Sharks have survived 5 major extinctions, and only recently are the number of sharks is beginning to decline. This suggests that human exploitation is the main reason for the drastic loss of sharks and therefore, the overall effect on marine life, and indirectly the effect on human life via fisheries (fig1 and 2). In just under 50 years, slaughter of sharks has risen by 400% to
Figure 1. Graph showing an overall increase in global shark catch. approximately 800,000 tonnes per year[1], so now, around 90% of the shark population has been wiped out[2]. Sharks are very late at developing sexual maturity; for example, female great white sharks do not reach maturity until they’re about 10 years old and when they are eventually mature enough, they only give birth to a few pups a year. This slow reproduction process results in sharks being
killed faster than they reproduce, ultimately reducing the population size. The radical change
Figure 2 shows relative changes in population abundance of pelagic sharks in the Central Pacific (Ward & Myers 2005), Northwest Atlantic (Baum et al. 2003), Eastern USA (Myers et al. 2007), Gulf of Mexico (Baum & Myers 2004), and the Mediterranean (Ferretti et al. 2008) in shark population causes growing concern for other marine animals such as tuna, sea turtles and billfish. A study was carried out by the University of Miami to demonstrate the effect shark hunting has on the bay scallop. As shark populations decreased, the number of their
Sharks are important to our ecosystem and humans needs to protect sharks. The number of sharks have declined by 80% and the main reason is humans. Secondly sharks are important to our ecosystem to keep things balanced. Another reason sharks should be protected is because sharks can be used at a drug to treat human viruses. In conclusion this is why humans should stop the killing and start
If you had to pick between buses or sharks, which would you think killed 1,082 people in 2013? If you chose sharks, you are wrong. Sharks only killed 2 people in 2013, compared to the 1,082 killed by a bus. (A. Kasprak, 2015) Sharks are portrayed as ruthless and merciless killers. But what if we found out that instead of them being the predators, that they are our prey? Humans have been hunting sharks for as long as we have known they exist. Now, they are becoming rare and some are even extinct. The main reason of this is shark finning. Shark fins are in high demand, so more sharks get killed every year. What we do not realize though is that without sharks, the whole ecosystem will change and maybe even fall apart. Many people are skeptical that this is not really a problem,
Sharks are vicious creatures and eat humans. Don’t go into the water if you see a shark nearby or they will come after you. These are a few of the many things you will hear from the television or even people you may know. Humans are not a part of the shark diet so it is highly unlikely that a shark would randomly go after a human. The media likes to make their shark stories more exciting by adding words like “aggressive” or “threatened.” There was a total of 4 deaths caused by sharks in 2014 which is a large contrast to the 11,417 sharks that are killed per hour by humans. sharks) need to be preserved and protected in order to preserve our oceans. Laws that are more strict should be implemented in order to achieve this goal.
Overfishing is a death sentence to the world’s oceans. As technology continues to improve a great deal of fish can be caught quicker; but at what cost? The effects of overfishing can lead to the extinction of not just the animals being fished, but also the predators that rely on fish to eat. Ninety percent of the ocean’s largest animals have been wiped out due to overfishing (“Overfishing- A Global Disaster”, 2011). National Geographic cites the academic journal Science (2006) that predicts by 2048, all fisheries will collapse due to lack of ocean wildlife. Fish are not the only animal caught in the nets used by fishing vessels. Often animals such as dolphins, sharks, turtles, and seabirds are
The things that sharks are being killed for is sickening. So far, humans have decimated about 90 percent of the world’s shark populations for the sake of shark tooth jewelry and jaws that tourists buy in massive quantities, sharkskin accessories, phony medicines made from their cartilage, and a huge range of cosmetics, deodorants, moisturizers, sun tan lotions, and lip balms that use shark liver oil as a base because it makes our skin soft. (Check the ingredients of these items before you buy. If they contain “squalene” or “squalane,” leave them on the shelf.) (M. R., Ph. (2015, February 08). The Most Misunderstood Shark Fact Of All Time. From
There are approximately 100 million sharks killed every year for many different reasons. They are killed for food, for trade, due to fear, and sometimes on accident. This number should frighten us humans because sharks are an incredibly vital part of the food chain, and they help to protect the ocean’s ecosystems. Without sharks, we would have to learn to adapt to a completely new ocean, and way of life.
The cause of this debate comes with the return of White Sharks to the area. Over the past few years, there has been an increase of this apex predator to our coasts like never before seen, most notably since Labor Day weekend in 2009. Five sharks had been tagged by a marine biologist, Greg Skomal, and have been closely tracked and documented since. Skomal is a key player in this research as project leader
Whether it is the fining for fin soup or the desire to have a large shark jaw, sharks are being killed at alarming rates.
The environmental factors are about the conditions and the surroundings that we live in. Shark finning is an awful practice that causes negative impacts for the environment. Once the sharks are caught, the fins are cut off and are returned to the waters. Almost always, they don’t survive due to predation to other animals, blood loss or from suffocation. The Shark Population is massively decreasing. Specialists estimate that approximately 100 million sharks are killed. In the marine ecosystem, sharks are probably the primary predators and ocean takers. They are apex predators who are responsible for keeping the population in balance. They have been around Earth for 400 million years. The Earth is 70% covered with water and it houses 80% of life on Earth, which is why it’s important to sustain this
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
Sharks play a crucial role in the ecosystem. They are an apex predator and are critical to keeping balance and safety of their community and even their ecosystem. Due to overexploitation, many species of sharks are close to extinction and this can lead to devastating impacts in the ocean ecosystem. The shark keeps the food webs in balance. The keep the population of many prey under checked. For example since the population of sharks have dwindled down, the cow nose ray population blew out of proportion. Because of this the ray destroyed the population of one of their main source of food, the bay scallops. If it were not for sharks, many species would overpopulate and cause the same harm as the cow nose ray. While keeping prey from overpopulation,
The Great White Shark is a highly efficient predator at the top of the food chain in the ocean. They roam the oceans of the world in search of their normal prey of Seals, Dolphins, large fish and other sharks, however they have been known to attack and kill humans and are then known as ‘rogue’ sharks. ‘Rogue sharks are sharks that have chosen to attack humans, perhaps because they have a taste for human flesh’ (Stacks, 2011). This essay discusses the question, should rogue sharks be killed or conserved?
There were fifty-seven to seventy-eight shark accidents per year worldwide from two thousand to two thousand and four; Out of these accidents four to eleven were fatal. However, the probability of accidents in water sports are: Deaths caused by drownings is seventy-four, Shark accidents are none, and Drowning is one case out of three and a half million in water sports (“SHARK ACCIDENTS” Web). In two thousand and eleven there were five fatalities and two in two thousand and twelve in the first three months. Two fatalities a year occur in Australia and from two thousand to today there were twenty-five shark fatalities (“Australian Sharks and Death “Web). If sharks never existed, the food web of the ocean would change drastically.
II Over the years there has been a huge drop in the population of sharks, because of the popularity of Shark fin soup in china, and this can later on lead to the ocean ecosystem to be disrupted, if sharks are extinct.
Sharks are creatures that terrifying millions of people around the world. Through movies and the media, they have been made out to be man-eating machines with only one purpose, to eat every last human being on the planet. Every time someone is attacked by a shark the media cries wolf and makes these beautiful animals out to be killers. The reality is that we as a society fear what we do not completely understand. We know very little about sharks compared to other species. Therefore, they make for an easy target to place blame upon. What many people do not realize is that sharks are extraordinary and diverse organisms, able to survive and thrive in many ecosystems.