addressed in the website Support Our Sharks, “In Palau, where more than half of tourists are drawn by diving excursions, each reef shark brings in about $179,000 in tourism revenue annually, or about $1.9 million during its lifetime.”-(S.O.S) Society needs a firm grasp on the obvious, the ocean is not our home. The ocean is home to millions of species of marine life. Taking away sharks strips away the health of countless ecosystems and different species all across the globe. The loss of sharks indicates a dying ecosystem. Sharks sweep out the old, sick, and slow, keeping the ecosystem well groomed to the right size. For example, “the cow nose ray population was no longer kept under control by sharks and so grew out of control. As a result, the rays destroyed the population of bay scallops, their favored food. The scallop fishery, which had been thriving, sustainably, for over 100 years, was virtually wiped out, with scallop catch dropping to only 13% of its high point. In addition, the removal of the scallops likely had an effect on water quality as they were no longer there to perform their function of filtering and cleaning the water.”-(S.O.S). This is a perfect example on how the loss of sharks creates a domino effect.
Sharks can be very dangerous animals when we are unaware of their presence, marine scientist and environmentalist are extremely aware of what these animals are capable of, that's why these people are rapidly coming up with new strategies to make public beaches safe and clear of sharks. Scientist have constructed specific nets that prohibits sharks from getting within a certain distance from public beaches. If a shark were to break through, sharks navigate slow so this allows the choppers to have plenty of time to sound the sirens, and get everyone out of the water in order to prevent an attack on a human. But it doesn't stop there scientist and researchers are constantly on the move delivering new ideas on the task about how to keep the species away from shore. This is done by creating shark sanctuaries. Shark sanctuaries gives the greatest impact to the protection of these animals. Shark sanctuaries prohibit commercial fishing therefore it creates a healthy marine environment, and healthy marine environments need sharks, this strengthens the resilience of government owned reef systems that coastal communities depend on to keep their industries up and running. Coastal communities strive on healthy reef systems because they are constantly giving back to the economy of coastal regions.
Rather than being afraid of sharks, society should be afraid for these animals as they face the threat to be killed everyday. Let's face it, the shark species biggest threat is society. When society has a bad view on sharks the end result is never pretty. One of that saddest things sharks face is, shark finning. “What's shark finning?”. The shark is caught, the fins are sliced off, the body is tossed overboard (still alive) as it sinks to the ocean floor where the animal either bleeds to death or suffocates.