73 million sharks are killed every year for their fins alone. All to make shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy and status symbol. Thats 190 sharks killed every single minute.
However, sharks only kill 5 people a year worldwide. We have been taught to fear them but this is wrong. We must change our perceptions of sharks and in turn our actions towards them.
Shark populations on the Great Barrier Reef are down by 97% and 600 tonnes of shark is taken from inside the GBR World Heritage area every year... Legally.
With 90% of the world's shark populations already wiped out, sharks are being depleted faster than they can reproduce. If an apex predator is taken out of any ecosystem then eventually it is going to collapse. This therefore threatens marine ecosystems around the world. Sharks are vitally important apex predators which have shaped life in the ocean for over 400 million years and are essential to the overall health of our oceans.
Don't fear them. Fear for them.
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