Introduction

Living remnants of the past, 420 million years old, sharks existed before the mighty dinosaurs. But they may not live for much longer, due to environmental and economic crises. Why are so many dying? The answer: shark fin soup. Originally a traditional dish that originated in China, it has grasped the interest of many different cultures, causing it to be on high demand. But that isnt the only cause nor the only effect. You may think that humans often end up as a sharks meal, thanks to heavy exaggeration and propaganda from the movie Jaws and such. In reality, its quite the opposite. What people dont tell you is that an average of ten people are killed from a fatal shark attacks, per year. As you mightve guessed, thats not a lot compared to the hundreds of millions we slice and dice. Weve hunted them so consistently that sharks are at the brink of extinction.

Causes
As I mentioned, the Chinese considered shark fin soup a delicacy, and it still is today. At a hefty price, it is for the rich. But thanks to the dramatic rising of the Chinese middle class, more and more people can afford it. Typically, fishermen would catch the shark, and cut off only the dorsal fin, and toss the shark back into the ocean. It's a very cruel and wasteful way to die, said Pikitch, the executive director of The Pew Institute for Ocean Science. Without their dorsal fin, the sharks will lose balance and continue to spin underwater, and drown. Just from finning, approximately 70 million sharks perish year. An additional 30 million also drown when a fishing net unintentionally ensnares them. Since a fin sells for a ridiculously cheap price of 100 per pound (also to 149 euros). Per pound! Other people, particularly in the United States, just hunt sharks for fun. There are numerous uses for the shark, including the sharks stomach for accessories such as lipstick, not all are made of sharks per se, but a distinguishable amount. Pills derived of their liver arent uncommon either. Occasionally, sharks are served not just as the fin, sometimes the entire thing. However, it tends to be smaller species. Necklaces composed of shark teeth are very common, today. Their skin, serrated and capable of cutting, are gentled and rendered harmless in many leather wallets today. Some people, who are not very au courant, assume that their cartilage has health benefits. In reality, that isnt true. Its hardly true at all.

Effects
The steadfast jarhead might consider sharks useless but I dont. Neither should you. Theyre an essential species, keystone. Being an apex predator, they need to hunt, a lot. Not only do they fill their tummies, but regulate populations too. Without sharks, our oceans would be overpopulated, badly, and sooner or later nothing will be left. But when you take away the sharks Well, its already happening, and so are the effects. Hammerheads, for instance, their population has declined by 99% in the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike many other ocean dwellers, sharks take a long time to reproduce and their pups to reach maturity, so if we annihilate their population it would take them eons to recover, assuming that other predators dont eat the pups. For example, the grouper fish, included in the diet of the shark, thrives, which is a bad

thing. Those fish swarm around like pests and consume parrot fish. Now this is where things come into play, in a bad sense. Parrotfish clean reefs of algae. Due to the fact that grouper fish are swimming about mindlessly like a decapitated chicken, more and more parrotfish die. Eventually, reefs will be filthy of algae, destroying habitats for nearly everything that lives there. Like a swimming pool with a broken filter, a coastal environment without bivalves could choke with blooms of uncontrolled algae, according to an expert in an article on the Discovery Channel Website. Another example, hammerheads fancy rays and skates. The cownose ray grows exponentially into massive hordes, feeding on scallops. You may be wondering what use is a meager scallop, but tons of other predators feed on them as their main diet, if they are all wiped out soon the other predators will be too. Everything will topple like dominoes without proper care and precision. If not maintained, our ocean will be destroyed.

The Economic View

In the long run, shark fishing is horrible for the economy. But right now, temporarily, it seems great, and thats why people persist to do it. As I mentioned in the effects category, it could pollute our oceans dramatically. So, what am I getting at? Well first of all, what is the most popular source of meat in Asia, almost the entire world? Fish. Approximately 200 billion pounds of it is caught each year. What happens when the billions of people who rely on fish can no longer depend on it? Since our oceans will be overrun with algae, millions of habitats destroyed, fish dying after fish, what will we eat? How will millions of fishermen are going to earn money? Many countries are dependent on the fishing industry. Its like suddenly getting rid of all the plastic in the world. Economies will be virtually destroyed.

Viable Solutions
Primarily, the sharks are hunted in Europe, which are then exported to Asian countries like China, Singapore or Japan. Its really a major problem in the north east part of the world, but still hampers in the west. What anyone should do to prevent the further obsessive amount of shark finning, for one, is to support organizations, but make sure they are active. Furthermore, speaking positively about sharks may help. The more people care about sharks, the less likely they will be obsessively fished. Governments, for instance, the European Unions, has laid down laws banning the fishing of sharks on EU ships. But sly fishermen have found a way to bypass it, devious, but legal. If the shark has a fin to carcass weight ratio of 5%, fishermen can take the shark bodies from the ocean, and cut them at the ports, instead of on the ship. "By closing the loophole in our legislation, we want to eradicate the horrendous practice of shark finning and protect sharks much better," said the EU fisheries chief Maria Damanaki. Allison Perry, a member of a ocean protection agency named Oceana, said, "A stronger ban on shark finning will bring significant benefits for shark fisheries management and conservation, not only in Europe, but in all the oceans where European vessels are catching sharks." Public education about shark fishing also wont hurt, some organizations are educating fishermen about the horrific effects of shark fishing today.

Conclusion
This isnt something you can solve instantaneously, it will take some time. This problem is as serious as plastic pollution in our oceans. Without sharks, the ocean will slowly degrade and deteriorate. Only corruption will fill it, and organism after organism will gradually kill themselves off. Eventually, itll come to us. Believe me, in a hundred years time there will be World War III over fish since it will be so scarce. Assuming that we dont fix the problem of course. Sadly, this issue is overlooked by most, including governments. Thanks to the heavy shark propaganda, itll be hard to raise peoples attention.

Citations
AMCS. "Australian Marine Conservation Society - Sharks: valuable and vulnerable." Australian Marine Conservation Society - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <http://www.amcs.org.au/WhatWeDo.asp?active_page_id=374>. Discovery Network. "Shark Finning: Human Shark Cravings and the Price We Pay to Satisfy Them." Discovery. Discovery Network, n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <http://dsc.discovery.com/sharks/shark-finning.html >. Marine Bio. "Ocean Resources."Marine Bio. Marine Bio, n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <marinebio.org/oceans/ocean-resources.asp >. Bloomberg. "Shark-Fin Soup, Over-Fishing Threaten Predators With Extinction Bloomberg." Bloomberg - Business, Financial & Economic News, Stock Quotes. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news? pid=newsarchive&sid=aqDhZV6UrWng> Dunmore, Charlie , Rex Merrifield, and Alessandra Risso. "EU proposes ban on shark finning." Reuters. Reuters, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 May 2012. <www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/21/eu-sharks-ban-idUSL5E7ML21N20111121 >.

Griffin, Miller, B. Freitas, and M. Hirshfield. "Predators as Prey."Oceana. Oceana, n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <Griffin, Miller, B. Freitas, and M. Hirshfield. "Predators as Prey."Oceana. Oceana, n.d. Web. 10 May 2012. <http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/o/file>