[Introduction] Sharks are essential to our marine ecosystems, and the continued culling of them can cause the extinction of the species as well as a devastated ecosystem within our oceans.
Not only was Jaws the prolific movie that changed Steven Spielberg's career, but it was also the movie that changed the perception of sharks forever. Fear of sharks went up, people stopped going in the water, and shark populations started to plummet. Since the premier of Jaws, shark populations have decreased by at least 50 percent across all species, and around 99 percent in certain species of shark. One shark, the Sand Tiger shark (also known as the Grey Nurse Shark) is critically endangered in Australia. There is only around 200 left in the australian waters, and no efforts to conserve the species have been effective.
So how exactly has Jaws caused so much devastation to the shark population? Well, the movie Jaws showed sharks, specifically
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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 sharks. Since Jaws became a blockbuster, sharks became a hot topic and news stations began to broadcast shark attacks more often.
This was also during the time where there was a massive population boom, which caused made a higher volume of people going into the ocean during the summer, which prompted a higher rate of shark attacks. All of these combined created a sort of hysteria within people who were worried about their children’s safety in the water as well as their own. Soon, the government became worried as well. The government began implementing shark control programs where they would target large species of shark through nets and drumlines, which are baited hooks, and effectively kill them. One shark control program in Hawaii that lasted from 1959 to 1976 resulted in almost 5,000 shark deaths. More recently, Queensland, Australia has been implementing various shark control programs to ease the public’s fear of the water as well as attempt to create the ocean safer for summer activities. This program is ongoing and was implemented in
2001. Shark hunting has also become a popular sport since the release of Jaws. Catching and killing a shark became a symbol of power and respect. Illegal shark tournaments also began popping up around the world where people began have tournaments where people competed in catching and killing the largest shark. People just seem to not be able to stay away from killing sharks, whether it is intentional or not. One study looked at shark population in areas where boating is allowed but not fishing, restricted areas where no one is allowed in, and areas where there is not restrictions in place at all. The study found that while full restrictions were helpful to shark populations, banning people from fishing was not. Shark populations in these areas were still affected severely. Fishing sharks for sport is not the only kind of fishing that affect shark populations. Sharks are also considered to be a delicacy in certain parts of the world, particularly China. In China, there is a dish called shark fin soup that uses the meat from shark fins to add texture to the soup. This dish was originally served in very wealthy groups in China such as royal families to show power and wealth. Today is serves a similar purpose since it costs about $100 to make per bowl. The high cost and high demand for the dish attracts many fishermen to target sharks. Typically, the fishermen would catch the shark, cut off the fins, then discard the rest of the shark, often still alive, back into the water. This practice is particularly wasteful and cruel. Learning about shark fin soup became particularly annoying since sharks fins are in general tasteless and offer no nutritional value whatsoever. The main purpose for the fins are to add texture to the dish, something which can be easily replicated. This practice has destroyed shark populations across the globe and has left many species of shark unable to thrive or recover from the rates of fishing done to meet demands for the fins. Sharks are more prone to endangerment and extinction than other species, which is why shark populations have plummeted since shark killings and culling have risen. This is mostly due to their mode of reproduction. Many shark species can take a long time to become sexually mature, with some being around 10-15 years, and their gestation period last a long time as well. Some species of sharks can be pregnant for more than two years. Even then, most sharks do not produce many young. The sharks with the largest litter capacities only reach around 15-20 pups while most can only produce 1-5 pups. All of this combined means that sharks are easily threatened by fishing and are constantly in danger of being critically endangered.
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
In addition to Western Australia’s targeted species being Great White sharks, Tiger Sharks and Bull Sharks, the QSCP contains a variety of additional target species, some of which have never been
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...
One of the previous papers in English class required the class to pick a paper to explore, this question will be concentrated on further in the synthesis essay. What evidence do scientist have to prove that prehistoric sharks existed? The reason behind picking this question wasn’t just to find proof that these monsters swam the seas, but to learn more about them from different resources. One of the resources that were used was a chapter in Angelo Mojetta’s book Sharks, called “ The Birth Of A Legend”. The other resource that was used for information was an article in Discovery Channels website called “ Prehistoric Sharks”. Sharks and Discovery Channel are the two resources that led to many other questions about their different, and similar views on prehistoric sharks existence.
Throughout the film there are many experts about the ocean and the animals that live in it. Researcher Ritter the misconception of the shark’s species is blown out of proportion by the media, which is why sharks have such an awful reputation. Experts touch up on this subject adding how even one of the biggest movies Jaws is a very large portion from where people get their fears from or it could be from all of the “shark attacks” on the news. Rob discusses how at the rate we are going we can destroy all of the food chains in the marine ecosystem, and this is where most of our oxygen comes from. Throughout the film experts Rob Stewart and Paul Watson are trying to get long lining banned in Costa Rica. Paul makes a really interesting point saying how the biggest problem is that we do not understand what we are and we are just a bunch of “conceited naked apes” that are out of
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.
Australian beaches are some of the best in the world and WA beaches are some of the best in Australia. But this may soon no longer be a view held by everyone if the WA government continues to support and allow the shark culling off Perth's major beaches. Hi I'm Maya Koentgen, a marine biologist, ecologist and fellow beach user, and I'm here to tell you why shark culling needs to stop. At the moment hundreds of innocent sharks are being caught and killed and why? Because they are simply swimming in their own homes that us humans have invaded.
The Grey Nurse shark has a current conservation status of endangered in Queensland and critically endangered throughout all of Australia. Since 1996 the grey nurse shark has been protected nationally, and is listed in two different populations. It is believed that there are
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.
Megalodon is a prehistoric shark from 23-2.6 million years ago. It is a pretty well known fact that there is an argument over whether or not a megalodon lives in the mariana trench. Research shown in this paper will prove that megalodon is extinct and does not live in the mariana trench and why.
Savagely cutting off a human’s arm is totally immoral, and yet fishermen continue to cut off sharks’ fins and leave them for dead. Shark finning is practiced by numerous countries, but only banned by a few. While it is well known that this barbarian and horrifying practice is severely endangering most shark populations there are only a few laws in a few places that regulate the shark fin trade. The reason shark finning continues to go on is due to the high market demand, weak legal constraints, and the ignorance to the fact that there are severe problems associated with it, both to human health and to the marine ecosystem.
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.