Shark Population Decline Essay example -- Sharks Extinction Populatio

Every Jaws fan knows the shark gets it in the end. What they do not know is that too many sharks have gotten it; and that has caused a rapid decline in the shark population over the past thirty years. Since the 1970's, sharks of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shores have declined eighty-five percent. Sharks are vital animal to our world's ecosystem, and if the decline is not controlled; we could be facing devastating problems in years to come. Information has been obtained from two books: The Shark Almanac by Thomas B. Allen and Sharks, An Introduction for the Amateur Naturalist by Sanford A. Moss. Sources also include a number of online references, among them BBC News, ENS News, The New York Times, and two online scientific journals: Congruent Trends in Long-term Zooplankton Decline in the North-east Atlantic and Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) Fishery Catches off West Ireland and Shitfting baselines and the decline of pelagic sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. Sources conclu de with two brief articles: one written for USA Today by Traci Watson, and the second written for Newsweek by Lucy Howard and Paul O'Donnell. The informational taken from these sources include topics such as history of fishing for sharks and what their body parts are used for, the decline in the shark population, and why it is so harmful, and what measures need to be taken to control the shark population. Articles also illustrate how the decline in sharks has been portrayed to the general public and they are reacting. For centuries, humans have been hunting sharks for sport, food, medicine and leather with little regards for the health of the shark population (Allen, 1999). Sharks are considered one of the most challenging fish to catch, and their ... ...ating to scientific reality, most of the articles you find on the topic speaks the writer's opinion on the matter and interrelated scientific facts, true facts and statistics that are mostly found in books scientific journals. Sharks have been around for over 400 million years. They out lived the dinosaurs and other terrestrial species. Today, they live much like they did then, with little evolutionary changes. There are 375 different species of sharks, but if the problem with managing the populations of sharks will continue if change is not made. If everyone cannot agree on a way to stop the rapid declines there will be serious consequences on our environment, especially our oceanic plankton. We have seen that because of our need to want luxurious objects and delicate meals has caused a problem so big in our oceans ecosystems we cannot tell what it has done.