HOW CAN PRESERVING SHARKS HELP OUR PLANET

Seen as predators for humans, sharks are feared by most of the world’s population and cruelly slaughtered by a growing amount of fishermen who unfairly make profitable businesses from the successful finning trade.

We have to be aware that shark accidents are often the subject of mediatization. In 2014, There were three human deaths from shark attacks whereas 18 000 people were killed by lightings strikes.

Despite their bad rep, sharks are vulnerable creatures and numbers are considerably decreasing!

Many serious studies have brought significant proof that shark extinction is dangerously disturbing the food chain and in turn destroying our ecosystem. A new research has revealed that the elimination of the world’s sharks also contributes to global warming. Due to overfishing, the absence of sharks leads their prey to reproduce more frequently and allow them to eat carbon storing vegetation in larger quantities.

By eating the ocean’s vegetation, the stocked carbon is released and causes catastrophic environmental risks!

« If just one percent of the ocean’s carbon-storing vegetation is lost, this would result in 460 million tons of carbon being released annually, the equivalent of pollution created by 97 million cars. »

In recent years, overfishing and culling have removed 90 percent of the shark’s species and other top ocean predators.

Bryan Jerry, a National Geographic photographer, traveled a long way to the Bahamas for the « scary » pleasure of swimming with tiger sharks. He is the initiator of photos we are sharing today. We strongly advise you to read his incredible experience which will certainly help you to understand shark’s lives and behaviours.

Original article by One Green Planet

Image copyright to Bryan Jerry