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 …show more content…
They do this because of the limited amount of space on the ship. Shark liver oil is used as a source of vitamin A, and some people believe that the cartilage and liver of a shark are extremely beneficial to human health. In earlier days the sharks' teeth-like scales on their skin was used as fine sandpaper, and when the scales were removed from their skin it made fine leather. This leather was used for making shoes, belts and handbags. Each year thousands of sharks are killed unintentionally due to nets used to catch different types of fish, and sometimes humans kill sharks because they fear them (Springer and Gold, 1989). All of these activities have resulted in many shark species being in danger of extinction.
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
The Eastern Grey Nurse Shark inhabits Australia as a genetically distinct population from its Western counterpart, and has been labeled a “Critically Endangered” animal by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999 ("Australian Threatened Species”). The population is found along the coast of Queensland and Narooma, the southern area of New South Wales, and various efforts have been put in place to conserve the species (“Grey Nurse Shark,” 2016). As such, the conservation methods put in place are not sufficient and further steps are necessary to allow the species to recover from its human-induced endangerment.
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.
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.
Peter Benchley the author of Jaws said, “Without sharks , you take away the apex predator of the ocean, and you destroy the entire food chain”. My paper’s main idea is how Great White Sharks survive in the ocean. Like how they hunt and how their features help it hunt,hide,and survive.
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
The great white shark is the top robber of the food chain and completes an important task in maintaining the ecological balance in the ocean. The great white shark exists about consistent for millions of years and has adjusted to its environment. But now there is a threat that it will be extinct by us humans. Many sharks prey on fish, eating the old, sick or weak, and strengthening the gene pool while stopping the fish from demolishing their habitats. Their presence can constrain prey species enough to break up the population, preventing overgrazing of the habitat. Because of this, scientists have classified them as keystone species, meaning that their removal can destroy the entire ecosystem, affecting not just the animals that live in the
Since the late 2000’s, two studies have shown that the Great White Sharks population in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are on the rise after a harsh decline in the 70’s and 80’s (Landen and Landen, 2014). Great White Sharks population is increasing with over 2,210 adults in the Australasian area, but they are lacking in data of juvenile sharks in the region and there are likely to be an excess of 8,000 to 10,000 sharks (Australian Geographic, 2018). So, even if one shark was killed for
The scientific community views sharks as important top predators in the oceanic food chain and as misunderstood creatures of the
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.
For millions of years, sharks have thrived, with nothing to fear. But in recent years that has changed. Over the past 10 years, an average of 100 million sharks have been killed every year. That’s right, 100 million sharks Every year. In some parts of the world, sharks have completely vanished. It does not have fanged teeth or strangling tentacles. It doesn’t even live in the sea. The creature killing the sharks is the human being. The disappearance of sharks had an effect on the ecosystem. Because of overfishing off the east coast of the U.S bull sharks have had
Outlasting the worst catastrophes Earth has undergone, it seemed merely forty years ago sharks could and would outlive any event. Yet, even as sharks have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, the summer of 1916 presented the first unexpected change for these great animals.
The shark population has dropped 80%. More than 10 million sharks die every year. Ocearch has been tagging sharks for a long time. People think sharks are vicious beast that mean to eat and kill humans but they have benefits that the whole world uses everyday!
Sharks have been known to have high amounts of proteins in their meat and they have high commercial and recreational value. For thousands of years this cruel sport has been occurring. Each year humans kill 100 million sharks, The act of shark finning can be described as very cruel; fishers catch a shark, cut off its fins, and throws the shark back in the ocean to die. There are many reasons why people around the world have made it a job or hobby to catch sharks these include; shark finning, high price for shark meat, recreational, food, a “miracle” soup in Asia, obtaining their cartilage, and their oils and skin. This activity has caused a high depletion rate in the shark population, and sharks are apex predators. Apex predators are very necessary in the growth and survival of an ecosystem. If we kill a lot of sharks we then create an imbalance of animals that can cause several problems for the ocean. We need to make a stop worldwide and have significant changes to the consequences for this cruel
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 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.