[Music]
they can strike out of the darkness
without warning there’s something about
that that has us hardwired to be
terrified
you would never know if a shark is
coming that I think both makes them
scary and allows people to exaggerate
the threat associated with them having
this perception that sharks are
targeting us of course makes it much
more acceptable to target them to talk
to you about this book and I thought to
begin I wanted to explain a little about
how I decided to to really explore this
territory to begin with you know I’ve
actually I spent the vast majority of my
reporting career here in Washington
covering politicians many people said it
was obviously a natural transition from
politicians to sharks but I think
they’re a great way to explore the ocean
both because they play such a vital
royal there they’re clearly in peril but
also because we have a connection to
them in a way that we don’t to a lot of
other fish I think that our relationship
with them does tell us a lot about our
broader world and so and and you have a
great advantage because sharks are
globally distributed and so there’s so
many different ways you can look at the
role that they’ve they’ve played
historically in in different regions and
and it gives you a sense of human
society as well as the natural world and
so in order to get a full and complete
perspective on what has happened with
sharks and the human shark relationship
I think it’s really important to look at
how they’ve been viewed over time how
that’s changed and also you know get out
of the traditional Western perspective
modern-day perspective we have which of
course has been shaped by things like
jaws and so for example if you go back
and look at the countries and
communities and call
with the most detailed and rich historic
relationship with sharks which often
connect to faith traditions their island
cultures and Nations which is not it’s
not surprising what is more surprising
is the fact that they have a much more
nuanced relationship with sharks than
than I do that this is a picture of
Salaam Carson Bay shark caller from
Papua New Guinea which is one of the few
places in the world that continues to
have a faith tradition centered on
sharks and in in in this particular
tradition where you have individuals
like Salaam Carson Bay who go out in an
individual canoe shake the coconut
rattle and really deliberately try to
summon sharks and engage in combat with
them in order to bring them back for
important occasions they see sharks is
very powerful and as entities that can
exercise their power both for good and
for L and I think that in many ways
that’s a perfectly reasonable and in
some ways some you know rational way to
view sharks in many of these cultures
you see a really personal relationship
tribal or community or familial
relationship with with sharks where
they’re in many ways they you know again
will protect some individuals or
communities and and attack others and so
for example the Hawaiians have one of
the most elaborate folklore traditions
involving sharks and they have a number
of different deities they have very
powerful broader gods the shark God for
example is credited with inventing
surfing which is very interesting when
you consider that surfing and sharks
often intersect even in in today’s
society but also they have individuals
deities called a Makua who were operated
in a very important way on the on the
village and familial level where they
were basically akin to a mafia Godfather
that essentially if you paid homage to
to your a Makua that a Makua in in
return would do things for you whether
it’s ensure that you had a decent fish
catch or protect you when you were out
at sea or alternative
again you know if perhaps the
neighboring village or someone had
angered you could could exact
retribution Hawaiians had basically the
most detailed legends and if you look at
it they have many variations for example
on a particular legend Nanoha the shark
man who is was half half-human half
shark and ultimately ended up developing
a taste for human flesh and would warn
people when they went in through the
water that they could run into danger
and you know obviously some of these
these individuals did you know which
seems like a very understandable way
they explained it again they also had in
whether it’s in Hawaiian culture or
Japanese or Vietnamese culture they had
the idea that sharks could protect you
when you were at sea and so you you see
this you know across the world and again
many of these traditions have faded at
this point but they really were ways
that people helped saw you know see the
world in medieval times they did
certainly have some focus on nature as a
pertain to the forest but when it came
to the sea that really wasn’t something
they paid attention to and even when for
example they incorporated sharks
fossilized teeth into their rituals
which they did they had the they took
the teeth and they dipped them in there
were wine goblets and they refer to them
as gloss Patraeus Dragon tongue stones
they thought they came from dragons and
did not know they came from sharks and
