Sharks in Danger | Teen Ink

Sharks in Danger

October 31, 2014
By Jocelyn Arroyo BRONZE, Pacoima, California
Jocelyn Arroyo BRONZE, Pacoima, California
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Many people see sharks as “dangerous or scary”, In movies, when have you ever seen a shark that is not attacking a human? Never they are always trying to eat on a human. People think sharks are dangerous because of media and think sharks are attracted by all types of blood.


But  are they really dangerous? No they are not. They are probably more afraid of you than you are of it. For example in the article, “ Why Do Sharks Attack?” explained that sharks can smell your presence a far distance. Sharks don't normally hunt humans, but if they do attack its because its a mistaken identity. Sharks kill 10 humans per year, on average.


Sharks have been around longer than dinosaurs. Approximately 400 million years, explain in the article, “Ichthyology”. Sharks have been here for so long because they are independent animals, some may swim in groups. Sharks tend to eat the old, sick, or slower fishes in a population. By the sharks doing this it makes the population healthier.


Shark population is slowly decreasing over the years. Many humans tend to kill sharks for many reasons. Humans kill sharks because some may use them for sport while fishing, or they use the meat  for fishing to use as their food to catch other fish. Chinese use sharks fins for their soups and other humans use the fins for medicinal purpose. For these reasons humans “ kill about 20 to 30 million sharks, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Department of Ichthyology.


We shouldn’t be killing sharks because they play an important role in the ocean, they were here before us. Sharks are the ones who keep the ocean healthy. By humans killing sharks, they are slowly decreasing and the population has declined to levels where they are unable to do their roles as top predators in the ecosystem, causing possibly irreversible damage to the ocean. For Instance, sharks help the ocean by “eating the old, sick, or slower fishes in a population” explained in Wildaid. By the sharks doing this it makes the population healthier.
Imagine a world without sharks. Sharks don’t need us, we need them. Human need the sharks, and the sharks need the ocean. Sharks keep the ocean balance. “The oceans help absorb excess carbon dioxide and heat energy from the atmosphere, controlling our climate and keeping our air safe to breathe.” claims Sea Life Aquarium.  For example, algae produces around half of the oxygen that we breathe, without sharks taking over the other animals, keeping the food chain balance, the ocean could be overrun with algae, drastically oxygen quantities in our atmosphere. In other words, without sharks the ocean would suffer unpredictable and devastating consequences.

 


 

 



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