Shark Endangerment

Written by: Juan Vinasco

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word shark, is most likely the 1975 movie, Jaws. In the movie, a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down. There are several movies about sharks killing people, but did you know that sharks are more than just a monster in a movie?

Sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the species below them in the food chain and serving as an indicator for ocean health. In addition, sharks keep food webs in check. Do you know how humans affect sharks? One of the first things that affect the shark is the hunt. Species of sharks include, Bonnethead, Oceanic whitetip shark, Sphyrna, Scalloped hammerhead. All of these species do not exist because of the hunt. A term you may have heard of before is Shark Finning. Shark Finning is the act of removing fins from sharks and discarding the rest of the shark back into the ocean.

Imagine someone were to take your arm and leg, is it worse to kill all the members of your bodies? That is what happens

with sharks or when they take the teen shark and sell it for money or for an image. After interviewing stude

nts about this topic, I concluded that many agreed with how terrible this was. I asked them how they would change this, many said that they should prohibit shark hunting. Others say a marine center should be created for the care of sharks and endangered species. How do you feel about the situation?