A Guide to Saving Sharks

Why do sharks need to be saved?

Sharks don't account for many fatalities worldwide. So why are people turning a blind eye to this? Why are sharks being killed? Declining?

Why it is our responsibility to help

Many people are not educated on this issue, and many believe it is not a big deal to save them. Well, it is our job to work towards saving the sharks because it is our fault they are going extinct. At least 100 million sharks are killed every year, due to humans. That is about 11,416 per hour. For every human death by a shark, about 20 million are killed. See why it is an issue? 

Importance of Sharks

Without sharks, we would be in danger. 

1. An ocean ecosystem without sharks would be an uncontrolled, disastrous one, that would probably collapse soon after. They play a big part in keeping the reef eating fish from not eating too much of reefs. Reefs produce large amounts of oxygen that helps us to breathe up on land and sharks provide us with over half of what we breathe. So if sharks go extinct, nobody would be able to monitor these reefs and we would die from lack of air.

2. We need to be educated about sharks enough to know that sharks do not want to attack us. That is why there are so few shark attacks per year. I found this really good paragraph from rotandivers.com that I wanted to include since I thought it was well explained.

"Sharks are misunderstood. They genuinely want nothing to do with us. The reason that shark attacks are increasing is because humans have taken a large part of their food supply because of our unsustainable fishing techniques and consumption, and so sharks are now moving closer to land to find food. We are the reason that they are moving closer to shore, and then we get upset when we see them close to shore. Does that make any sense at all?"

We have to remember, we are in their habitat! 

3. Imagine a world without sharks, if future generations never were able to experience a lifetime with them. Think about us now and if we were able to see mammoths. Cool right? Sharks are 450 million years ago and older than dinosaurs.  

4. Sharks also play a huge role overall in the food chain. Smaller ocean animals would die out, because nothing is eating their predators anymore, and plants such as algae could possibly become out of control.

Why are sharks being killed?

I just wanted to briefly talk about the one main reason & sub reasons why sharks are being killed. The biggest reason, which accounts for a majority of shark killings is for shark fin soup. Basically for us to eat. The other reasons would be longlining and culling.

Sharks have more of a reason to be afraid of us then we do of them, remember that! Whatever would happen without sharks would not be good for anyone.