Known for its tenderness and rich taste, shark meat has been a delicacy throughout history. Dating back to the Ming Dynasty in China, man has been hunting nature’s top predators throughout much of its history. However, in modern day humans are paying the price for this hunt. The killing of over 100 million sharks per year to keep this tradition going has now sent sharks populations on a rapid decline (Spalding). Poaching, commercial fishing, and medical demands for sharks are causing the rapid deterioration of shark populations. Sharks face a large misconception due to mass media. The 1975 film Jaws portrays a great white shark as a cold killer that cannot be stopped. However, there are less than 75 shark attacks each year (Aquatic Life of …show more content…
Fishermen will hunt sharks and then report a quota to the government, but they will often cut off the shark’s fins and dump their bodies into the ocean to avoid going over fishing quotas (Stone). Only 15 shark deaths were reported by fisheries in 2013 which leads to the assumption that fishermen are cheating their way out of quotas (Adkins). By bypassing the quota, fishermen supply meat to the world and creates a demand for the commodity. This feeds into the worldwide frenzy for shark meat because in most countries it is still legal to eat shark meat. Australians indulge in shark steaks and many Asians exert their wealth by eating the delicacy, shark fin soup (“Shark Hunting”). This demand for shark meat has exhausted the food source and now sharks are unable to replenish this …show more content…
Shark’s liver oil and cartilage have been taken to cure or help with many medical issues like cancer, AIDS, arthritis, etc. (Aquatic Life of the World). Squalene is produced from shark liver oil and is used in many cosmetics and medicines, but it is also extremely wasteful. It takes 3,000 shark livers to produce one ton of Squalene. Killing these sharks is unnecessary since many plant sources that reproduce quickly can make Squalene as well (“Shark Hunting”). The ironic thing is though, it does not have any proven health benefits. Squalene is used in influenza vaccinations today, but in studies, they found the vaccine was just as effective without the Squalene in it (Pollack). There is not proper justification for continuing to hunt sharks for this medicine, and is one of the supporting causes of the shark population