sharks have prowled the Earth’s oceans
for a staggering 450 million years which
means they predate even dinosaurs and
yet in a span of only a decade humans
are on the verge of completely wiping
out some of these each and shark species
we have for instance in the Gulf of
Mexico where white tip sharks are the
dominant predator the estimates are that
99% of those animals are gone in the
Mediterranean we have 15 large species
of sharks that have reached almost
undetectable levels they’re almost never
seen any more and then you get something
like the great white shark which was the
protagonist of Jaws one of the most
spectacular animals in the sea and it’s
headed for the brink of extinction the
main culprit according to
conservationists overfishing
the world’s nations have come together
to set limits on the harvesting of other
large food fish like tuna but there are
hardly any rules when it comes to sharks
it’s pretty much open season anytime
anywhere in America shark tournaments
are popular pastimes with recreational
fishermen vying for the largest catch of
the day sharks are also caught
commercially for food in many countries
they’ve become a substitute for
swordfish which are protected and hard
to come by in addition an extract from
shark liver oil known as squalene is
used in beauty products believed to keep
skin looking young and healthy but the
most valuable part of a shark is its
distinctive fin they are considered a
delicacy and Asia cooked up and served
in soup as China’s economy surges so
does the demand for shark fin soup from
a new generation with money to spend the
demand for sharks is fueled by the
increasing demand for fins for the Asian
delicacy shark fin soup but in addition
to that there is also an increasing
demand for shark meat as other
traditionally fish species are dwindling
and collapsing there are a few if any
fishing limits on sharks and therefore
it is easier for the fishermen to target
sharks and take as many as they want
at a commercial fish market in ego Spain
sharks are piled in heaps waiting to be
sold at auction the European Union is
one of the largest shark fishing
entities in the world and span is one of
the top exporters of shark fins to Asia
fishermen say sharks have become vital
to their economic survival Beth Espada
as a partner que tenemos room with
service so there is a limit that in the
bottom en todas a deer on kauai whereas
with sharks that’s happiness money is
our today the Catherine conservationists
want to tackle the demand for shark fins
and Asia but they also want to tighten
supplies here at the source they need to
be managed here in Europe we need to
manage them under the common fisheries
policy which means to establish fishing
quotas those are catch limits many
countries already banned a practice
known as shark finning where fins are
cut off at sea and the fish dumped back
into the ocean to die
you’re in Vigo Spain sharks must be
landed whole or if fins are cut off on
the boat there must be a corresponding
number of bodies brought in as well the
conservation is say the thinning bands
can easily be violated by rogue
fishermen Europe could strengthen the
European finning regulation by only
allowing sharks to be landed with their
fins naturally attached Europe could
help by establishing a long-overdue
management pen for sharks sharks are
slow to mature and slow to reproduce
they bear their young live and in some
cases only a few pups every couple of
years decimated populations can’t
recover quickly some conservationists
fear they may not be able to recover it
all the loss is having a ripple effect
enric’s Allah is a National Geographic
emerging explore with a passion for
protecting coral reefs he’s increasingly
concerned by what he doesn’t see sharks
these apex predators are at the top of a
delicately balanced marine ecosystem
shocking new report is indicated that
scallop beds along the US eastern
seaboard have been destroyed because now
there aren’t enough sharks to keep the
creatures that eat scallops and check
marine ecosystems are like a machine
composed of thousands of different
species thousands of different parts
that have evolved during hundreds of
thousands or millions of years to work
very efficiently if one of these parts
is missing the machine is going to
malfunction or some conservation
organizations like the pew environment
group the problem with sharks is endemic
of a larger problem we now have the
technology and the wherewithal to find
and catch fish virtually anywhere in the
world’s marine environment so the sheer
amount of life that we’re extracting
from the world’s oceans every year is
emptying them of life unless this stops
were literally headed for a world with a
lifeless see and we don’t have a lot of
time left they’re fierce skills have
allowed sharks to survive for millions
upon millions of years but species
feared by many may be wiped out by
humans in the blink of an eye
