Until recently, humans used to view the ocean as a vast body of water with infinite amount of resources. Its vast depth and size made is seem as if it were invulnerable and excepted from over exploration. We are now realizing how wrong we are. According to marinebio.org, the populations of many species are decreasing at an unsustainable rate, and the number of species listed as endangered from marine life families such as whales, dolphins, manatees, salmon, seabirds, sea turtles, and sharks to name a few, are on the rise. Currently there are at least 5,000 species listed as endangered, but more are added every day (HumanSpot). Extinction is a natural process, but the current rate is about 1,000 times faster than is healthy (WildEarth). The main reasons more and more animals are going extinct is because of their top predator, humans. Habit destruction, over fishing, pollution, hunting, global warming, and exposure to chemicals are just some of the ways we are harming species everywhere. One species man has always feared, now fears man, because it is at the top of the endangered list: the shark.
According to The Shark Foundation, more than 1 out of 4 species or shark are currently endangered. This isn't because of natural selection; this is simply because of selfish human acts. Some sharks, like the great white, are capable of traveling 16,000 miles in 1 year. Even though they are considered the top of the food chain underwater, they are not safe. During their travel, an average of 38 million will be killed each year (Discover). Some of those deaths could be natural, but almost all of them are due to pollution, habitat destruction, global warming, exposure to chemicals, over fishing, and being killed for their fins. Take the Great White Shark for example, one of the most feared creatures on the planet, but because of careless humans, their population has decreased to 3,500 (DailyMail). The Whale Shark is one of the largest sharks, but also one of the most docile and friendly creatures. Unfortunately for the Whale Sharks, they can’t reproduce until age 30, but in those 30 years many will be killed by being hit by boats or getting caught in fishing nets. Because of this, the Whale Shark population is decreasing at an unsustainable rate. Sharks are purposefully killed by humans for numerous reasons, whether accidentally or intentionally. Fishermen hunt all shark species for their skin, fins, meat, and oils. Their skin is unlike many others because it is so smooth and thick, which is very popular for leather products. The oil in their liver is significantly less dense than water, which is a shark’s main source for buoyancy. This oil is valuable for its mineral content, and its uses. However, these uses can be replaced with vegetable oil and work just the same. The most valuable part of a
shark, however, is its fins. When caught, their fins are cut of and used for shark fin soup in China, or for trading purposes. One of the biggest problems for sharks is when they are accidentally caught in nets. 
There have been many incidents when fishermen cast their nets hoping for it to be full of a specific fish when they pull it up, but instead, it’s full of all the poor marine life that happen to be swimming in that area and got caught by accident. Fishing nets work well, because when they fish swim in, they get entangled in the nets, struggle until exhaustion, and then their bodies eventually collapse into their organs, causing death. It is a very effective strategy for catching fish, but the same thing happens when dolphins, sharks, whales, and other unintended sea life swim into the nets. One of the worst cases was of the coast of Japan in the late 1980’s. 32 fishing boats embarked on an excursion to capture 3 million squid in Japan. However, they accidentally killed over 58, 000 Blue Sharks, 52 Fur Seals, 914 dolphins, 141 porpoises, 25 Puffins and 22 marine turtles (Sharks). According to the World Wildlife Foundation, over the past 18 years, 89% of Hammerhead sharks and 80% of Great White sharks have disappeared from the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (SmartGear). “We may rightfully ask whether they will be allowed to survive long enough for us to understand the role they play in the marine environment” (pacfish.org). Sharks are going extinct at an unsustainable rate. The depletion of sharks will cause in unbalance in the food chain, and the marine ecosystem, which could affect all the other ecosystems. 3 sharks die every second. That means that by the time you have read this post, over 600 sharks died because of finning, loss of habitat, exposure to chemicals, pollution, global warming, and fishing nets. It’s time to make a difference.
This Graph shows the decrease in population of 4 different species of sharks in just 14 years. If you want to make a learn more and change, visit these websites to donate.
• http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/PageServer?pagename=priorities_wildlife_ESA_listing&AddInterest=1262www.wildearthguardians.org&gclid=CNzO-YKC1q0CFeYSNAodKATm5g
• http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/support_wwf/donate/
Resources:
http://marinebio.org/oceans/threatened-endangered-species.asp
http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/PageServer?pagename=priorities_wildlife_ESA_listing&AddInterest=1262www.wildearthguardians.org&gclid=CNzO-YKC1q0CFeYSNAodKATm5g
http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/pub/boxScore.jsp
http://www.humanespot.org/endangered?gclid=CPj_rZGj160CFaMQNAod6T9cGw
http://www.shark.ch/index.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1252237/Great-White-Sharks-endangered-tigers-just-3-500-left-oceans.html
http://www.iucnssg.org/index.php/faqreader/items/how-many-sharks-are-killed-annually-each-year
http://www.sharks.org.za/killing-of-sharks.html
http://www.smartgear.org/smartgear_bycatch/bycatch_problem/
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