this is this moment where particularly
the Western world just had no sense of
the role that sharks played and I think
what’s so interesting is again if you
look before this period you know there
was a kind of an intermediate period
between kind of the more traditional
Island culture and-and-and the Middle
Ages where if you look at the Greeks and
the Romans they both provided some
scientific and some mythical accounts of
sharks but for example Aristotle
provided detailed descriptions of sharks
copulating where he talked about them
going after each other like dogs or you
could look at the Greek poet Appian who
talked about a ravenous creature CATIA
which you know what would satisfy its
its insatiable jaws but you know they
were at least observing and kind of
translating shark behavior into their
world but in the
evil period that that absolutely
disappeared and so then when the Western
world re encountered sharks it was
really through seafaring and this was
probably the worst possible way in order
to reconnect with sharks and so the
image you see here is one many of you
might be familiar with Watson and the
shark I think one thing just an artistic
commentary on it which I think you know
shows you how how unfamiliar the Western
world was at this point in the 1700s
when this painting was was done as John
Copley who was commissioned by Brook
Watson to do the painting if you if you
look he paints lips on the shark he just
really had no idea what the shark looked
like but you know the fact is when asked
to portray a shark he he really just
made it up more broadly speaking you
were just at this moment where seafarers
were dying in shark strikes and so you
saw the first recorded shark attack in
history in the late 1500s comes from a
Portuguese sailor who had the misfortune
to fall overboard and couldn’t be saved
by his by his companions and and then if
you go you know if you look forward
there’s there just many tales of sharks
circling around different ships and and
you know sailors either you know
basically almost kind of like a wage
dispute in like a labor dispute that
they complained that the captains
couldn’t care less if they ended up in
the water with sharks and things like
that and you know time and time again
they were they were seen as this threat
and in fact in certain instances they
would also follow slave ships that were
traveling from africa to the west and to
the point that actually a member of the
House of Lords basically presented and I
who’s an abolitionist presented an
ironic petition on behalf of the Sharks
of Africa basically saying please keep
up the slave trade because otherwise
we’re gonna run out of food to eat and
so you know in all these ways sharks
were seen as you know these negative
creatures that we’re preying on you know
whether with slaves or sailors people
who were out at sea but sharks were
still seen as a fairly abstract threat
and what changed in actually the United
States and also a few other countries
were
beach goers started interacting with
sharks and so for example this is the
front page from the Philadelphia
Inquirer referring to a series of shark
strikes off the New Jersey Shore in 1916
this in some ways was the inspiration
for the movie Jaws again people who had
been familiar with sharks but they did
not know to you know to what extent it
could be you know potentially something
that would come up when they went to the
beach and so when you had four people
who were killed within a span of 12 days
that was the moment when you really saw
people think of sharks as you know a
threat at any point you know saying
government to aid fight to stamp out the
shark or is that in fact Woodrow Wilson
who was president at the time and
started his political career in New
Jersey actually became it came under
attack for the fact that he did nothing
to halt these shark strikes and that’s
one thing that you see time and time
again that people somehow think that
this is this is something that you could
hold politicians accountable for yeah
there is actually a couple of academics
including one at Princeton who recently
found that he in fact suffered a
political penalty in New Jersey and
particularly the three counties that
were most affected by the drop in
tourism and so it’s just interesting to
see how voters really did punish Woodrow
Wilson and thought that you know there
was something he could do to ensure that
they could be safe at sea one of the
other really interesting things that
comes up around this time is that you
see the way people talk about these
moments in the water with sharks changes
so for example at the same time in the
turn of the last century there were a
series of shark strikes off Australia
and the politicians there did what
politicians do you know whether you’re
talking about Virginia or the United
States or elsewhere which is they
created what they called the shark
Menace committee a task force in New
South Wales that was supposed to deal
with this issue and what’s fascinating
is initially they they published a
report and they use the terms sharks
shark accidents and shark attacks
