Today someone was ranting to me about how infested the water was for a few days of her vacation and my first thought was some terrifying toxic invasive jellyfish or something.. No she meant sharks and I was astonished as this conversation went on, how did I not notice how she thought sharks were demons?
Sharks on average kill 6 people annually, we directly kill tens of millions and indirectly kill millions more. In 2011 the UK estimated we directly killed 100 million sharks in just 365 days - that's almost 300k sharks a day.
The main threats to sharks are currently
Targeted fishing: Shark finning, teeth harvesting, liver oils, shark leather
The act of cutting off a sharks fins (the primary and secondary dorsal fins, pectoral fins, pelvic fin, anal fin, and the lower lobe of the caudal fin (tail)) typically while the shark is still alive they then toss the remaining shark back to sea where it will succumb to predation, suffocation, starvation or blood loss. This is done solely to maximize profits and is extremely wasteful and cruel. Nothing coming from a shark is necessary for society, more sustainable practices exist.
Over fishing
Sharks are often bycaught resulting in severe injury or death. Just now we are getting new technology intended to aid in making fishing practices more sustainable, please feed into these and help push them into use now not later.
Habitat loss and pollution
Many feeding grounds, nurseries and breeding grounds are already gone
Respect nature, support MPAs, elect those who will fight climate change and fight for sustainable fishing practices.
Yearly over 7 billion sea food products are discarded, 85% of global fisheries have stretched beyond what can be biologically sustained,
Sharks are dying faster than they can replenish. Spread the word now before it's too late
Sharks play a critical role in the ocean and are not monsters. Too many people demonize these innocent creatures who are just desperately trying to survive a changing world. Reblog, add to this and make me a cute shark mood board like you would a kitten.
More then 20% of all reef sharks are fundamentally extinct, in only 50 years shark populations have seen a 70% decrease
Totally cried making this and now I can't finish because I'm tired.