Sharks! A Call To Action

Shark fins drying in the sun in Kaohsiung before processing. 30 percent of the world’s shark species are Threatened or Near Threatened with extinction.
A recent report published in Marine Policy (1) documents that humans kill over 100 million sharks every year. The vast majority of these animals are brutally killed for their fins, which are considered a Chinese delicacy in soup. In a practice refered to as Shark finning” sharks are unknowingly caught out at sea, their fins viciously cut from their bodies alive, then bleeding profusely and unable to swim or breath without the ability to propel themselves forward, the sharks are tossed back into the ocean, left to squirm in agony as waste until they either suffocate, bleed to death and or are eaten alive by other marine life.
Almost as alarming to this inhumanity and their looming extinction, is the resulting trophic cascades and the impact it will have on our global food web. As the top predator in the ocean food web, Sharks regulate the quantity and health of other marine life. Primarily feeding on weak, old and unhealthy marine life stops the spread of disease among related populations, diminishing competition, resulting in a stronger gene pool and greater diversity in surviving marine life. Contemporary scientific belief is that removing sharks from our world oceans would devastate sea food stock because existing marine populations would quickly be devastated by disease.
While there is high variability in shark attacks and related fatalities, statistics from University of Florida research International Shark Attack File (2) less that one person in the U.S. is killed each year by a shark, 12 deaths worldwide. To put this into perspective, the Mother Nature Network notes that you have a significantly greater probability of being killed by an array of other unassuming creatures including these 11 examples (3) – the totals are annual averages:
- Mosquitoes kill 655,000 people by spreading malaria
- Hippos kill 2,900 in Africa
- Deer kill 130 in the U.S. almost exclusively through auto crashes
- Bees kill 53 people in the U.S. from the allergic reaction of being stung
- Dogs kill 30-35 people in the U.S.
- Ants kill 20-50 people in Africa from stings
- Jellyfish kill 20-40 in the Philippines from the anaphylaxis caused by the sting
- Cows kill 22 people in the U.S.
- Horses kill 20 in the U.S.
- Spiders kill 6.5 in the U.S.
- Rattlesnakes kill 5.5 people in the U.S.
Join the effort, create awareness in our society, make your choices accordingly and call on the world’s leaders to take concrete and meaningful action to conserve sharks globally.
For our world, children and future, urgent action is needed! Help Oceanseed Project today!
Thank you.
Dominic Renda
Chairman, CEO & Founder
Oceanseed Project
References:
- The changing face of global fisheries—The 1950s vs. the 2000s, Marine Policy, Volume 42, November 2013, Reg A. Watson, Daniel Pauly
- International Shark Attack File, George H. Burgess, Curator, International Shark Attack File, Florida Program for Shark Research, University of Florida
- 11 Animals More Likely to Kill You Than Sharks, Mother Nature Network, Tue, Nov 20 2012, Jaymi Heimbuch
Photo Credit:
- Shawn Heinrichs for the Pew Environment Group, Shark Fin Trade in Taiwan Province of China – Press Photos and B-Roll
Additional Sources: