Save the Sharks

Hi all! It’s my pleasure to write my first article for Integricity’s blog. I will be discussing sharks, the current conservation efforts and how you can be responsibly green with Integricity.

Sharks
Sharks are one of nature’s marveled animals. They’re considered important in the tourism industry because they are such beautiful and majestic creatures; yet we know so little about them.

Sharks keep the ocean ecosystem healthy & bio-diversified because they are apex predators (top of the food chain, no natural predators above them). They have highly evolved senses and can pick up the scent of blood from miles away.

According to global statistics, about 10 people die from shark attacks per year, but 100 million sharks are killed by people for harvesting, especially for their fins for the notoriously popular Chinese dish: the sharks fin soup.

Why Sharks Fin Soup?
This dish is well-known to be a sign of prosperity and respect in Asia, and is served especially in Chinese restaurants, typically during weddings where the dish denotes one’s status in the society.
It is also claimed that it contains medicinal properties and is considered an aphrodisiac.

However, shark’s fin in reality adds NO flavour or nutritional value to the dish – hardly any can differentiate the texture of the real shark fin from faux shark fin. The flavour comes from adding other ingredients such as mushrooms, salt or vinegar and meat from crab and fish.

Why Save the Sharks?
Because of the high demand in sharks fin from the global trade and underground market, sharks are hunted without regulation. They are caught, their fins cut off by a hot blade and their bodies, still alive, are thrown back into the sea. Without their fins these sharks await a slow death.

Sharks have been facing a steep decline in numbers over the past 2-3 decades. Besides over-fishing, pollution and the destruction of their habitat, and cruel activities such as shark hunts (where people hunt sharks for sport) threatens the global population of sharks.

With the sharks facing extinction, the role of the shark as an apex predator directly affects the balance of the ocean’s ecosystem. Because of fewer sharks, the amount of phytoplankton-eaters is expected to increase. Phytoplankton produces 50-70% of the earth’s oxygen and simply put this will mean we will lose a huge supply of oxygen from the ocean.

On top of that, sharks have a few natural predators and are slow to reproduce. Their pups take 7-12 years to reach sexual maturity and the female shark produces only a handful of pups a year (sometimes only 2).

How You Can Save the Sharks:
Global movements, powered by people and fuelled by media are taking many steps possible to prevent the extinction of the sharks. We at Integricity believe that everyone can play a part to help save the sharks.

YOU could:
a) Stop eating/supporting shark products. The killing stops when the demand stops.
b) Raise awareness about shark’s role in ecosystem & conservation to your family and friends.

PEOPLE could:
a) Stop unnecessary shark fishing.
b) Educate themselves and others about sharks.
c) Join an organization that supports anti-shark harvesting.

GOVERNMENT could:
a) Increase responsible shark tourism.
b) Raise awareness.
c) Impose ban/tax heavily/regulate shark harvesting.

Interesting Facts

1) Because the shark is an apex predator, its diet contributes to the high methyl-mercury content in its fin which causes infertility in humans when consumed.

2) A 1994-2005 study showed 93.4% of human fatalities were caused by bicycle-related incidents, while 0.09% are caused by shark attacks. One could say that you are more likely to die riding a bike than to swim in shark-infested waters.

3) Sharks are cartilaginous fish. This means that instead of bones they have skeletons made from cartilage and they do not have ribcages.

4) Sharks must swim constantly or they will sink. They have no gas filled swim bladder to keep them afloat like all bony fish do.

5) While the Great White shark is the most popular of the species, it is not the deadliest. The Tiger shark is the culprit for most deaths in shark attacks on humans.

6) A shark has extremely strong jaws. The highest recorded bite was 3.75 tons per square centimetre for a shark a length of 9 feet.

Links
http://www.sharksavers.org/
http://www.sharkscape.com/
http://www.savingsharks.com/
http://www.wildaid.org/
http://www.sharktrust.org/
http://www.sharkalliance.org/
http://www.wwf.org/