interchangeably they use them an equal
number of times roughly and you know
it’s so interesting because today what
never talks about a shark accident the
way you talk about a car accident or
something like that we are
they always talk about attacks and it
provides obviously a level of
intentionality that you’re ascribing to
that incident and you know this in many
ways what happened is the terminology
attack really took currency because
there was a Sydney surgeon named Victor
coppleson and he was called in to
initially deal with some of these shark
strikes and over time he really pressed
he developed what you call the rogue
shark theory the idea that there were
sharks in the water that were hunting
humans and he really pushed he published
a book called shark attack and published
this you know kind of press this idea in
in the public mind that sharks were out
to get us well he was effective in
campaigning against sharks it really was
jaws that transformed the mindset of an
entire generation this is the mechanical
shark
Bruce named for Steven Spielberg’s
lawyer it’s worth noting obviously it
depends on what age you are but there’s
there’s just no question that that jaws
had an incredible impact on how people
viewed the chances of being struck by a
shark when I think of wine sharks are so
much scarier than other potential
predators of humans I think it comes
from the fact that they can strike out
of the darkness without warning there’s
something about that that has us
hardwired to be terrified you know it’s
interesting while you know grizzly bears
might be scary and so are mountain lions
people do not have the same visceral
hatred and and terror associated with
those animals or you know for example
polar bears which which can attack
humans and did in fact in an incident a
tragic incident this summer but you know
it’s the idea that you would never know
if if a shark is coming that I think
both makes them scary and allows people
to exaggerate the threat associated with
them you can slice and dice the
statistics a number of different ways
but when you look at the number of
lethal shark strikes every year globally
you know they have averaged 5 5 a year
in recent decades were actually at
annually high point where we have
doubled that this year but that’s still
a fraction of
number of deaths from you name it
whether your and talk about the heatwave
that we had here in the United States
this summer going to see fireworks
defective toasters vending machines you
know there are many more things you
might want to be you know more terrified
than sharks but having you know having
this perception that sharks are
targeting us of course makes it much
more accessible acceptable to target
them and so what you saw is that there
was kind of a low level you know of
recreational shark fishing in the United
States in the 1950s and 60s and it
really did take off after Jaws this is
mark the shark party on Oh who’s a
commercial charter boat captain in Miami
he operates off Miami Beach and his
entire business is taking whether it’s
celebrities bachelor parties you know
folks who are in Miami for convention
out to catch a shark while there are
many other causes of shark mortality
that will get into recreational fishing
off the United States accounts for
200,000 sharks being killed each year
according to federal statistics
but while recreational fishing is it’s
significant it’s not as much of a driver
as industrial fishing when a lot of
these industrial fishing vessels are
putting out long lines and targeting
tuna and swordfish there’s no
distinction that’s being made by the
fish that are lured by that bait and so
sharks are often getting caught in those
Nets are caught on those lines and so
you have millions of sharks that that
are really being killed each year and
and accidentally as bycatch but that
said there’s also the intentional
fishing of sharks which certainly well
you know again it’s it’s it’s I think
it’s very interesting that it’s really
debatable whether accidental fishing of
sharks or intentional fishing is is a
greater driver of shark shark deaths
each year there’s no question that there
is a growing demand for the shark fins
and that’s what you see here this is
some of these photos are ones that I
took when I was reporting and whether it
was Hong Kong or elsewhere looking at
the fin trade and so many of you might
be familiar with an Asian delicacy
shark’s fin soup which has become quite
a status symbol had been something only
for elites and has become increasingly
popular
and it really is driving the commercial
demand for sharks worldwide so Hong Kong
is where most of the the trade is
centered while they’re there being
caught all over the world but really
about 80 percent of all shark fins at
some point go through neighborhoods like
this where you see things like shark fin
City because you know this this is where
they can move the product most
efficiently and and there are acceptable
ways to kind of route it route at
worldwide the sharks are being caught
you know across the globe this is a
picture of me in Belize where I was
actually with researchers looking at
live sharks but we had gone to get bait
that morning just you know so that we
could catch him and release some sharks
and there’s a woman who had caught a
nurse shark where she sold the fins
right away but she you know couldn’t
sell the body because there wasn’t
really the demand for meat and this is
something you see time and time again
that because the fins go for a hundred
times the price of the meat per kilogram
that they’re you know there’s still
enough of a reason it to catch the
Sharks and you know I find this
fascinating you you see this that
basically shark fins are an incredible
commodity this is a this is a shark
being finden in mexico and it’s it’s
really you know when you consider it
it’s incredibly easy to transport you
dry it out and so it’s not like fresh
fish that has to be shipped right away
it’s something that you know in poor
communities they can accumulate them
over time and then you know whenever a
vessel comes and a traitor’s is willing
to pay money for it you can you can buy
it and so that’s one of the reasons it’s
just become such a highly valued and
such an easy commodity to engage in
worldwide when you look at the places
where you have the many sharks those are
often the healthiest coral reef
ecosystems that you’re gonna detect in
part because they act as what for
example one scientist calls a garbage
collector they take out the week in the
second they also interact with mid-level
predators and keep things going you
think about sharks obviously consuming
their prey which they do but I prefer to
think of them having their psychological
role that they play in the sea and so
for example there’s a marine biologist
Boris worm who has looked into the idea
that sharks sometimes can just for
example in Australia just in
other animals from like such as Duggan’s
from over grazing in a steep grass
habitat so I consider that maybe the
most benevolent way in which sharks can
enforce you know healthy ecosystems and
you know it is worth noting that there
still is a debate about exactly what
role sharks playing in the ocean you
know for example are they the same as
terrestrial predators such as wolves and
how we’ve seen the reintroduction of
wolves help restore Yellowstone or do
they play the same role as lions or
Tigers you know in Africa and the answer
is were you know we’re not entirely sure
and I think this is one of those areas
where you are gonna see more research as
we move forward and that’s that’s gonna
answer some of these questions that are
still out there
[Music]
you
they can strike out of the darkness
without warning there’s something about
that that has us hardwired to be
terrified
you would never know if a shark is
coming that I think both makes them
scary and allows people to exaggerate
the threat associated with them having
this perception that sharks are
targeting us of course makes it much
more acceptable to target them to talk
to you about this book and I thought to
begin I wanted to explain a little about
how I decided to to really explore this
territory to begin with you know I’ve
actually I spent the vast majority of my
reporting career here in Washington
covering politicians many people said it
was obviously a natural transition from
politicians to sharks but I think
they’re a great way to explore the ocean
both because they play such a vital
royal there they’re clearly in peril but
also because we have a connection to
them in a way that we don’t to a lot of
other fish I think that our relationship
with them does tell us a lot about our
broader world and so and and you have a
great advantage because sharks are
globally distributed and so there’s so
many different ways you can look at the
role that they’ve they’ve played
historically in in different regions and
and it gives you a sense of human
society as well as the natural world and
so in order to get a full and complete
perspective on what has happened with
sharks and the human shark relationship
I think it’s really important to look at
how they’ve been viewed over time how
that’s changed and also you know get out
of the traditional Western perspective
modern-day perspective we have which of
course has been shaped by things like
jaws and so for example if you go back
and look at the countries and
communities and call
with the most detailed and rich historic
relationship with sharks which often
connect to faith traditions their island
cultures and Nations which is not it’s
not surprising what is more surprising
is the fact that they have a much more
nuanced relationship with sharks than
than I do that this is a picture of
Salaam Carson Bay shark caller from
Papua New Guinea which is one of the few
places in the world that continues to
have a faith tradition centered on
sharks and in in in this particular
tradition where you have individuals
like Salaam Carson Bay who go out in an
individual canoe shake the coconut
rattle and really deliberately try to
summon sharks and engage in combat with
them in order to bring them back for
important occasions they see sharks is
very powerful and as entities that can
exercise their power both for good and
for L and I think that in many ways
that’s a perfectly reasonable and in
some ways some you know rational way to
view sharks in many of these cultures
you see a really personal relationship
tribal or community or familial
relationship with with sharks where
they’re in many ways they you know again
will protect some individuals or
communities and and attack others and so
for example the Hawaiians have one of
the most elaborate folklore traditions
involving sharks and they have a number
of different deities they have very
powerful broader gods the shark God for
example is credited with inventing
surfing which is very interesting when
you consider that surfing and sharks
often intersect even in in today’s
society but also they have individuals
deities called a Makua who were operated
in a very important way on the on the
village and familial level where they
were basically akin to a mafia Godfather
that essentially if you paid homage to
to your a Makua that a Makua in in
return would do things for you whether
it’s ensure that you had a decent fish
catch or protect you when you were out
at sea or alternative
again you know if perhaps the
neighboring village or someone had
angered you could could exact
retribution Hawaiians had basically the
most detailed legends and if you look at
it they have many variations for example
on a particular legend Nanoha the shark
man who is was half half-human half
shark and ultimately ended up developing
a taste for human flesh and would warn
people when they went in through the
water that they could run into danger
and you know obviously some of these
these individuals did you know which
seems like a very understandable way
they explained it again they also had in
whether it’s in Hawaiian culture or
Japanese or Vietnamese culture they had
the idea that sharks could protect you
when you were at sea and so you you see
this you know across the world and again
many of these traditions have faded at
this point but they really were ways
that people helped saw you know see the
world in medieval times they did
certainly have some focus on nature as a
pertain to the forest but when it came
to the sea that really wasn’t something
they paid attention to and even when for
example they incorporated sharks
fossilized teeth into their rituals
which they did they had the they took
the teeth and they dipped them in there
were wine goblets and they refer to them
as gloss Patraeus Dragon tongue stones
they thought they came from dragons and
did not know they came from sharks and
this is this moment where particularly
the Western world just had no sense of
the role that sharks played and I think
what’s so interesting is again if you
look before this period you know there
was a kind of an intermediate period
between kind of the more traditional
Island culture and-and-and the Middle
Ages where if you look at the Greeks and
the Romans they both provided some
scientific and some mythical accounts of
sharks but for example Aristotle
provided detailed descriptions of sharks
copulating where he talked about them
going after each other like dogs or you
could look at the Greek poet Appian who
talked about a ravenous creature CATIA
which you know what would satisfy its
its insatiable jaws but you know they
were at least observing and kind of
translating shark behavior into their
world but in the
evil period that that absolutely
disappeared and so then when the Western
world re encountered sharks it was
really through seafaring and this was
probably the worst possible way in order
to reconnect with sharks and so the
image you see here is one many of you
might be familiar with Watson and the
shark I think one thing just an artistic
commentary on it which I think you know
shows you how how unfamiliar the Western
world was at this point in the 1700s
when this painting was was done as John
Copley who was commissioned by Brook
Watson to do the painting if you if you
look he paints lips on the shark he just
really had no idea what the shark looked
like but you know the fact is when asked
to portray a shark he he really just
made it up more broadly speaking you
were just at this moment where seafarers
were dying in shark strikes and so you
saw the first recorded shark attack in
history in the late 1500s comes from a
Portuguese sailor who had the misfortune
to fall overboard and couldn’t be saved
by his by his companions and and then if
you go you know if you look forward
there’s there just many tales of sharks
circling around different ships and and
you know sailors either you know
basically almost kind of like a wage
dispute in like a labor dispute that
they complained that the captains
couldn’t care less if they ended up in
the water with sharks and things like
that and you know time and time again
they were they were seen as this threat
and in fact in certain instances they
would also follow slave ships that were
traveling from africa to the west and to
the point that actually a member of the
House of Lords basically presented and I
who’s an abolitionist presented an
ironic petition on behalf of the Sharks
