The Loss Of The Shark Population

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,

One of the major problems is shark finning. Shark finning is the practice of removing the shark’s fins after it has been caught. They keep the fins and the body is usually thrown back into the sea, and usually the shark is still alive when this happens. When this is done sharks are not able to swim, and eventually the shark dies from suffocation, blood loss or being eaten another predator. The reason why the fins are kept are because shark fins are one of the most expensive food items in the world and can be worth more than over $400 per kilogram. One of the problems with finning and the selling shark fins is that it has caused a lot of declines in shark populations. Shark finning is unmonitored and unreported so the actual amount of finning is unknown. Finning is done at random and unbiased, they go after any species, sex or size of shark. Research has been done on some of the fins brought in by fisheries and it shows that even fins from great white sharks are appearing in shark fin

Every Jaws fan knows the shark gets it in the end. What they do not know is that too many sharks have gotten it; and that has caused a rapid decline in the shark population over the past thirty years. Since the 1970's, sharks of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shores have declined eighty-five percent. Sharks are vital animal to our world's ecosystem, and if the decline is not controlled; we could be facing devastating problems in years to come. Information has been obtained from two books: The Shark Almanac by Thomas B. Allen and Sharks, An Introduction for the Amateur Naturalist by Sanford A. Moss. Sources also include a number of online references, among them BBC News, ENS News, The New York Times, and two online scientific

Shark finning is the process of cutting off the fins of a shark and discarding the body at sea (“Stop Shark Finning”, 2009). People catch sharks for its fins, meat, oil, skin and so on. Sharks fins are most commonly used in Asian cooking which is shark fin soup. According to Maddalena, Sommeran and Leander (2007), people have been demanding for shark fins dramatically recently, it is unclear how many sharks are caught annually but some of the conservationists estimate the number to be upwards of 100 million. Besides, shark conservationists are aware about the consequences of the high demand of shark fins, they advocate people to stop killing sharks and eating shark fins. Practice of shark finning is causing imbalance marine ecosystems and it

Arising over 350 million years ago, the shark species has been labeled as a human devourer. Now, with the increase in human population, the demand for shark meat, fins, and cartilage are at an all time high; therefore, the existence of the shark is becoming a concern (Budker 1971). Individuals are conditioned to think of sharks as a negative aspect to the environment, which is prolonging the effort to save shark species from becoming extinct. With that in mind, some private as well as national organizations have accepted the challenge of educating and informing people about the existence of the shark specie and its importance to the sea.

Whenever you go to the Fish and Chips shop, have you heard about “Flake”? Flakes are a type of shark. They have been killed just for us to eat. The price of them are also increasing. At least 100 million sharks are killed every year. In Eastern parts of Asia, Sharks were being culled for shark fin soup. Dragging out the sharks out of the ocean and cutting off their fins and throwing their dead body back into the ocean is unacceptable. How would you feel if we were dragged out of our home by a random person, got our arm cut off and got put back into our home again? I’m sure that we would all be horrified and terrified by this. It is said that Shark Fin Soup costs around $100 per bowl of soup. There are also some countries that have completely banned shark culling. They are Israel, Ecuador, Mexico, Egypt, Indonesia, Fiji and so on. It is very unfortunate that Australia isn’t a part of this. Sharks also help with ecosystems.

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.

More and more people have been introduced to a very dangerous practice called shark-finning. Even the people who are aware of the harmful effects they bring still continue on doing it. People are afraid of sharks due to their fierce appearance and the bad publicity they get such as the movies wherein sharks attack humans. Only about 5 people are killed by sharks every year. In fact, vending machines has a higher death rate of 13, while ants can kill about 30 people annually. Sharks are very beneficial to us, why do people keep on harming them? Why is shark-finning so important? Shark-finning gives both advantages and disadvantages economically, politically, cultural, societal, and environmental. It is important to recognize the

Sharks are being harvested in an irresponsible and unsustainable way. Many species of shark could go extinct within our lifetime. Overfishing has caused a dramatic decline of 90% for shark populations worldwide and up to a 99% decline on the US East Coast. (Jha, 2008) This issue is

Great White Sharks have known to be a great source of fear throughout the numerous ages of sea exploration. With an average size of fifteen feet in length, it’s not hard to imagine why. They are the stuff of many nightmares, but they are largely misunderstood. There isn’t a lot of information on Great White behavior because many believe them to be an endangered species, due to dwindling food sources and overfishing. However, with conservation efforts, their numbers should rise and more studies can be done. The latest major discovery was just in 2014, which shows that with time, we can learn even more about them. In this paper I will study the sharks’ basic facts, their various behaviors, and the effect humans have on them.

Every year, in oceans around the world, millions of sharks are hunted to meet the demand for shark fin soup. Shark fins are targets for fishermen because they not only have monetary value but there is a demand for this species within some cultures. The fins are used in a Chinese dish called shark fin soup which is a popular dish in this country that creates a status symbol for those who were able to consume it. Many fishermen practice shark finning primarily for the fins, although some fishermen can find use for the entire shark, most fishermen cut off the fins and discard the rest of the shark back into the depths. This is, honestly, a form of animal cruelty. The sharks do not die a peaceful death; they are unable to swim properly meaning they die from suffocation or blood loss. Shark fins go for about five-hundred dollars a pound, that’s what the fishermen see, the money value.

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.