The Dying Ocean

Nelson Le

Linneah Gomez

William Ly-Lee

Natalia Becker

Overfishing is Cruel

Overfishing- when organisms are being caught faster than they can reproduce

200 million people depend on fish

Hooked on Shark

Sharks play a vital role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems

Over one hundred million sharks are killed by commercial fisheries each year

Harvested for their fins, meat, or liver oil

What effects on the marine ecosystem of losing one or more shark species?

It is recognized that removal of top predators in terrestrial and marine ecosystems can cause a ripple effect on organisms

The problem lies with predicting what the effect may be

The loss of C. carcharias (Great White)

might result in population explosions of seals, sea-lions, and other sharks

– Increases in these species, can cause the ecosystem to shift off balance

Cause

Commercial fishing has the potential to severely impact shark populations in almost all habitats

Sharks are being hunted for their fins and their meat

Decline in the Ocean

Two of the greatest threats to sharks are finning and bycatch

Fins: 26 to 73 million per year

50 million sharks are caught unintentionally as bycatch

Reason Behind the Slaughter

Many of the fishing industry stated that killing these animals would lower shark attack

Finning not Fishing

Killing sharks for their prized fins

Some ranging 100 to 1000 dollar for one fin

Product:Shark Fin Soup

Bycatch…Catching the Drift?

When commercial fishermen catch animals that are not their desired catch, they call those animals "bycatch."

These unwanted animals are then thrown back to the ocean dead, dying, or injured.

One Effect Leads to Another

“The study, by Ransom A. Myers of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and colleagues, is among the few to document the cascading effects that the loss of a top predator can have on a marine ecosystem. In the absence of large sharks, the researchers say, the smaller sharks, skates and rays that they feed upon have thrived. In turn, the study shows that as one of these middle links in the food chain, the cownose ray, has become more abundant, it has wiped out scallop beds in North Carolina.” (New York Times)

Long Term Effect

The loss of biodiversity

Consumption of Sharks will decline

Why are sharks so important?

keeps our oceans clean and helps to control populations of other ocean animals.

Without a top predator like sharks, animals lower on the food chain would experience a population explosion, potentially devouring their food sources until there is nothing left.

Brief History

Records shows that form 1970s to 2005 reveals a dramatic decline in the shark populations

Tiger sharks and hammerheads have declined more than 97 percent since the mid-1980s

Common Sense

Increase awareness on the need for shark conservation

Management of shark fisheries, encouraging the government to address shark bycatch problems, and reducing the demand for shark products

Pressing for a shark finning ban

Modest Proposal

Creating Shark havensAllowing the sharks to:

Reproduce

Feed

Protection form man

Organizations

http://oceana.org/north-america/home/

http://www.animalsvoice.com/

http://www.sharkprotect.com/links.cfm

http://www.sharktrust.org/

Will Sharks soon become our forgotten memory?

Sites

http://oceana.org/north-america/home/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/18/conservation.aaas

http://www.gettyimages.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080522/sc_livescience/majorityofoceanicsharkspeciesfaceextinction

http://www.bite-back.com/shark_conservation.htm