of Africa basically saying please keep
up the slave trade because otherwise
we’re gonna run out of food to eat and
so you know in all these ways sharks
were seen as you know these negative
creatures that we’re preying on you know
whether with slaves or sailors people
who were out at sea but sharks were
still seen as a fairly abstract threat
and what changed in actually the United
States and also a few other countries
were
beach goers started interacting with
sharks and so for example this is the
front page from the Philadelphia
Inquirer referring to a series of shark
strikes off the New Jersey Shore in 1916
this in some ways was the inspiration
for the movie Jaws again people who had
been familiar with sharks but they did
not know to you know to what extent it
could be you know potentially something
that would come up when they went to the
beach and so when you had four people
who were killed within a span of 12 days
that was the moment when you really saw
people think of sharks as you know a
threat at any point you know saying
government to aid fight to stamp out the
shark or is that in fact Woodrow Wilson
who was president at the time and
started his political career in New
Jersey actually became it came under
attack for the fact that he did nothing
to halt these shark strikes and that’s
one thing that you see time and time
again that people somehow think that
this is this is something that you could
hold politicians accountable for yeah
there is actually a couple of academics
including one at Princeton who recently
found that he in fact suffered a
political penalty in New Jersey and
particularly the three counties that
were most affected by the drop in
tourism and so it’s just interesting to
see how voters really did punish Woodrow
Wilson and thought that you know there
was something he could do to ensure that
they could be safe at sea one of the
other really interesting things that
comes up around this time is that you
see the way people talk about these
moments in the water with sharks changes
so for example at the same time in the
turn of the last century there were a
series of shark strikes off Australia
and the politicians there did what
politicians do you know whether you’re
talking about Virginia or the United
States or elsewhere which is they
created what they called the shark
Menace committee a task force in New
South Wales that was supposed to deal
with this issue and what’s fascinating
is initially they they published a
report and they use the terms sharks
shark accidents and shark attacks
interchangeably they use them an equal
number of times roughly and you know
it’s so interesting because today what
never talks about a shark accident the
way you talk about a car accident or
something like that we are
they always talk about attacks and it
provides obviously a level of
intentionality that you’re ascribing to
that incident and you know this in many
ways what happened is the terminology
attack really took currency because
there was a Sydney surgeon named Victor
coppleson and he was called in to
initially deal with some of these shark
strikes and over time he really pressed
he developed what you call the rogue
shark theory the idea that there were
sharks in the water that were hunting
humans and he really pushed he published
a book called shark attack and published
this you know kind of press this idea in
in the public mind that sharks were out
to get us well he was effective in
campaigning against sharks it really was
jaws that transformed the mindset of an
entire generation this is the mechanical
shark
Bruce named for Steven Spielberg’s
lawyer it’s worth noting obviously it
depends on what age you are but there’s
there’s just no question that that jaws
had an incredible impact on how people
viewed the chances of being struck by a
shark when I think of wine sharks are so
much scarier than other potential
predators of humans I think it comes
from the fact that they can strike out
of the darkness without warning there’s
something about that that has us
hardwired to be terrified you know it’s
interesting while you know grizzly bears
might be scary and so are mountain lions
people do not have the same visceral
hatred and and terror associated with
those animals or you know for example
polar bears which which can attack
humans and did in fact in an incident a
tragic incident this summer but you know
it’s the idea that you would never know
if if a shark is coming that I think
both makes them scary and allows people
to exaggerate the threat associated with
them you can slice and dice the
statistics a number of different ways
but when you look at the number of
lethal shark strikes every year globally
you know they have averaged 5 5 a year
in recent decades were actually at
annually high point where we have
doubled that this year but that’s still
a fraction of
number of deaths from you name it
whether your and talk about the heatwave
that we had here in the United States
this summer going to see fireworks
defective toasters vending machines you
know there are many more things you
might want to be you know more terrified
than sharks but having you know having
