Although sharks are not anywhere near being a real threat to humans, there is still a lot of fear around them. There are two types of threats sharks face. The first is natural threats. Even though sharks are considered by many to be the strongest sea animal and top of the food chain, they do have natural threats.
Most of the threats that kill these big animals are actually quite small. The biggest natural threat sharks face are diseases and parasites. However, these have been studied very little so it isn’t clear what exactly it is about them that is so lethal. The other natural threat sharks face are other animals. These are bigger sharks, orcas and sea lions. Orcas are known to attack and eat even the largest and most aggressive species of sharks, and especially because they are so smart they pose a large threat. The fact that sea lions are a threat might be a bit surprising. Sharks are supposed to eat sea lions, not the other way around! Sea lions actually can band together and attack sharks, and it is actually pretty common.
The second threat sharks face are anthropogenic, or human threats. These are a lot more dangerous, and a lot more fatal to all species of sharks. Among these are fishing and hunting, pollution, and habitat destruction.
Let’s start with fishing. Commercial fishing has killed over 70 percent of the shark population around the world, and most of it isn’t even on purpose. Sharks are very often caught as bycatch, which is when fishing boats aren’t intending to get sharks at all, but they end up caught in their nets. When bycatch happens, the sharks are usually dead by the time they get to the boat deck, so even though they are thrown back in they will no longer be able to swim the seas.
Pollution and habitat destruction are also extreme dangers to sharks. Surprisingly the pollution that affects sharks the most is medical waste. For many years hospitals dumped waste into the oceans that was too dangerous to have in landfills. This includes needles, samples, and biohazardous waste. Because it was too dangerous for humans to have this waste in landfills, sharks and other fish are dealing with it now. Habitat destruction consists mostly of coastal development. Restaurants, houses, hotels, on the coast are often very sought after, and therefore a lot of coast is taken over by these types of buildings. But by putting them in it destroys the waters around it, changing the shape of underwater terrain, putting chemicals and toxins in the water, and adding new species to the environment that weren’t there before.
So how can we help save sharks? One key thing you can do is educate the public. This is talking about it, writing about it, really anything to help dissolve the myths and get people on board to help with changing laws and rules around protecting sharks. These laws and rules are ultimately what helps sharks the most.
Sharks are amazing creatures and the oceans and by extension our lives would be very different without them. Even the small things like telling someone a fun fact can end up making a big difference in the future of sharks, and they are really beautiful creatures!