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Sharks: Dangerous or in Danger?

June 26, 2016 marked the first day of Shark Week, an annual event that aims to raise awareness and disseminate information about various shark species across the globe. Sharks are considered the top predator among marine animals, playing an important role in maintaining the balance of the ocean’s ecosystem by regulating the population of other marine species. They have been in the oceans for around 400 million years, surviving the different extinction events of the planet, clearly making them one of the toughest animals on Earth.

Image Source: http://www.sharkguardian.org/shark-facts-top-100-shark-guardian/

With the duration sharks have stayed on Earth, there are already around 500 shark species classified and discovered around the globe. According to the endangered shark database of the International Action Plan for Sharks, 100 out of 400 species of sharks are commercially exploited, and need serious monitoring and control in the international shark trade. Here are some of the endangered shark species mentioned in The World Conservation Union:

Baskin Sharks (Cetorhinus maximus)
These sharks are considered the second largest fish in the ocean, and are relatively big with long, cylindrical shapes. This species was declared endangered by the International Union for Conversation of Nature. Currently, only 300 to 500 of them remain in the Eastern North Pacific.

Image Source: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/worlds-weirdest/videos/breeching-basking-sharks/

Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)
The whale shark is the largest fish in the world and feeds on one of the smallest ocean creatures – the plankton. This shark species is considered vulnerable, endangered and decreasing in population size. Whale sharks can be found in the Philippines, Thailand, Australia and other tropical seas.

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark

Sharks and their “fishy” public image
With their grayish color and sharp teeth, sharks have been assigned villainous roles in movies, news, and media in general. Their image as killing machines and aggressive attackers is reinforced by popular flicks, such as Jaws, Shark Night and Shark Attack. Even the online community has fueled the fear factor with photo-shopped images of sharks attacking fishermen and surfers.

Image Sources:

Jaws: http://jaws.wikia.com/wiki/Jaws
Shark Night: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Shark_Night?id=NvH9FyaGruY
Shark Attack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Attack_(film)
Image Source: http://weheartit.com/entry/group/21249777

According to the website, Endangered Sharks, dedicated to raise awareness on endangered shark species, people are less likely to help in the protection of endangered shark species when they perceive such creatures as scary. This view is supported by a research entitled Australia and U.S. News Media Portrayal of Sharks and Their Conservation. Findings proved that the negative portrayal of sharks is hindering the efforts of advocates towards the sharks’ protection. The research also mentioned that the media continues to focus on the risks that sharks pose, more than the dangers humans create for sharks.

People: the sharks’ main predators

Contrary to what popular media proliferates, humans are not a regular part of a shark’s menu. An average of only 30 to 50 shark attacks happen every year with 5 to 10 of these fatal. In the website, Shark Guardian Top 100 Shark Facts, falling coconuts are 20 times more dangerous than sharks in terms of death cause and mortality rate.

In a video of Please Save Our Sharks, one of the many campaigns that advocate the protection of sharks, the average number of sharks killed each year reaches up to 100 million. This is caused, not only by climate change, but also human activities such as finning, fishing, habit degradation, and shark mutilation. Finning is a method of separating the sharks’ fins, popularly used in recipes such as shark fin soups. In Asia, shark fins are sold around 100 USD per kilogram. Habit degradation, on the other hand, is caused mainly by pollutants and chemical wastes from infrastructures near bodies of water. Sharks are also killed for mutilation, as their body parts are used to manufacture food supplements, beach souvenirs, and leather. These practices have greatly affected shark population since these species mature slowly, at around the age of 12 to 15 years, and reproduce only a few shark pups at a time. Through overfishing, immature sharks are caught, depriving them of the opportunity to reproduce.

Awareness and protection of sharks

With the continuous decrease of shark population worldwide, both private companies and the government are taking action towards protecting the sharks. An international airline company in Hong Kong has taken action to stop and ban the carriage of any shark-related products. Recently, the U.S. congress introduced a legislation banning the trade of shark fins in its country. According to Lora Snyder, Campaign Director of Oceana, an international campaign dedicated to protect and restore the world’s oceans on a global scale, “To protect sharks, we need to end the demand for shark fins. Today, the United States took an important step towards achieving this.”

The Philippine government has a few pending house bills, which aim to protect the sharks we have in our country. These are HB 5412 (Sharks and Rays Conservation Act of 2011), HB 300 (Shark Finning Prohibition Act), Senate Bill 2616 (Banning the Catching, Sale, Purchase, Importation and Exportation of All Sharks and Rays), and HB 174 (Sharks and Rays Conservation Act of 2010).

Despite the pending status of these house bills since 2010 and 2011, several organizations have been actively advocating the protection of shark species in the Philippines. Rightfully so as Vince Cinches, Oceans Campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines mentioned during Shark Week last 2014, “Currently, bills on shark and ray conservation filed in Congress have not moved beyond the first reading. Law makers need to be enlightened on the need to protect sharks and declare them a wildlife priority. We should even consider making the Philippines the world’s largest shark sanctuary.”

Throughout centuries, sharks may have suffered from bad press, but this time around, they are the ones who need our protection. In little ways, we can do our share—by not throwing trash in the seas, by joining pro-environment organizations, and by boycotting establishments and products manufactured from endangered animals. This Shark Week, let us deepen our knowledge of sharks and the realities they face.

Sources:
Please Save Our Sharks (https://youtu.be/lr5xfAvAeY8)
Sharks Suffer from Bad Public Image (http://marinesciencetoday.com/2012/11/04/sharks-suffer-from-bad-public-image/) Australian and US News Media Portrayal of Sharks and Their Conservation (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/)
Shark Guardian Top 100 Shark Facts (http://www.sharkguardian.org/shark-facts-top-100-shark-guardian/)
Basic Facts About Shark (http://www.defenders.org/sharks/basic-facts)
Conservation of Shark Species (http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/press/releases/National-protection-strongly-urged-for-the-conservation-of-local-sharks-and-rays-species/)
Shark Database (http://www.shark.ch/Database/EndangeredSharks/index.html)
Megalodon Facts (http://www.sharksinfo.com/extinct-sharks.html) (http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/otherprehistoriclife/ss/10-Facts-About-Megalodon.htm#showall)
Whale Sharks in Asia (http://goodvis.com/7-whale-shark-facts-and-where-to-swim-with-them-in-asia-pacific/)
Airline Comapany Bans Shark Fins (http://oceana.org/press-center/press-releases/congress-introduces-legislation-ban-trade-shark-fins-us)