this perception that sharks are
targeting us of course makes it much
more accessible acceptable to target
them and so what you saw is that there
was kind of a low level you know of
recreational shark fishing in the United
States in the 1950s and 60s and it
really did take off after Jaws this is
mark the shark party on Oh who’s a
commercial charter boat captain in Miami
he operates off Miami Beach and his
entire business is taking whether it’s
celebrities bachelor parties you know
folks who are in Miami for convention
out to catch a shark while there are
many other causes of shark mortality
that will get into recreational fishing
off the United States accounts for
200,000 sharks being killed each year
according to federal statistics
but while recreational fishing is it’s
significant it’s not as much of a driver
as industrial fishing when a lot of
these industrial fishing vessels are
putting out long lines and targeting
tuna and swordfish there’s no
distinction that’s being made by the
fish that are lured by that bait and so
sharks are often getting caught in those
Nets are caught on those lines and so
you have millions of sharks that that
are really being killed each year and
and accidentally as bycatch but that
said there’s also the intentional
fishing of sharks which certainly well
you know again it’s it’s it’s I think
it’s very interesting that it’s really
debatable whether accidental fishing of
sharks or intentional fishing is is a
greater driver of shark shark deaths
each year there’s no question that there
is a growing demand for the shark fins
and that’s what you see here this is
some of these photos are ones that I
took when I was reporting and whether it
was Hong Kong or elsewhere looking at
the fin trade and so many of you might
be familiar with an Asian delicacy
shark’s fin soup which has become quite
a status symbol had been something only
for elites and has become increasingly
popular
and it really is driving the commercial
demand for sharks worldwide so Hong Kong
is where most of the the trade is
centered while they’re there being
caught all over the world but really
about 80 percent of all shark fins at
some point go through neighborhoods like
this where you see things like shark fin
City because you know this this is where
they can move the product most
efficiently and and there are acceptable
ways to kind of route it route at
worldwide the sharks are being caught
you know across the globe this is a
picture of me in Belize where I was
actually with researchers looking at
live sharks but we had gone to get bait
that morning just you know so that we
could catch him and release some sharks
and there’s a woman who had caught a
nurse shark where she sold the fins
right away but she you know couldn’t
sell the body because there wasn’t
really the demand for meat and this is
something you see time and time again
that because the fins go for a hundred
times the price of the meat per kilogram
that they’re you know there’s still
enough of a reason it to catch the
Sharks and you know I find this
fascinating you you see this that
basically shark fins are an incredible
commodity this is a this is a shark
being finden in mexico and it’s it’s
really you know when you consider it
it’s incredibly easy to transport you
dry it out and so it’s not like fresh
fish that has to be shipped right away
it’s something that you know in poor
communities they can accumulate them
over time and then you know whenever a
vessel comes and a traitor’s is willing
to pay money for it you can you can buy
it and so that’s one of the reasons it’s
just become such a highly valued and
such an easy commodity to engage in
worldwide when you look at the places
where you have the many sharks those are
often the healthiest coral reef
ecosystems that you’re gonna detect in
part because they act as what for
example one scientist calls a garbage
collector they take out the week in the
second they also interact with mid-level
predators and keep things going you
think about sharks obviously consuming
their prey which they do but I prefer to
think of them having their psychological
role that they play in the sea and so
for example there’s a marine biologist
Boris worm who has looked into the idea
that sharks sometimes can just for
example in Australia just in
other animals from like such as Duggan’s
from over grazing in a steep grass
habitat so I consider that maybe the
most benevolent way in which sharks can
enforce you know healthy ecosystems and
you know it is worth noting that there
still is a debate about exactly what
role sharks playing in the ocean you
know for example are they the same as
terrestrial predators such as wolves and
how we’ve seen the reintroduction of
wolves help restore Yellowstone or do
they play the same role as lions or
Tigers you know in Africa and the answer
is were you know we’re not entirely sure
and I think this is one of those areas
where you are gonna see more research as
we move forward and that’s that’s gonna
answer some of these questions that are
still out there
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