Shark. Just the word strikes up fear inside of many people. We think of Jaws and horrifying attack stories. But when I hear the word "shark" I think of a magnificent, infatuating, apex predator. Sharks are not mindless killing machines, Southcoast Style points out that people have a 1 in 63 chance of dying from the flu compared to a 1 in 11 million chance of being killed by a shark.They also reveal that "Over 17,000 people die from falls each year. That’s a 1 in 218 chance over your lifetime, compared to a 1 in 11 million chance of being killed by a shark." Sharks are not out to get humans and humans are not an appealing meal to sharks. As my oceanography teacher pointed out to me, humans are too bony and it takes too much energy to dine on a human. I hope I can show you why shark finning should be stopped and laws should be put into place controlling the practice.
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| flickr.com from StormyDog |
Shark finning is the practice of cutting off a shark's fins and then throwing the sharks body back into the water. These sharks are then eaten by other fish or drown because oxygen is not flowing over their gills (sharks must be in motion constantly).The rest of the shark's body is practically useless in the market because shark meat is not in high demand where as shark finning is a multi-billion dollar industry. Most of these sharks are caught by longline fishing which is a very effect method of catching sharks that is causing drastic species number drops due to overfishing. So why cut off a shark's fin? For shark fin soup, a delicacy in many Asian cultures. Since the advent of new and improved fishing techniques shark finning has only increased. This is a practice that must be stopped because sharks are vital to the ecosystem and because it is simply inhumane.It is shocking to me that people can cut off all of a living creature's fins and then throw it back into the ocean for dead. This is having a huge impact on sharks species numbers and experts have estimated that most species of sharks will be lost within a decade if the practice of longline shark fishing is continued. This fact was the most shocking to me: For every human that is killed by a shark humans kill about 2 million sharks. Shark finning has been banned in California and I think that it should be banned everywhere or at least controlled for a start. It could be controlled by requiring fishermen to bring the entire shark into port (then they wouldn't have room for as many) and also require them to record information about the sharks such as species and sex. Then after it is controlled it could eventually become completely banned. Shark finning is inhumane and a waste of resources and it should be stopped.
http://southcoaststyle.co.za/shark-attack-facts-how-likely-are-you-to-get-attacked-by-a-shark
Dear Audrey,
ReplyDeleteI think you are blogging about a wonderful subject. You give a wonderful way of showing things from the sharks point of view. I feel that we should not be harming sharks, especially in there own environment.
"Sharks are not out to get humans and humans are not an appealing meal to sharks."
This sentenced stood out greatly to me. The reason being is because it shows that sharks aren't trying to kill humans.
"Shark finning is the practice of cutting off a shark's fins and then throwing the sharks body back into the water.This is a practice that must be stopped because sharks are vital to the ecosystem and because it is simply inhumane."
You are completely right. Killing a shark just for it's fin is wrong, and a waste of a life. This is as bad as taking a elephants tusk.
Thank you for shedding light on this subject. you have a eye opening view about sea life. I will return to your blog because of your post about sea life and how we effect them.
Sincerely
Tom Lasdavanh