Sharks' Importance

You may think of sharks as monsters. The majority of people think so. Like them or not, they are very important to the ocean. The ocean has a balance, and if one species is taken out, it will put the balance out of whack. Shark skeep the fish populations from getting out of hand. They are only second to Orcas as apex predators (followed by dolphins), and are extremely important. If they didn’t exist, fish would consume all of the plankton, our main source of oxygen. This would affect humans, cetaceans, and all other marine creatures.

        People don’t understand that you are more likely to be killed by a dog, horse, deer, or rabid raccoon or squirrel. We call lion “king of beasts” thinking that they are magnificent. They are no less dangerous than sharks.

       The filter feeding sharks such as Whale sharks, Basking sharks, and Megamouth sharks eat plankton. The predatory sharks such as Great White sharks, Shortfin and Longfin Makos, Bull sharks, Tiger sharks, Porbeagles, Salmon sharks, Lemon sharks, Hammerhead sharks, Greenland sharks, Sixgill sharks, Goblin sharks, Blue sharks, Thresher sharks, and Sandtiger sharks keep the fish populations balanced.

       Sharks have been around for 450 million years. Some of the first being the Megaladon, Helicoprion, Orthacanthus, Paleocarcharias, Symmorium, Echinochimaera, Belantsea, Scapanorhynchus (a resembling relative of the goblin shark), Hybodus shark, Stethacanthus, Falcatus, Acrodus, Erquitaia, Cretoxyrhina, Squalicorax, Physogaleus, Otodus, Tristchius, Cobelodus, Anomotodon, Cladoselache, Glikmanius, Akmonistion, Cardabiodon, Wodnika, Triodus, and Dunkleosteus. But since the 1970s, 95% of the ocean’s oldest predators’ populations have been decimated.

      In the shark/human relationship, we think that sharks are monsters. In fact, we’re the monsters. We think that killing them for meat and fins is a delicious, tasty decision. Actually, it’s not. Only 8-10 people are attacked and 3-5 killed by sharks each year. We kill 100 million or more of them a year. As we kill them, we are slowly messing up our world. We need to start thinking before we slaughter them.

       When caught, their dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins are sliced off and the mutilated animal is thrown back in the water alive and either drowns, is eaten by another shark, bleeds to death, or starves to death. Shark Fin soup is a delicacy in China, and as the Chinese population grows, the demand for the soup also grows.

       Here’s a fact, shark fins are just cartilage. The soup is about the most tasteless, non-nutritional thing to eat. There is absolutely no use for it. But still, the fins alone as well as canned soup are sold in Asian markets, today. Chinese restaurants all over the world (including the USA) sell the soup, averaging $25.00 a bowl. There are four restaurants in my state that sell the soup, three of them being close to where I live (Yes, I'm sickened by it) and the last one being where most of my family lives. I went online to see the menu of one of the ones near my house, and shark fin soup was the most expensive soup on the soup menu. One pound of shark fin is worth $200 U.S and a whale shark caudal fin can be worth as much ad $10,000 in China. Scientists estimate that sharks may be all gone in 10-20 years, if we don’t act fast. We need sharks. Sharks need us.

Go to this address to find out what restaurants in your country sell shark fin soup:


http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/boycott.htm

 Copy pasted from my science project