The Misunderstood Killer

Everyone knows the ominous tone; the string quartet playing the bit that represents the approach of one of the world’s most feared and misunderstood creatures. Of course, the creatures that I am speaking of are sharks, and the tone is made infamous from the 70s classic Jaws. People all around the world know about these creatures. A good majority of them have a fear of them, some so great that they refuse to step foot into the ocean. While this fear is not unfounded, there were 82 unprovoked shark attacks in 2010, it is not as pressing as many other life threatening events. In fact, there is a greater possibility of dying from other things that many would think are much less likely. Marine scientists would argue that sharks deserve respect as they are a very important part of our oceans and almost a quarter of our shark species are currently threatened with extinction.


Sharks are often the apex predators of the ocean. In other words, this means that they are at the top of the food chain. Apex predators are very important in their habitats. They maintain the natural order of things by keeping the population of the organisms on which they prey from growing out of control. If you take an apex predator out of a community the effects can be devastating. Unfortunately, this is what is happening today in many cases in the Earth’s oceans.


Sharks are being killed on purpose and for a variety of reasons. They are currently being killed at the alarming rate of one-hundred million sharks per year. That is roughly a quarter of the population of the United States worth of sharks that are dying, many needlessly, every year. Some sharks are killed


Once they reach a certain size to prevent them from attacking humans. This is more common on continents such as Australia and is a much more plausible reason than some of the other reasons that the sharks are dying. Another big way in which the sharks are dying is from bycatch. There are many ways that have been researched to minimize the problem of shark bycatch, but none of them are being used. Sharks also are being killed for their fins. There is a large global market for shark fins and some other types of fish that are used for shark fin soup. Another major factor is that some people just kill sharks simply because they see them, and they do not understand that sharks are not the evil creature that many believe them to be.


Sharks are a very slow growing species, and it is very easy to wipe a shark species out because they are not able to bounce back very quickly like some fish species. Any time that a quarter of the species of a certain type of organism is endangered it is alarming. I cannot imagine a world where some of the most fascinating creatures such as the great white are wiped out. Even the people that enjoy sharks for purely commercials reasons, such as shark week would lose out. This is not an article to make you feel you should protest outside a fishery or become an activist for the cause. But next time you go to an aquarium, drop some spare change in the save-the-sharks box. Trade a little of the fear that you have the next time you step into the ocean for respect; you are after all in their world.

 --- Zak Palmer


Harris, Richard. "Ancient And Vulnerable: 25 Percent Of Sharks And Rays Risk Extinction." 

NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.


"Next Generation Diving - Underwater Vehicles..." Shark Quest – Best Sharks Place. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http://best-diving.org/adrenalin-diving/139-shark-quest-best-sharks-place>.