By Corey Bennett
Sharks have constantly gotten a bad reputation over the years. They are being presented in movies as bloodthirsty man-eaters and extremely violent; however, if you take just one moment to take a deeper look into them, sharks are not what the movies make them out to be. It is about time that we embrace sharks for more than just their bite.
For example, only a small fraction of sharks (around a dozen out of over 300 species) have been implicated in human attacks. Sharks have lived on this planet for way longer than humans, dating back millions of years. So humans aren’t even a part of their natural diet. Sharks tend to be opportunistic feeders, meaning that they tend to eat smaller fish, with even the larger sharks only targeting animals like seals, sea lions, etc. Sharks are said to have been swimming in Earth’s oceans 400 million years ago, which was long before dinosaurs roamed the land.
Though the attacks on humans are low, they are not zero, but why is that?
Almost 100% of the time, attacks on humans are often because of the curiosity or confusion that the shark has about the human. Splashing around in the water also doesn’t help, as it could attract a shark’s interest, potentially resulting in an unwanted encounter. Your chances of being attacked by a shark unprovoked are lower than your chances of being struck by lightning, injured in a hunting accident, or even attacked by a domestic dog. Even though your odds are low, they aren’t zero, but that’s honestly how it is for every wildlife species.
In reality, things that you would normally do in your everyday life tend to pose a much bigger problem than sharks.
Every year, there are around 26 to 73 million sharks that get traded in fish markets around the world. There are also a lot of fish killed at sea due to illegal poaching, hunting, and sometimes even accidental fishing gear being left in the water intended for other fish. Sharks are commonly killed so that their fins can be used for soup, and some even kill sharks for sport and keep their jaws as trophies. In an attempt to help stop poaching, there have been nets commonly placed around coastlines, trying to keep sharks away from beaches and humans. Even shark attack survivors have started speaking up to defend sharks.
Many states are already taking action about this issue, banning the sale and trade of most shark fins. Like everything else, once it is banned in one location, it becomes much more valuable in another, and the market will simply change locations.
Whether you want to admit it or not, sharks are also a vital part of our marine ecosystems. They maintain the food chain below them, acting as protectors of ocean health. When sharks are removed from an environment, like a coral reef, larger prey thrive and prey on the smaller herbivores. When there are fewer herbivores, macroalgae thrive, and the coral can no longer compete. Causing it to be dominated by the algae and jeopardizing the reef’s existence.
Sharks are truly just misunderstood animals; they deserve to be given a chance and not treated horribly.
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