Page 65 - World of Animals - Issue #36

Conserving sharks

Around 200 sharks lose

their life every minute

Sharks are well on their way to extinction purely because of our fishing activities

The main causes of increased shark mortality Although many people are now aware 100 million sharks are killed every year. It

come from a very high demand for shark fin of the dangers shark fin soup poses to the sounds a lot, but it gets worse - this is just the
soup, overfishing, and incidental trapping with species and are more environmentally aware, conservative ‘best case scenario’ estimate. It

nets as bycatch. particularly in the west, there is still a demand could be as many as 273 million.
Sharks struggle to recover from intense for shark products. In China, shark fins are Sharks are an incredibly important part of

hunting pressure because of their life history. prepared as a soup or a stew and are said to their ecosystem and act as an indicator of how
Females have a low productivity, meaning prevent cancer and heart disease, increase healthy the ocean is. In short, happy oceans
they produce small litters; these young sharks appetite and be beneficial to the skin but have healthy sharks swimming in them. They

then have slow growth rates and reach a rigorous scientific testing of these claims has are so vital due to their status as an apex

sexual maturity at a late stage. A slow life cycle yet to offer any hard evidence. predator. Sharks are fish at the top of the food
means they are less able to compensate for It is estimated that 11,417 sharks are killed chain, controlling the populations below them
over fishing and unable to bounce back as a every hour by finning alone. This doesn’t even and keeping everything in balance, by feeding

population when large numbers are killed. include sharks killed as bycatch, and a shocking on the animals below them on the chain.
BELOW
The white-tipped reef
shark is just one of the
sharks under threat.
It is currently listed as
Near Threatened on the
IUCN Red List

Great hammerhead shark Great white shark Oceanic whitetip shark Whale shark
Sphyrna mokarran Carcharodon carcharias Carcharhinus longimanus Rhincodon typus
This species is now considered The main threat these sharks suffer Overall this shark is listed as Whale sharks are listed as
Endangered on the IUCN Red List from is habitat degradation. They Vulnerable, but in some areas it is Endangered on the Red List due to

as it is highly sought after for its use inshore waters for pupping and considered as Critically Endangered. being targeted by harpoon fisheries

fins. There have been shocking as subsequent nursery grounds but Intense fishing pressure has almost in Asia. Despite an increase in

population declines of around 50 to these habitats are of increasingly decimated the shark in some parts tourism and interest in the species,
80 per cent worldwide. poor quality. of the world. populations are severely depleted.
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