The Decrease of Sharks and Its Effects
The more the better--- so true. If only people believed this worked for sharks. Ever since you’ve been a child, you’ve been told that sharks are impregnable. Not true. Sharks don’t like to attack unless they are forced to. Movies and other media, like Jaws, make us think sharks are monstrous killing machines. Actually, sharks are helpful. They keep the ocean in order, not letting the balance fall. At the head of the food chain, sharks are the strongest, most ferocious creatures in the ocean. But they are being hunted down by something even smarter and more ferocious than them. They don’t have fangs or claws. They don’t even live in the sea. They are the humans.
Over the past 10 years, an average 100 million sharks have been killed every year (Tarshis 6). On any given day, thousands of fishing boats are out on the ocean, prowling the seas. Many trail strong, wire fishing lines hundreds of feet long and studded with as many as 1,500 hooks baited with raw meat
(Tarshis 7). Why are we killing them? Humans have been hunting sharks for thousands of years. The
Native Americans kept the teeth of tiger and bull sharks like trophies. Many Americans depend on oil from sharks’ livers to waterproof their ships. But until the 1990’s, sharks weren’t hunted in such staggeringly large numbers. Shark finning--- chopping off the fins and discarding the rest--- is increasing worldwide to satisfy the demand of shark-fin soup (Verlecar et al. 1). A delicacy in China, a single bowl can cost up to $300. A watery broth filled with stringy stands of shark fin, the soup is not known for its taste (Tarshis 7). Rather, if you serve it at a royal occasion, you are known as wealthy and powerful.
Nowadays, m...
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... tools, and much more. Since sharks are so useful to us, let’s be kind to them in return.
Works Cited
Hughes, Helen. "Humans, Sharks And The Shared Environment In The Contemporary Eco-Doc." Environmental Education Research 17.6 (2011): 735-749. Professional Development Collection. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Verlecar, X. N., et al. "Shark Hunting -- An Indiscriminate Trade Endangering Elasmobranches To Extinction." Current Science (00113891) 92.8 (2007): 1078-1082. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Tatum, Rebecca. "Chapter 524: The Ecology And Controversy Of Shark-Fin Soup." Mcgeorge Law Review 43.3 (2012): 667-681. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Tarshis, Lauren. “Saving The Great White Monster.” Storyworks Feb. 2014: 4-9. Print. 21 April. 2014.
“Shark Conservation by divers, FOR divers.”shark gauardian. N.p., 8 October 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
...s. According to studies and statistics done, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by a shark. They are often misinterpreted as scary and violent creatures, however this is merely due to media. Shark based films such as Jaw show that these sharks are harmful when they really aren't. Tapes/recordings of sharks slaughtering humans are published so often because of its actual unusualness.
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
However, the fact is, and statistics prove that over 100 million sharks are killed every year (according to the Sea Shepherd website), all around the world and for what reason? Shark culling and the hunting of sharks as a solution to beach safety has not been well received by the Australian public. Whilst it is very clear that we need a solution to protect our bathers and surfers, the Herald Sun reported that 82 percent of all respondents to their
Well, the movie Jaws showed sharks, specifically Great White Sharks, to be ravenous, blood-thirsty creatures that can exact revenge on humans. This has led people to have severe misconceptions about sharks that last through generations. In my own personal experience in volunteering at an aquarium that had sharks on display, I was constantly asked questions by small children on why sharks are evil, are these sharks mean, why aren’t the sharks attacking the other fish? Even adults asked me questions about the morality of sharks and have expressed their intense fear of the ocean because of
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
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.
Sharks are wonderful and mysterious creatures that many people demonize and fear. They are mysterious because they have lived for over 420 million years and survived five massive planet extinctions events that killed most animals. Later most people started to fear sharks because of the movie Jaws The movie showed people that sharks kill for joy and that’s when started to demonize them. As a result people started to fin the sharks and sell the fins to Asian markets. Moreover sharks
Studies suggest that a “live shark, over the course of its lifetime, is worth $1.6 million, which is a great deal higher than the $200 the dead shark can sell for” (Fairclough). This statement holds true because of shark ecotourism, or shark-related activities such as shark viewing, is an industry that is expanding rapidly. If people would instead invest in shark ecotourism rather than shark fisheries, business would be far more profitable: “Shark ecotourism currently generates more than $314 million worldwide and is expected grow to $780 million in the next 20 years” (McGuire). For example, “a single whale shark fin can fetch up to $15,000 in some Asian markets,” but in stark contrast, the annual profit made worldwide from whale shark viewing "brings in an estimated $47.5 million” (Williams). When compared whether shark finning or shark tourism reap more profit from an economic standpoint, then it is clear that a live shark is more valuable than its fins. Furthermore, both industry and sharks alike would benefit from shark ecotourism, without the damage caused by shark finning
As I mentioned earlier shark fishing is a cruel and inhumane practice by humans of cutting the fins off of live sharks. This wasteful technique uses about 1 percent of the sharks total body weight. Shark finning has been going on for thousands of years, but with the demand growing and the black market prices rising we are finding ourselves scrambling to try to help conserve our sharks.
Killing and sports fishing great whites is dangerous and in some places illegal yet the desire for shark heads, stuffed or mounted sharks and sharks teeth lead to the killing of the iconic animals. This phenomena extends to the whale shark which is much less dangerous to hunt or fish but when killed can have a large impact because the sharks take so long to grow and are often killed at the peak of their sexual maturity leading to more difficulty in repopulation and causing affects in the food chain by lessening pressure on the whale sharks prey. Culling Sharks can be helpful for other threatened species recover from fishing and predation pressure. There are healthy and environmental initiatives such as catching and eating local sharks in effort to help prey fish species recover from overfishing and predation from
When most people think about sharks, they probably picture something like this. A big, horrifying shark, with many sharp teeth longing for the human flesh. They are scary, dangerous and killing machines. But it isn’t the truth. In fact, this is a fake.
Very often there are reports that sharks attack humans for most there are only about less than a hundred a year. But meat isn't the only thing they there are are some sharks that eat a polar bear, a full suit of armor,tires, reindeers,porcupine,senegalese tom-tom drum,fur
The issue that will be discussed hereafter is the debate about baiting for sharks using a method called chumming for a variety of purposes. “[It] is the practice of luring animals, usually fish such as sharks, by throwing ‘chum’ into the water. Chum often consists of fish parts and blood, which attract fish, particularly sharks owing to their keen sense of smell. Chumming is illegal in some parts of the world, such as Alabama, because of the danger it can pose by conditioning sharks to associating feeding with the presence of humans.” (Wikipedia, 2014).
Many species are endangered or at risk of becoming so due to this. Smaller sharks, such as the dogfish, have less issue of this due to the lack of fishing and industry they pose. Larger sharks are also often able to avoid population drops and fishing, simply due to the cost of catching one outweighing the benefits. The sharks that are hunted are common species such as great whites, tiger sharks, and other oceanic breeds that are easily found. When a shark is caught, it is either killed for its teeth and scales or for the purpose of finning. If the shark is finned, the pectoral, dorsal, and often caudal fins are removed and the shark, usually still alive, is thrown back into the water. Unable to swim and hunt, it soon dies.