Sharks can stop climate change
Despite the bloodthirsty image we humans often foist onto sharks, the truth is that we need them so much more than we realize. In fact, the future of our entire planet depends on their continued survival. Why is this?
Sharks play a vital role in managing the health and diversity of their ecosystems. A thirty-five-year-long study of the coastal northwest Atlantic ecosystem revealed that as shark numbers dropped, their prey species – skates and rays – became a dominant presence within the ecosystem. Skates and rays typically consume small shellfish. The cownose rays’ increased shellfish consumption, once sharks began to disappear, even led to the collapse of a century-old bay scallop fishery. Similar accounts of what happened once sharks’ population dropped have been reported in the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the eastern Scotian Shelf.
Sharks are even helping to slow the spread of climate change by preying on species who would otherwise consume large amounts of carbon-storing vegetation. Scientists estimate that when just one percent of this vegetation is lost in a single year, 460 million tons of carbon are released into the atmosphere – the equivalent of the emissions generated by 97 million cars!
Increased greenhouse gas emissions have caused the world’s median temperature to rise by 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1950 alone: bringing about a significant rise in sea levels and placing the future of polar ice caps, low-lying island nations, and countless animal species into serious jeopardy. Any measure that we humans can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ought to be seriously considered. Sharks could play a critical role in the fight against climate change, so their conservation ought to be a top priority for anyone concerned about the health of our world.
Sadly, however, we slaughter these animals at the staggering rate of 100 million every single year. Much of this is driven by a rampant worldwide trade in their fins and cartilage. Some types of shark have witnessed an unbelievable 98 percent decline in their numbers over the past fifteen years alone. The Shark Foundation lists over two hundred of the estimated 400 shark subspecies as “endangered” and warns that more than a hundred of these “are being commercially exploited (and) many of these shark species are so overexploited that even their long-term survival can no longer be guaranteed.”
Overfishing is another serious threat to sharks’ survival. Commercial trawlers commonly catch and kill large numbers of sharks and other untargeted marine animals, while searching for species such as cod or tuna. This phenomenon is known as “bycatch.” Oceanic conservation group Sea Shepherd has estimated that every year, “50,000,000 sharks are caught unintentionally as bycatch by commercial tuna and swordfish fisheries using long lines, nets, purse seine, and gillnets.” - Aisling Maria Cronin.
Please, check my petition to help save sharks and other marine animals, thank you. (You can find it in the right of my blog)
Sharks play a vital role in managing the health and diversity of their ecosystems. A thirty-five-year-long study of the coastal northwest Atlantic ecosystem revealed that as shark numbers dropped, their prey species – skates and rays – became a dominant presence within the ecosystem. Skates and rays typically consume small shellfish. The cownose rays’ increased shellfish consumption, once sharks began to disappear, even led to the collapse of a century-old bay scallop fishery. Similar accounts of what happened once sharks’ population dropped have been reported in the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the eastern Scotian Shelf.
Sharks are even helping to slow the spread of climate change by preying on species who would otherwise consume large amounts of carbon-storing vegetation. Scientists estimate that when just one percent of this vegetation is lost in a single year, 460 million tons of carbon are released into the atmosphere – the equivalent of the emissions generated by 97 million cars!
Increased greenhouse gas emissions have caused the world’s median temperature to rise by 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1950 alone: bringing about a significant rise in sea levels and placing the future of polar ice caps, low-lying island nations, and countless animal species into serious jeopardy. Any measure that we humans can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ought to be seriously considered. Sharks could play a critical role in the fight against climate change, so their conservation ought to be a top priority for anyone concerned about the health of our world.
Sadly, however, we slaughter these animals at the staggering rate of 100 million every single year. Much of this is driven by a rampant worldwide trade in their fins and cartilage. Some types of shark have witnessed an unbelievable 98 percent decline in their numbers over the past fifteen years alone. The Shark Foundation lists over two hundred of the estimated 400 shark subspecies as “endangered” and warns that more than a hundred of these “are being commercially exploited (and) many of these shark species are so overexploited that even their long-term survival can no longer be guaranteed.”
Overfishing is another serious threat to sharks’ survival. Commercial trawlers commonly catch and kill large numbers of sharks and other untargeted marine animals, while searching for species such as cod or tuna. This phenomenon is known as “bycatch.” Oceanic conservation group Sea Shepherd has estimated that every year, “50,000,000 sharks are caught unintentionally as bycatch by commercial tuna and swordfish fisheries using long lines, nets, purse seine, and gillnets.” - Aisling Maria Cronin.
Please, check my petition to help save sharks and other marine animals, thank you. (You can find it in the right of my blog)
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