WHAT’S HIDDEN UNDER THE SURFACE?
When we talk about sharks, we usually think of a negative phenomenon and monsters from the deep that instills fear in us, but sharks represent much more than their jaws and sharp teeth. In addition to the most famous species such as the white, blue, tiger, or bull shark, there are about 500 different species, which as such differ according to their size, appearance, or the part of the planet in which they are represented. They belong to the family of predatory fish and are at the top of the food chain, which is why they directly impact all of the other marine species and represent an important factor for maintaining balance in the entire sea and ocean ecosystem. They live mainly at depths of 2,000 to 3,000 meters and have seven senses, one of which consists of electro-sensors (Ampule of Lorenzini) that are used to locate prey and navigate the oceans.
Sharks represent one of the most popular and interesting marine species, considering that they have existed on our planet for about 455 million years. Available research has shown that sharks have survived at least five mass extinction events, which wiped out almost all living things on Earth, the last of which occurred approximately 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs died out. Sharks in the modern age have a rather bad reputation, considering the relatively frequent and almost always fatal encounters they have with humans, but the reality about them is not quite as negative as it seems.
It is important to emphasize that 97% of sharks do not pose any danger to humans because most of them do not have developed jaws for larger prey. Even for the remaining percentage of sharks, people do not represent prey, but their attacks mostly happen by accident, that is, by mistake. Experts estimate that the probability of a shark attack on a human is 1 in 3,750,000, and this data is supported by global research conducted on this topic in the last 5 years, which showed that an average of 5 people a year die as a result of a shark attack.
On the other hand, it is estimated that humans annually kill between 100 and 200 million sharks worldwide. Between 11,000 and 30,000 sharks are killed in the fishing industry every hour, by bycatch or by-catch, which is an average of about 190 sharks every minute. Due to overfishing and poaching, certain shark species have become extinct between 70% and 90% in the last 50 years. Today, one third of all shark species are classified as endangered or on one of the red lists. The reasons for the extinction of sharks can mainly be found in the fishing industry, which, along with the problem of climate change, directly or indirectly affects the reduction of shark populations in their natural habitats. Sharks are mainly hunted due to the growing trade in fins intended for making expensive Asian soup, which kills up to 100 million sharks of various species annually. It often happens, however, that sharks are killed as bycatch by fishing gear intended for catching other types of fish, in which case they are simply discarded as waste.
If we question the importance that sharks have for the survival of our country, the very fact that they exist on it longer than most living organisms should indicate the importance of the function they perform. Sharks play a key role in a healthy ocean ecosystem as they are top predators that keep populations of smaller fish at healthy levels and thus prevent excessive algae growth, which accelerates the death of coral reefs. Without sharks as top predators, the entire ocean ecosystem could fall out of balance. They sustain the species below them in the food chain and indirectly sustain seagrass and coral reef habitats. Without them, other predatory fish would very quickly reduce the number of marine herbivores, which in turn would allow algae to dominate coral reefs. This would ultimately lead to the loss of almost all marine species and destroy the marine world as we currently know it.
