Saving our Sharks

You could say that sharks have a bad reputation, both in the media and in real life. I am writing this blog post because, due to this negative presentation in media, sharks don’t receive enough attention and support for the beautiful, majestic fish that they are. Many shark species are struggling because lots of companies use shark oil, fins, or meat for many different purposes. Some of you will have shark oils in your cosmetic products and not even know it. Sharks are suffering, and the media is blocking out their cries. You just need to sharpen your senses to hear them.

Sharks have outlived the dinosaurs and are some of the longest surviving species on earth today. Yet somehow, we know very little about the different species of sharks. Fossils have been found to date back 400 million years, which means that sharks have survived all five mass extinctions, indicating their resilience over time. Scientists aren’t even sure of the reproductive patterns and behaviours in sharks, as it is too far out of range and depth for samples to be taken and recorded accurately. This is just one aspect of sharks that is completely unknown to us, alongside many more. There are more than 465 species of shark, and we can assume there are many more that haven’t been discovered yet. We also know that sharks are right at the top of the food chain, regulating and maintaining the populations of the species below them. Sharks are essential parts of the marine ecosystem, and I don’t want to imagine what would happen if they were to go extinct, or if their numbers were to deplete further. Sharks are predators, hunting mainly during the night. They sometimes go on their own, but they have also been known to display social hunting behaviours. The species of shark also vary dramatically in terms of physiology and adaptations, with the biggest shark being the whale shark (46 feet long) and the smallest shark being the dwarf lantern shark (6 feet long). This great variety is due to the process of evolution, which enables species to become better adapted to their environments when they are geographically isolated from other shark species, thus the different shark species around the world display very different behaviours and adaptations. This explains why there are so many different species of sharks and why they all live in different areas of the world, in different climates and habitats.

The most endangered species of shark is the great white shark. Even though we all think of ‘Jaws’ when we hear its name, these sharks are actually more endangered than tigers, mainly due to overfishing and collisions with shipping vessels. Even though many countries all around the world have strict trading and fishing laws, many of these are not regulated, therefore it is fairly easy for illegal trade to go unnoticed. These sharks are in demand for many different reasons; their teeth and jaws for trading, their meat for eating, and their fins for remedies. However, there is not enough acknowledgement of their endangered status in the media, therefore people continue to eat shark meat and purchase their body parts all around the world. It is estimated that there are only 3,500 great white sharks left, and this number is decreasing by the day, as more and more sharks are killed for humans to profit off of. The second most endangered species of shark is the whale shark, the biggest of all the sharks. When the whale sharks seasonally aggregate, they are targeted by fishermen for commercial fishing purposes. They are classified as endangered because of the reduced sightings and the estimation that there are only around 7,000 whale sharks left. The hunting of whale sharks is also banned in many countries around the world, like India, Taiwan and the Philippines. These are just two endangered shark species, there are many more. Each of them are endangered for one reason; hunting and fishing from humans.

The stigma around sharks, especially great white sharks, is due to their presentation in the media and film industries. It all started when ‘Jaws’ came out in 1975, which was just the beginning of shark attack movie trends, where the sharks are always presented as being villains and cold-blooded killers. In fact, only a few species of sharks should even be considered dangerous to humans, and those species that are will only take lives very occasionally, if at all. More people die in car accidents than they do from shark attacks. Statistics like this should make you question; why am I actually scared of sharks? Most people would say that they don’t want to get eaten alive or killed, but this is not true. Nowadays people base their knowledge and understanding of sharks on films like ‘Sharktopus’, ‘Dinoshark’ and ‘Sharknado’. Why do we have such a biased view on sharks? It doesn’t seem fair when you compare it to a film like ‘Free Willy’ where the whale was presented as loving and victimised, compared to the great white shark in ‘Jaws’ that is an evil and horrible killer. This is why sharks are becoming endangered, because their numbers are dropping and not very many people seem to care. People just ignore the harm being done to animals like sharks, that are not loved by the public, and focus their attention to the endangered animals they know more about, even if the statistics prove that the sharks need more help and more awareness.

So, how do we change this? How do we change the way that the media presents sharks? I think, if we start through social media, it will spread to verbal conversations, discussions and debates, and eventually, enough people will be making the effort to stop shark hunting, that they will have time to regenerate and recover their numbers. It is not too late, but it could be soon. If a species like the great white shark goes extinct, we can’t get it back. Let’s make a change and start spreading the word while we can. If you don’t know how you individually could make a difference, you could write Instagram, Facebook or Twitter posts, or you could even just retweet or someone else’s post. Every little act helps; even if you have only educated one person on the importance of shark conservation, that is one more person to help join the fight, and one more person to help us win.