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The global ocean – the Earth’s oceanic waters, including the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern oceans – supplies more than half the oxygen we breathe, and provides food and livelihoods for billions of people worldwide. It is also home to a wondrous array of wild species, from tiny plankton to the biggest creature that’s ever existed – the blue whale.

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Centuries of overuse and neglect threaten to leave us with a vast blue wasteland. It’s time to change the way we see our ocean – from places where we take what we want and dump what we don’t, to a shared resource of immense value. We must take action now to restore ocean health while the solutions are still within our grasp.

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Sharks are often the “apex” or top predators in their ecosystems because they have few natural predators. As apex predators, sharks feed on the animals below them in the food web, helping to regulate and maintain the balance of marine ecosystems. Apex predators directly limit the populations of their prey, which in turn affects the prey species of those animals, and so on.1 The diets of most top predators are quite varied. This allows top predators to switch prey species when certain populations are low, thereby allowing prey species to persist.

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Sharks help keep the carbon cycle in motion

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Sharks help keep the carbon cycle in motion

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Carbon is a critical element in the cycle of life — and a contributor to climate change. By feeding on dead matter that collects on the seafloor, scavengers such as deep-sea sharks, hagfish and starfish help to move carbon through the ocean.

In addition, research has found that large marine animals such as whales and sharks sequester comparatively large amounts of carbon in their bodies. When they die naturally, they sink to the seafloor, where they are eaten by scavengers. However, when they are hunted by humans, they are removed from the ocean, disrupting the ocean's carbon cycle.

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Sharks have been feared hunters ever since people first observed them swimming in the vast ocean. Yet today, sharks are declining rapidly on a global scale because humans have replaced them as the ocean's top predators. One way that humans hunt sharks is by using a practice called shark finning. This is the process of slicing off a shark’s fin and discarding the rest of the still-living body, often by dumping it back into the ocean.

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I see in my mind’s eye how these beautiful, highly sensitive beings, that are perfectly adapted to their environment, and that as “health police” play an absolutely central key role in the balance of the oceans, are caught. A millionfold. How they writhe in agony at the large fishing hook on which they hang with all their weight, pierced and with their mouths bleeding. As they are dragged with brutal violence on board – where men wait with sharp knives … and cut off all their fins. The sharks are alive! And they are maimed – alive! And then thrown back into the sea. Slowly, under nameless torments they perish …

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Shark fins are tempting targets for fishermen because they have high monetary and cultural value. They are used in a popular dish called shark fin soup, which is a symbol of status in Chinese culture. In the past, Chinese Emperors favored the soup as a dish that honored guests because it was thought to have medicinal benefits and represented a victory against powerful sharks. This popularity has not faded with time and has even expanded with China's growing population. Today shark fin soup is still prevalent and has become a staple for more than just emperors on special occasions. As a result, fishermen have a large incentive to gather and sell shark fins.

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Sadly, up to 100 million sharks are killed every single year, whether caught on purpose or by accident (as bycatch). Overfishing and lack of controls are driving declines of sharks on a global scale. As a result, 30% of all 1,000+ species are currently threatened with extinction. Without urgent action and our help, some of these blue super-predators – which have been around for hundreds of millions of years, outliving the dinosaurs – might disappear forever…

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Sharks have been around for over 400 million years! In that time, they have become extremely diverse and today shark species fill nearly every corner of the planet, from the poles to the tropics, the ocean floor to the beachside shallows. There are over 500 recognised species of sharks ranging from the tiny lantern sharks that could fit in the palm of your hand, to the largest fish in the ocean, the whale shark, which grows to nearly 20 metres long.

Dont look away help these majestic Ocean predators to live for another 400 million years so that our childrens children can witness a world were sharks stil exist.

thank you for reading my padlet i hope i could widen your uderstanding of this beutiful animal we call shark .
by Erkut Karkide