By: Jamila Ali
Approximately 100 million sharks are killed globally each year. You might be asking yourself “Sharks aren’t a common food. Why are so many being killed?” Well, in China shark fin soup is a traditional food and is a symbol of wealth. It is normally served on occasions such as weddings or banquets or as a luxury food. The process of finning a shark is especially gruesome.
Finners catch the sharks and using a heated knife they slice off each fin and then proceed to throw the shark back into the water. On most occasions the shark is still alive when thrown overboard and drowns.
The Impacts of Shark Finning
Sharks are considered apex predators, which means they are at the top of the food chain. Sharks normally prey on sick or weak animals, helping regulate the population so only healthy fish reproduce. With less weak fish only healthy fish reproduce which lead to healthy gene pools and evolution. But the main reason sharks are a keystone species.
What is a keystone species you ask? According to scientists around the world keystone species are species that are so vital to the ecosystem that if they went extinct the whole environment would collapse. This means that if sharks went extinct marine populations would either decrease substantially or cease to exist. This happens when the small fish that the sharks were eating boom in population. All the plankton and microorganisms that the small fish eat are all eaten, so the small fish starve and nothing is left. The ocean helps regulate the temperature on earth and if the ecosystem of the ocean collapses that means that the ecosystem of the earth collapses.
Shark finning isn’t only a threat to animals. Some shark products can contain dangerous amounts of mercury. According to the US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, mercury levels in shark meat can be up to 1.45 grams. If someone eats shark meat regularly they can contract mercury poisoning
How You Can Help Stop Shark Endangerment
One way to help stop shark finning is to stop eating fish. Tens of thousands of sharks are killed because of bycatch. Bycatch is when fisheries accidentally catch marine wildlife instead of fish.
Adopt a shark. You can adopt a shark for only 25$ on the World Wildlife Fund website. Link: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/shark
In conclusion, I hope that your opinion on sharks and how they affect the ecosystem or your view on them has changed. Sharks are a vital part of the ecosystem and without them it would quite possibly collapse. There is still hope though because the rate of shark finning has dropped significantly since 2019 and countries are putting bans on it. It seems that a variety of approaches may be the key to protecting sharks everywhere.
Comments