When we think of sharks, most of us think of the big killers of the sea that murder people at the beach. Yet, despite the fact cows kill more people per year than sharks, they do tend to get a bad write-up. Most people assume sharks are scary, evil, and out to do damage to anything they can. This, though, is not the case – sharks might be scary, but they are essential to the care of our environment.
Our oceans need sharks. They are known as a ‘keystone’ species which means that without them the environment would be in a much worse place. Sharks are a major predator and their role in dominating the food chain is very important – without them, the marine line would be in a much worse state of balance.
It is not nice to think of nature being kept in check through murder, but it is what it is. Sharks kill for food, and they kill lots of things that would otherwise imbalance and even hurt the ocean without them. They play a major role in keeping populations under control, and they ensure that the ocean species that thrive – and do not thrive – helps to keep the oceans safer.
Indeed, that is why shark fishing is something that is such a dangerous topic. Over one hundred million sharks are fished per year for things like their fins and their liver, and around one in three shark species are threatened with extinction. Therefore more people must be aware of the fact that sharks are a crucial part of keeping our oceans thriving.
Without sharks to keep our oceans protected and preserved, the seafood could become harder to come across. That is a serious issue, as around one billion of our population are dependent on seafood – and over 700 million people are employed in the seafood industry.
So, sharks are a vital element of our oceans. They keep things in check and balance. Fishing sharks might seem cool or as if we are doing the oceans a favor: but the reality could not be further from the truth. Without sharks, our oceans would be in a much more dangerous situation than they are already.