Known for its tenderness and rich taste, shark meat has been a delicacy throughout history. Dating back to the Ming Dynasty in China, man has been hunting nature’s top predators throughout much of its history. However, in modern day humans are paying the price for this hunt. The killing of over 100 million sharks per year to keep this tradition going has now sent sharks populations on a rapid decline (Spalding). Poaching, commercial fishing, and medical demands for sharks are causing the rapid deterioration of shark populations. Sharks face a large misconception due to mass media. The 1975 film Jaws portrays a great white shark as a cold killer that cannot be stopped. However there are less than 75 shark attacks each year (SOURCE aquatic life of the world). This is a minuscule number compared to the 100 million sharks that humans kill each year. Sharks are
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It is no wonder why many continue to poach sharks. On the black market, dried shark fin can be sold for over $50 per pound; to put that in perspective ground beef in an average supermarket goes for about $3 per pound (Spalding). However, poachers often don’t get caught for hunting sharks as they go to remote areas to hunt for them. A study between 1986-2000 surveyed two different areas of ocean- one in a shark fishing area, the other in a no fishing and no boating area. It showed that in the fishing area shark populations declined by 50%, but even more surprising was that in the no fishing and boating area there were 80% fewer whitetip reef sharks and 97% fewer gray reef sharks. They found the cause was that poachers were illegally killing the sharks sending populations into a downward spiral (Schmidt). Poaching continues to occur without governments always knowing which is causing shark population, like in the study, to significantly
It is no wonder why many continue to poach sharks. On the black market, dried shark fin can be sold for over $50 per pound; to put that in perspective ground beef in an average supermarket goes for about $3 per pound (Spalding). However, poachers often don’t get caught for hunting sharks as they go to remote areas to hunt for them. A study between 1986-2000 surveyed two different areas of ocean- one in a shark fishing area, the other in a no fishing and no boating area. It showed that in the fishing area shark populations declined by 50%, but even more surprising was that in the no fishing and boating area there were 80% fewer whitetip reef sharks and 97% fewer gray reef sharks. They found the cause was that poachers were illegally killing the sharks sending populations into a downward spiral (Schmidt). Poaching continues to occur without governments always knowing which is causing shark population, like in the study, to significantly