for a staggering 450 million years which
means they predate even dinosaurs and
yet in a span of only a decade humans
are on the verge of completely wiping
out some of these each and shark species
we have for instance in the Gulf of
Mexico where white tip sharks are the
dominant predator the estimates are that
99% of those animals are gone in the
Mediterranean we have 15 large species
of sharks that have reached almost
undetectable levels they’re almost never
seen any more and then you get something
like the great white shark which was the
protagonist of Jaws one of the most
spectacular animals in the sea and it’s
headed for the brink of extinction the
main culprit according to
conservationists overfishing
the world’s nations have come together
to set limits on the harvesting of other
large food fish like tuna but there are
hardly any rules when it comes to sharks
it’s pretty much open season anytime
anywhere in America shark tournaments
are popular pastimes with recreational
fishermen vying for the largest catch of
the day sharks are also caught
commercially for food in many countries
they’ve become a substitute for
swordfish which are protected and hard
to come by in addition an extract from
shark liver oil known as squalene is
used in beauty products believed to keep
skin looking young and healthy but the
most valuable part of a shark is its
distinctive fin they are considered a
delicacy and Asia cooked up and served
in soup as China’s economy surges so
does the demand for shark fin soup from
a new generation with money to spend the
demand for sharks is fueled by the
increasing demand for fins for the Asian
delicacy shark fin soup but in addition
to that there is also an increasing
demand for shark meat as other
traditionally fish species are dwindling
and collapsing there are a few if any
fishing limits on sharks and therefore
it is easier for the fishermen to target
sharks and take as many as they want
at a commercial fish market in ego Spain
sharks are piled in heaps waiting to be
sold at auction the European Union is
one of the largest shark fishing
entities in the world and span is one of
the top exporters of shark fins to Asia
fishermen say sharks have become vital
to their economic survival Beth Espada
as a partner que tenemos room with
service so there is a limit that in the
bottom en todas a deer on kauai whereas
with sharks that’s happiness money is
our today the Catherine conservationists
want to tackle the demand for shark fins
and Asia but they also want to tighten
supplies here at the source they need to
be managed here in Europe we need to
manage them under the common fisheries
policy which means to establish fishing
quotas those are catch limits many
countries already banned a practice
known as shark finning where fins are
cut off at sea and the fish dumped back
into the ocean to die
you’re in Vigo Spain sharks must be
landed whole or if fins are cut off on
the boat there must be a corresponding
number of bodies brought in as well the
conservation is say the thinning bands
can easily be violated by rogue
fishermen Europe could strengthen the
European finning regulation by only
allowing sharks to be landed with their
fins naturally attached Europe could
help by establishing a long-overdue
management pen for sharks sharks are
slow to mature and slow to reproduce
they bear their young live and in some
cases only a few pups every couple of
years decimated populations can’t
recover quickly some conservationists
fear they may not be able to recover it
all the loss is having a ripple effect
enric’s Allah is a National Geographic
emerging explore with a passion for
protecting coral reefs he’s increasingly
concerned by what he doesn’t see sharks
these apex predators are at the top of a
delicately balanced marine ecosystem
shocking new report is indicated that
scallop beds along the US eastern
seaboard have been destroyed because now
there aren’t enough sharks to keep the
creatures that eat scallops and check
marine ecosystems are like a machine
composed of thousands of different
species thousands of different parts
that have evolved during hundreds of
thousands or millions of years to work
very efficiently if one of these parts
is missing the machine is going to
malfunction or some conservation
organizations like the pew environment
group the problem with sharks is endemic
of a larger problem we now have the
technology and the wherewithal to find
and catch fish virtually anywhere in the
world’s marine environment so the sheer
amount of life that we’re extracting
from the world’s oceans every year is
emptying them of life unless this stops
were literally headed for a world with a
lifeless see and we don’t have a lot of
time left they’re fierce skills have
allowed sharks to survive for millions
upon millions of years but species
feared by many may be wiped out by
humans in the blink of an eye
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