Already eighteen species of shark have been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (“Shark Finning”). All because humans are greedy and can only think about themselves and not about the environment. Today, sharks are declining rapidly on a global scale because humans have replaced them as oceans top predator (Fairclough). Restating that, humans, whose natural environment is on land, have replaced sharks, whose natural environment is in the sea, as the top predator of the ocean. It is astonishing how humans believe they can take over the world and that all other living organisms are below them. When they go out and destroy these poor creatures, they do not take into consideration that sharks have a slow growth and reproductive rate, which makes them highly susceptible to extinction and it is difficult for many sharks to replenish their populations as quickly as they are being diminished (Fairclough). Sharks do not lay hundreds of eggs like uninformed people may assume; they give birth to one pup. If that did not make it difficult enough to replenish a population, the gestation period can be up to two years long! One baby every two years is not enough to restore a population. About eight percent of sharks are killed annually, but researchers found that only five percent of sharks can be killed each year to maintain stability (Stone). If sharks are continued to be killed off like they are, the Earth could suffer
Already eighteen species of shark have been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (“Shark Finning”). All because humans are greedy and can only think about themselves and not about the environment. Today, sharks are declining rapidly on a global scale because humans have replaced them as oceans top predator (Fairclough). Restating that, humans, whose natural environment is on land, have replaced sharks, whose natural environment is in the sea, as the top predator of the ocean. It is astonishing how humans believe they can take over the world and that all other living organisms are below them. When they go out and destroy these poor creatures, they do not take into consideration that sharks have a slow growth and reproductive rate, which makes them highly susceptible to extinction and it is difficult for many sharks to replenish their populations as quickly as they are being diminished (Fairclough). Sharks do not lay hundreds of eggs like uninformed people may assume; they give birth to one pup. If that did not make it difficult enough to replenish a population, the gestation period can be up to two years long! One baby every two years is not enough to restore a population. About eight percent of sharks are killed annually, but researchers found that only five percent of sharks can be killed each year to maintain stability (Stone). If sharks are continued to be killed off like they are, the Earth could suffer