O’Flaherty 1

Brooke O’Flaherty

Ms. Gardner

Honours English 10th / 4th Period

16 November 2017

Sinking Amounts of Sharks

Dear Recreational Fishermen,

My name is Brooke O’Flaherty, and I speak to protect sharks, as well as preserve many

marine ecosystems. Though copious amounts of people take interest in the endangerment of coral

reefs, few look far enough to see that these reefs are losing their guardians. Sharks, one of the

main oceanic predators, are being driven to extinction because of human indulgence; shark

disturbance has continued to heavily impact many oceanic ecosystems. The rapid decline of

sharks is a critical issue that is not as largely addressed as it should be. Hundreds of millions of

sharks are slain annually for less than 2% of their bodyweight: their fins. We as a race need to

step up and recognise that one hundred million annual deaths should not be an unaddressed low

estimate. In shark fin soup, a dish used to brandish one’s status, the cartilage found in the fins

provides nothing more than texture, and contain high levels of concentrated BMAA, a toxic

product of cyanobacteria linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's upon human consumption. Now,

shark finning isn’t as much as an issue in the United States as other countries, but that does not

mean we aren’t contributing to the rapid decline of sharks. Hunted by human greed, sharks are

being led to unnatural extinction as dodos. To show support for sharks, many fishermen have

begun to catch and release fish either to show off shark beauty, or for the thrill of such a

challenge. To show support for sharks, fishermen will spend hours tangling with a shark before

bringing it onboard -- but at what cost? This experience is incredibly stressful for the fish, for

most times the catch and releases aren’t executed correctly, leaving the shark to die of stress.
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According to Claudia Geib of Hakai Coastal Science and Societies Magazine, in 2014, shark

biologist Austin Gallagher of University of Miami conducted a test to see if sharks were affected

by catch and release like chinook salmon. “H​is team attached a camera to a hook-caught great

hammerhead and released it​. After 10 minutes, they watched the shark list to one side, sink to the

bottom, and die.”(Geib) Different sharks respond to being hooked differently, and different hooks

effect sharks differently. Ignorance is no excuse when handling the lives of an endangered

species. Fishermen must only catch and release sharks which can handle stress such as the lemon

sharks and blue sharks and tiger sharks, while avoiding sensitive sharks including blacktip sharks

and hammerhead sharks and threshers. Hammerheads make up many of the subspecies incredibly

sensitive to stress. Some argue that fish are incapable of feeling stress or depression, yet most

sharks kept in water parks or aquariums for long periods of time will inevitably die. According to

Rachel Shale of National Geographic, “while commercial shark fishing is believed to be the

biggest driver of shark declines, sport fishing can have a significant impact too. In fact, in 2013,

2014, and 2015 more large sharks were killed in the U.S. by recreational fishermen than by

commercial fishermen, according to the annual State of U.S. Fisheries reports.”(Shale)

Intentionally or not, this is ridiculous. To see the perspective of this excessive overfishing, it is

important to note how long it takes a shark to reach sexual maturity, and the average shark birth

rate; however, for many species of sharks, including the Goblin shark, we have no data of sexual

maturity, birth rate, growth rate, or even life span. All we know is that shark numbers are

drastically falling, leading many species to be moved to the endangered list including the

porbeagle, the dusky shark, and over twenty-two others. If sharks disappear from the many

oceanic ecosystems they’re found in, there’ll be severe effects on the ocean. Currently the

Northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the Northwest Pacific are at risk of

losing their sharks. Currently the Northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and
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the Northwest Pacific are at risk of losing coral reefs. Though shark locations vary with each food

web, most species of sharks are apex predators, or top predators, of their ecosystem. According to

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, authors of textbook ​Modern Biology​, the loss of an apex predator

results in an influx of mesopredators, or mid-level predators, and “any disturbance or change in

an ecosystem can spread through the network of interactions and affect the ecosystem in a

widespread and often unexpected ways.” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) As the domino effect

continues, increased amounts of mesopredators befoul the balance, and species densities change.

So, is the thrill of fishing worth disorienting many large ecosystems, or causing the extinction of

an important fish? We the human race have seen more of space than we have of our own ocean.

Let’s not ruin it.

Word Count: 799 words

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Works Cited

Bale, Rachael. "Shark-Fishing Forum Reveals Destructive Practices despite Good Intentions.

​National Geographic​, 15 Aug. 2017, news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/

wildlife-watch-land-based-shark-fishing-florida-study/.

Fairclough, Caty. "Shark Finning: Sharks Turned Prey." ​Ocean Portal: Find Your Blue​, ocean.si.edu/

ocean-news/shark-finning-sharks-turned-prey.

Geib, Claudia. "For Sharks, Even Catch and Release Can Kill." ​Hakai Magazine​, 9 Feb. 2017,

www.hakaimagazine.com/article-short/sharks-even-catch-and-release-can-kill​.

"Global Consequences of Shark Declines." ​Stanford,​ Aug. 2010, stanford.edu/~ferretti/assets/

LenfestRSEcologyLetters.pdf.

“Goblin Sharks, Mitsukurina Owstoni.” ​MarineBio Conservation Society​. 14 Jan. 2013,

marinebio.org/species.asp?id=234

Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. "Unit 5: Ecology." ​Modern Biology​, Austin, Texas, HHolt, Rinehart and

Winston, pp. 356-434.

McAuliffe, Kathleen. "Are Toxins in Seafood Causing ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's?" ​Discover

Magazine​, 22 July 2011, discovermagazine.com/2011/may/

22-seafood-toxins-causing-als-alzheimers-parkinsons.

"Recreational Shark Fishing—Healthy Catch & Release." ​NOAA Fisheries​,

www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2013/ 08/best_fishing_practices_sharks.html.

"Sharks at Risk of Extinction from Overfishing, Say Scientists." ​The Guardian​, ​www.theguardian.com/

environment/2013/mar/02/sharks-risk-extinction-overfishing-scientists.

"The Cold, Dead Stare of Terror." ​ProQuest SIRS Issue Researcher​, 21 July 2001,

sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000140469&type=ART.
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