Will we let sharks disappear on our watch?
It is hard to imagine that in this vast expanse of the ocean filled with life, our species could do so much damage. One group of animals, sharks, is hit particularly hard. They are being decimated around the globe to meet the demand for shark products. Yet, the general public is not even aware of this tragedy because what goes on far out at sea and in commercial markets, is invisible to most of us. Should we care? Absolutely. Whether you love them or hate them is irrelevant. To anyone that cares about a future with food, air, and an ocean that is more than a jellyfish-filled soup, sharks matter.
Why do we need sharks?
It’s simple: A healthy ocean needs plenty of sharks. As top predators they keep fish populations strong and keep disease from spreading by removing the sick, dead or dying. Apex predators, on land as well as in the sea, make sure the strongest of species they prey on survive and thrive.
Without sharks, the complex ecosystems of the ocean can get thrown out of balance, affecting everything from food fish to coral health. There are more than 400 shark species, from the tiniest deep water shark to the biggest fish in the sea, the whale shark. Each is highly specialized in what they eat and where they hunt. In the process they each take care of different niche in the ocean.
Here is an example of how the food chain works: On coral reefs, sharks hunt the medium sized predators that in turn go after the plant eating, reef-grazing fish. Without sharks, those smaller hunters can explode in numbers and decimate the grazers, who would normally keep algae growth in check. Algae covers corals, corals die off, the smaller hunters wipe out the reef fish and then pretty much nothing is left.
The same can happen with important food fish that our coastal fisheries depend on. Humans tend to think that sharks compete with us, by eating the fish we want to catch. But in most cases it is the opposite. Sharks make sure that the other predators are kept in check.
Commercial fishers often complain that they are seeing too many small sharks and that they steal their fish. The answer to that is: Nothing controls little sharks better than big sharks.
The other crucial fact to remember about shark is that they evolved to be hunters, not to be hunted. Just like predators on land. Now they are being hunted by humans. It wouldn’t make sense to hunt lions or tigers on a commercial level. Well, it’s the same for sharks.
Why are we hunting sharks?
Sharks are primarily killed to get at their fins and meat and to a smaller extend for other products such as liver oil and cartilage, which are used in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and health supplements.
By far the biggest offender is the market of shark fins. It has decimated shark populations by 90% in the last 30 years. Fins from 100 million sharks end up in the shark fin trade every year, and this is a conservative estimate. Fins are an expensive commodity, and an easy cash crop for ruthless fishers and traders. The most disturbing fact is that shark fins are used for only one product – shark fin soup.
What is Shark Fin Soup?
Shark fin soup has been considered a symbol of wealth in China since the Ming Dynasty. For centuries it was a dish that only the Emperor and his guests would be served. As capitalism and the middle-class has
grown, wealthy families and business people all over South-East Asia are now eager to serve the soup as a sign of their own status. It has become a standard dish served to impress guests at banquets, business dinners and weddings. The demand is also expanding into other countries and cities around the world that have larger Chinese communities.
The result is that now millions of people want shark fin soup and that shark and ray populations are being decimated in every corner of the globe. And there is no shortage of suppliers as every country with a commercial fishing fleet is chasing the money made from fins.
We cannot dismiss this as a problem that other countries are causing. Nearly every nation is involved in one way or another, even if the average person has never heard of or eaten shark fin soup. Commercial fisheries in the US and the EU are eager suppliers, excusing it away as a “by-product” of legal shark fishing. And most countries enable the transport and movement of fins through their ports with little to no oversight.
So what can we do?
That’s the million dollar question, literally.
Sharks are worth so much more to us alive than dead. A “harvested” shark makes a few people money one time, while all the benefits of having that shark in the water are taken away forever.
Most urgently, we must make a massive effort to put an end to the trade of shark fins. That wouldn’t save all sharks, but in the scheme of things, it would make the biggest difference, saving hundreds of thousands of sharks every year.
We also need to be pragmatic and realize that while we think sustainability and ethics should be enough of a reason to stop killing so many sharks, regulatory decisions mostly come down to the economy and jobs. So we have to put a price tag on sharks to justify their protection. That may sound like a cold calculation, but it is the reality. We know that in ecosystem services alone, sharks deliver value day after day that is far greater than fishing. We will never save sharks on the basis of protecting beauty and bio-diversity, or just because we feel it’s wrong to wipe out majestic animals for money. Our challenge is to demonstrate their worth in every way we can, and therefore make their protection a logical, economically wise decision. One that will generate income and fuel the economy powerfully enough to warrant sacrifices, such as limiting or eliminating fishing jobs and income. We now know that income from shark fishing is a drop in the bucket when compared to that of shark tourism, which is not only better for sharks, but can bring income and jobs to people in remote regions that would otherwise have few options to build a sustainable economy.
And while we are at it, we should hold ourselves accountable and stop practices and products that are cashing in on sharks. Trophy hunting of sharks should be a thing of the past. Shark oil in our lipstick? Who needs it? Who wants that?
We know better and we can do better.
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