JawsomeSharks

[jawsomesharks]

What You Can Do For Sharks: A Guide for the Average Landlocked American

Quite a lot! Even if you don’t live by the sea, there is so much you can do to help protect sharks and in doing so, protect the oceans too! Here is my super helpful masterlist of things you can do to help theses amazing animals. 

 Stop providing a market for cosmetics that use shark based products. Tell your friends about it, and make sure to inquire if a product is ethically sourced. 

This is so obvious, but use as little plastic as possible. A nemesis of many ocean animals, plastic waste is also a bog contributing factor to reducing shark numbers. Sometimes sharks directly consume plastic while mistaking it for food but, more often than not, sharks eat other other animals that have ingested plastic. Like turtles!

EDUCATE. Both yourself and others. Having a solid understanding of sharks and their role in the ecosystem is integral to further spreading awareness. 

Stay jawsome! 

[jawsomesharks]

You Should... Probably Check the Ingredient List on Your Lipstick

While shark finning is the main reason shark populations are being mercilessly, worryingly depleted, it is not the only one. 

Sharks are used in a wealth of products and chances are, you and I have probably used some of them. Shark fins, livers, cartilage and skin are all used in various different products. The desired ingredient is squalene, an oil found in shark livers. While a few companies have shifted to a plant based, organic version of squalene, many still use it in their cosmetics. 

That’s not all. Shark and Ray skin is used in high fashion leather products and while people like you and me don’t commonly go around buying shark skin products, we know there is a market for it. A simple google search provides a whole homepage of sites advertising their high quality shark skin products, showing off how waterproof they are, their durability, etc. 

But now, there is a new demon. Remember Squalene? Turns out, it is a ‘key ingredient’ in a new COVID- 19 vaccine. It’s an unsustainable and highly risky path to take, and there is a petition to stop killing sharks for the vaccine! 

While our beloved sea puppies have a lot of threats looming over them, they are also recovering, bit by bit. In the next post, I’m going to talk about what we can do for our sharks and our oceans, no matter where we are. 

In the meantime, stay jawsome! 

[jawsomesharks]

Why You Should Care About Sharks: The Average Guide For The Landlocked American

pic from this website (along with some very useful information!) 

Well, to being with, sharks are ridiculously cute. I mean, look at them! They’re not called sea puppies for nothing. 

On a serious note, sharks are incredibly important animals, and are credited with being some of the most integral parts of maintaining a healthy ocean ecosystem. 

Think of sharks as Libras. Requiring and creating perfect balance, sharks are often indicators of healthy coral reefs, as they are apex predators. Remove them from the equation and everything gets thrown off balance. The population of their prey booms since they don’t have a natural predator anymore. With this booming population of one specific species, their next- in- line prey populations get severely depleted and could cause whole fishing industries to collapse. Not to mention the highly detrimental effect this ecological cascade would have on the oceans health. Other climate threats would have greater, more dangerous impacts on us as the health of the ocean would be horribly compromised. 

Sharks are doctors! Kind of. In an ‘eating their patient’ sort of way. Sharks usually prey upon slower, infected fish that are weaker ones in the school, which naturally stops these pathogens from infecting other fish, while simultaneously strengthening the health of the school and ensuring that younger fish have stronger offspring. 

Long story short, certain shark species are pretty instrumental in providing us with oxygen. Certain shark species, like Tiger sharks, help maintain an ecological balance in seagrass beds, which release up to 10 liters of oxygen per 1 square mile of seagrass ( Gould, 2018).  I’ve seen degraded seagrass beds firsthand, primarily because of unethical construction practices. Barren, silty, devoid of sharks and any marine life- damaged seagrass beds are incredibly unhealthy ecosystems and cause many problems for both fish and humans. 

In my next post, I’m going to talk about some lesser known ways that sharks are threatened, as well as what we can do about it. 

In the meantime, stay Jawsome!

[jawsomesharks]

There’s not many people to talk to while you’re in quarantine. But, the lucky few individuals with whom I have interacted with were all subjected to rigorous questioning about their knowledge on shark conservation. And of course I indulged in a little research online. This post is about the lesser known dangers that sharks face. 

One big misconception: Shark finning is the only problem sharks face. 

