I recently had to do a presentation in one of my classes on an environmental issue. I chose to discuss the dramatic decline in shark populations around the world. This decline is largely due to long-lining and shark finning. Shark finning is the process of catching sharks, slicing off their fins, then throwing the sharks back into the ocean, often still alive.
To help prepare for my presentation, I watched the documentary Sharkwater. It's an award winning film about this horrific problem. I suggest you watch the entire thing, and then tell someone else about it.
Sharks are the oldest surviving group of large animals on earth. They have ruled the oceans for 400 million years. That is about 150 million years before the dinosaurs showed up. They have survived five major periods of extinction on earth. Scientists now estimate that in the last few decades, 90% of the world's sharks have disappeared.
The oceans affect everything on this planet. If something is royally fucked in the ocean, then we're royally fucked too.
I feel sorry for our grandchildren. And the sharks.
Part I
The rest of the documentary:
Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
And here you can find more information about the documentary and facts about shark finning.
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