Grey Nurse Shark Habitat

“The Misunderstood Shark” was written by Gregory Skomal, a biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and shark fanatic. His article was published by The Wall Street Journal on August 7, 2015. The engaging title, itself grabs the reader’s attention, making the reader feel sympathetic towards the shark. Upon hearing the word, “shark”, an individual may cringe. The author makes a solid claim that our attitudes about sharks are changing, but not towards direction it needs to be. He supports his argument with strong appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos throughout the article.

Sharks have been in our oceans for almost 450 million years. Those millions of years of evolution have allowed many different shark species to develop abilities, and to become perfect predators.

Sharks grow slowly and reproduce at a low rate. Their natural rate of replenishment is low, because they reproduce late in life and produce few offspring (Sims and Reid, 2002). If too many of a certain shark species is killed in a certain area, it is possible that that species may never recover. For example, the number of dusky sharks and sandbar sharks off the eastern United States decreased by more than 80% between 1985 and 1995. The sand tiger shark and the great white shark are threatened world-wide. Despite reproduction, little is known about the status, behavior patterns, and their migration patterns of most

Shark mating rituals vary from the size of the shark and its specie. In smaller, more flexible species, the male coils around the female, while the male of the larger specie orients himself parallel and head-to-head with the female (Woums & Demski 1993). Some species mating rituals also consists of males biting females on the pectoral fins or the middle of the back to hold on to them (Woums & Demski 1993). The female will often bear scars or marks, after the ordeal. Due to the fact that sharks are cold blooded animals, there is no precise gestation time. The development of the embryo will depend solely on the temperature of the water, however, the gestation period can last anywhere from 2 months to 2 years (Woums & Demski 1993). Within shark species there are two methods of reproduction. In some cases a female shark will lay eggs in a coastal nursery where the presence of other sharks are absent. And in other cases, usually in the larger sharks, females give birth to live offspring (Wourms & Demski 1993). In which case the young are born fully developed, and once they are born they shoot away fast or they risk being eaten.

Shark culling has become the new issue for Australian media. Shark culling is not the answer for safer oceans. We would be far better allocating resources to achieving a greater understanding of ecology and behaviour of these large predators. Tagging sharks and following their movement over time will show were they are likely to attack next. The marine ecosystems needs the sharks at the top of the food web, removing the sharks you would see more lower ranked fish. The marine ecosystem will have to do some

The issue surrounding the Western Australian shark cull initiative will be the central topic of discussion in this critical essay. A rise in shark attacks in recent years has caused the Western Australian government to employ the Department Of Fisheries Western Australia to pursue a systematic and regulated cull of sharks. However the Greens – who are a political party and pressure group – are advocating for this cull to be stopped through lobbying.

The Shark’s place in the marine ecosystem is as a predator at the top of the food chain as there is no natural predator of sharks. Sharks are not very fastidious about what they eat but their diet generally consists of seal, crab, squid, lobster and fish. If sharks were to become extinct there would be an ecological cost. The marine life that is the shark’s food source would start to overpopulate with nothing to prey on it. One possible reason that sharks are coming closer to shores is that their natural food source is diminishing due to overfishing by humans. To stop sharks from being too near to popular swimming locations, fishermen need to expand or change their hunting areas.

The issue of shark culling has recently surfaced in the media. The article ‘Proof still required that shark culling works’, written by Glenn Hyndes and published on abc.com, addresses the fact that there is no evidence that shark culling is beneficial for the public, yet the law has been used by the Western Australian Government. This article was written on December 12th 2013, when shark culling was discussed in the media, has a very passionate, logical and concerned tone towards the topic. Hyndes has written this article for an audience of people who think sharks are a danger, people who want to protect sharks and the Western Australian Government.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s article “The Brutal Business of Shark Finning” reminds us that sharks play a key role in the ocean as both predators and scavengers.

Sharks are a fundamental aspect of Australian waters, but shark culling has rapidly decreased the numbers over the past few years. The government definitely should not adopt a policy on shark culling, as sharks are the cornerstone to the contribution of social, environmental, economic and political aspects of our nation. If governments adopt this policy on shark culling, it will undoubtedly have a deliberate impact on the food chain. Additionally, even killing small numbers of already-threatened sharks will rapidly increase extinction risks of sharks. To conclude, humans contribute to the killing of more deaths than the opposite action done from sharks.

Donohue, Patrick and Log, Destin. “Sharks 101.” State and Regional Newspaper, 7 September. 2006. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 28 May. 2016.

We have the audacity to criticize Asia for the butchering of their marine life, when we too are about to reach this devastating point of culling our innocent creatures. Sharks were among the first marine life on this wonderful planet. We choose to enter our oceans as uninvited guests for only our personal entertainment. We feel this need to take what is not ours, only because we are the superior species. If the culling of these wonderful creatures keeps recurring, there will be no sharks in this ecosystem to keep the balance of marine life in the great Australian ocean. Culling is not

The coloration ranges from pale grey to a dark blackish-brown, making it easier to blend in with its murky surroundings. These sharks are mainly scavengers and usually prey on smaller fish such as skates, eels, herring, and cod. On occasion remains of larger mammals such as seals, moose, polar bears, and reindeer have been found in their stomachs. Its even speculated that these sharks ambush seals, with their ice holes being like beacons. Female Greenland sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning that they retain the developing embryo inside of their bodies to hatch instead of depositing it into the mud. While the gestation period is unknown there are usually 10 pups per litter that are about 90 centimeters long. This shark’s flesh is extremely poisonous due to the presence of the highly toxic chemical trimethylamine oxide (TMAO). The TMAO in the tissues basically acts as a natural antifreeze for the enzymes and proteins in this shark and keeps them from freezing. When the flesh is consumed TMAO is broken down into just trimethylamine. This chemical causes intestinal and neurological distress similar to extreme inebriated. Increased consumption can even lead to

I How many of yall like Sharks? Most people are deadly scared of sharks, and some just simply do not like them. Well, I am not here to inform to like sharks, but here to inform you of the issues that shark face today.

Governments and the public are at a critical point in terms of conservation. Many of the worlds species are at threat and without adjustments of legislation and actions this trend will continue. Sharks unfortunately are a species that are at high risk due to the actions of humans. Yet until recently they weren’t given very much attention. So now that the public is aware that something is going wrong with sharks what can they do to change it. The public could start with simple things to just become more environmentally friendly. They could recycle their plastics, try to reduce their contribution to climate change and become more educated about sharks. The next step they could take is donating to a well-recognized organization that works towards shark conservation. Perhaps the biggest thing that the public can do is to advocate to governments to make stricter regulations for the oceans. Since so much of the ocean is unregulated there is a lot of unknown activates going on that could be negatively impacting sharks. This needs to be regulated and it needs to happen soon or else there will be no sharks left in these areas. This can be done through joining advocate groups, writing letters, voting in parties that are more environmentally orated, and educating people about the effect they are having on shark populations.