While shark finning is the main threat to sharks, it is by no means the only one. Shark finning is the one problem most scrutinized in the public eye and while it is not completely eradicated in the United States, it is a widely known problem and I am aiming to bring light to the lesser known issues. 

Bycatch: According to an article by Oceana, Dusky shark populations alone have reduced by 85%, solely due to bycatch and overfishing (Tripp, 2014).  Longlines, gillnets, hooking etc are all incredibly dangerous methods of fishing and pose serious threats to many shark species that accidentally get caught in them. Sharks that rely on swimming for their oxygen intake are particularly at risk, as they essentially get stuck in these nets and suffocate. However, there are several solutions! Modified nets and lines are often employed by fishermen. The problem is getting big industries to stop indiscriminately dragging huge nets across the ocean floor which kills not just sharks, but destroys valuable ecosystems too. Here is a petition to stop bottom trawling in New Zealand!  

In my next post I’m going to talk about why we should be really really worried about how quickly sharks are going extinct. 

Until then, stay Jawsome! 

[jawsomesharks]

450 million years is a ridiculously long amount of time. Almost as long as March 2020! It’s also the same time estimate of how long sharks inhabited our planet.

The earliest sharks began developing around the Silurian era. Since then they have survived 4 mass extinctions. According to a HuffPost article, “a frilled shark from a species dating back 80 million years was caught off Australia” (HuffPost, 2017) .

These are extremely resilient animals and have survived a period of time scientists refer to as “The Great Dying.” So how are humans managing to do what 450 million years and for mass extinctions did not?

In the next post, I’ll answer this question and dive deeper (heh) into the murky waters of overfishing, lax regulation laws, and the reality of what a future without sharks would look like.

In the meantime, stay Jawsome 🦈

[jawsomesharks]

When people talk about shark conservation, it’s often through a broader, sometimes disconnecting lens. We can raise awareness all we want but the fact is, we need to bring the conversation closer to home rather than continue to give speeches on shark finning in the far off waters of Asia. The truth is, the issue of shark conservation is so much closer to us than we realize.

Shark fin soup is not just something that is unique to Asian countries. Shark finning has been banned in the United States, but is still on the menus and available for consumption in 12 states (Fobar, 2019) Lax laws and a lack of proper implementation of pre existing laws lend themselves to shark numbers dwindling dangerously in the West as well.

This was a super short post but in the next few posts I’m going to go back and talk about how long sharak have been around, what other dangers they face, and specific policy changes that could be made. In the meantime, here is a link to a few petitions about preventing the killing and finning of sharks right here in America.

https://www.change.org/t/shark-conservation-en-us

Topic · Shark conservation · Change.org

[jawsomesharks]

I swam with sharks in January of 2020. Before then, I had never even been in the ocean, much less swimming with one of her most beautiful animals. It was at the Shark Lab in Bimini, a small island in the Bahamas, and practically paradise on earth for an aspiring marine biologist such as myself.

The first shark I ever swam with was a Hammerhead. At first, I was unsure of what my reaction would be. But any minuscule amounts of trepidation were quashed by the excitement and almost reverence that I felt as soon as my head went under the rolling tide, the water lapping in an almost friendly manner against the boat.

I don’t think I fully comprehend how massive the ocean is. I was submerged under the water, turning in 360° circles, and seeing nothing but vast, reaching, dark blue stretching far out everywhere around me. Then we saw the Hammerheads. Two of them, circling around a cage with bait in it, cutting through the water slowly, gracefully, with not the slightest ounce of terror or fear emanating from them. There were Nurse sharks too, and a few Caribbean reef sharks but my eyes were on the Hammerheads. Elusive and regal enough to put a queen to shame, they circled around us a few more times before turning away with a flick of their tail fins, disappearing into the dark water. I watched them go, knowing I had seen something special. Something I was lucky to witness.

The problem is, these sharks are dying. All of them. The reigning champions of surviving five mass extinctions, and we’re managing to get rid of them in one fell swoop. This blog is about those animals, where they’ve come from, their role in our ecosystems, and what dangers they face. Most importantly, this blog is also about what we can do to help them and, in doing so, help one of the most integral biomes on our planet