One of the most fundamental threats to not only sharks but to all marine life is human waste. If you are on a beach and you see litter blustering around in the wind, just pick it up and put it in a bin. For all you know at the time, the plastic bag you just stopped from going into the sea would have killed an endangered shark. This doesn't mean that you have to plod around the beach all day collecting flotsam and jetsam - in fact, you don't have to do anything at all, it's completely your choice to help - it just means that, if you see rubbish lying on the beach, picking it up and binning it will always help.
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| For some people it's a bottle on a beach. For a shark, it's a potentially fatal choking hazard. |
There are always people who want to try and help sharks. SharkTrustUK and SHARKDEFENSE in America are both excellent groups of people dedicated to saving sharks and, thus, the lives of humans as we grow to understand more about them. By joining a society such as these, or even donating a small amount of money - again, it's your choice - you can help them to learn more about sharks and you can help them prevent the killing of sharks around the world. Sometimes, a site like one of these will form a petition to protect a certain area of the ocean or to make a certain species protected. Free to sign, a petition like this can make all the difference if there are enough names on it.
Of course, some people see thins on a far grander scale. In this case, Bojan Slat.
Whilst diving in Greece, aged 16, he was disgusted to find more rubbish than marine life and even more so when he discovered the multitudes of dead fish trapped in plastic bags and bottles. He was furious that people simply through their litter into the sea without a care for the damage it could do. Therefore, he decided to delve into the science of plastic, learning about how it could be recycled or destroyed. He developed a plan to entirely remove the Pacific Garbage Patch from the Earth which, considering the area is twice the size of Texas, would be a great step in the direction of a better Ocean. With a team of 100 scientists behind him, he experimented on how he could do this and, in June 2014, he finally discovered a "likely technologically feasible and financially viable" solution which he and his team hope to put into effect soon.
Even though his idea may not directly revolve around the saving of sharks, pollution and waste in seas and oceans is one of the primary causes of mass death for sharks. Not only that, but the unbelievable positive affect this will have on the wellbeing of the marine world and its inhabitants will most definitely be a great step on the way to saving sharks from extinction.
As has been said many times before on this blog, we are dancing on the cusp of a world without sharks. If everyone on this planet were to help out in saving sharks, we needn't worry for their existence. But yet the fishing and the finning continue and those of us who love sharks and the marine world must work ever harder to prevent the death of one of the planet's most fascinating and secretive species.
Of course, some people see thins on a far grander scale. In this case, Bojan Slat.
Whilst diving in Greece, aged 16, he was disgusted to find more rubbish than marine life and even more so when he discovered the multitudes of dead fish trapped in plastic bags and bottles. He was furious that people simply through their litter into the sea without a care for the damage it could do. Therefore, he decided to delve into the science of plastic, learning about how it could be recycled or destroyed. He developed a plan to entirely remove the Pacific Garbage Patch from the Earth which, considering the area is twice the size of Texas, would be a great step in the direction of a better Ocean. With a team of 100 scientists behind him, he experimented on how he could do this and, in June 2014, he finally discovered a "likely technologically feasible and financially viable" solution which he and his team hope to put into effect soon.
Even though his idea may not directly revolve around the saving of sharks, pollution and waste in seas and oceans is one of the primary causes of mass death for sharks. Not only that, but the unbelievable positive affect this will have on the wellbeing of the marine world and its inhabitants will most definitely be a great step on the way to saving sharks from extinction.
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| Boyan Slat, 19, plans to clean up the Pacific Garbage Patch. |
As has been said many times before on this blog, we are dancing on the cusp of a world without sharks. If everyone on this planet were to help out in saving sharks, we needn't worry for their existence. But yet the fishing and the finning continue and those of us who love sharks and the marine world must work ever harder to prevent the death of one of the planet's most fascinating and secretive species.
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