What We Can Do To Save Sharks?

  Everyone who has read this blog knows that sharks are critically endangered. In a previous post, I outlined the reasons why sharks are still endangered. Now, I will show you what you can do to help.

  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.

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.

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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With the blog's second birthday party just over, this was the best way to celebrate. Thank you to everyone for a terrific two years of shark facts. There will certainly be many more to come.

The Carribean Reef Shark

  The Carribean reef shark is found, unsurprisingly, throughout the Carribean and also along the Western coastlines of Mexico and Brazil, where the can find a plentiful supply of rays and fish to feed on. A Carribean reef shark can grow up to three metres long and are stocky, powerful fish, alike to many other reef sharks.

  These sharks are territorial, although not so much as their fellow reef dwellers, the silvertip sharks. However, they will constantly patrol an area of a reef, defying another shark or large sea creature to come too close to it.

  Although they are generally indifferent to the divers and snorkelers who visit their reef homes, these sharks have a tendency to be easily aggravated. There are a series of telltale signs that a carribean reef shark is feeling threatened by a diver.

  Firstly, it will begin to arch its back. It will repeatedly do this for several seconds before the diver either goes away or stays, making it progress to the second stage of aggressive behaviour.

  If the diver does not retreat to a further distance, the shark will begin to thrash its tail excessively. As to when you judge excessive thrashing, it will invariably occur after the arching of the back.

  Next, the shark will open its mouth to show its teeth. Evidently, this is a sign that tells any diver to leave the area. This action is typical of most large sharks when they feel threatened or anxious.

  At this point, it is imperative that, as a diver, you have moved away, as the next step is for the shark to swim rapidly in the aggressor's direction. Some will pull away at the last minute and repeat this, although others may make contact with the diver - usually their tail will make the contact - and there have been several instances of such contact resulting in concussion.

  The majority of Carribean reef shark encounters occur in coastal waters, due to the fact that only very few venture into the open ocean. As relatively small sharks, such an action could be suicidal should they encounter a great white, tiger or bull shark - all of which can be found in such areas.

  As is typical with reef dwelling sharks, Carribean reef sharks hunt at night, sometimes in small groups. They feed mainly on rays, of which there are many species that live on reefs, and large fish. Groupers are notably one of the favourite foods of this species, although the saying "the hunters are the hunted" is applicable in such a case, as many groupers grow to such awe-inspiring size that they are able to swallow a shark whole.

A carribean reef shark patrolling its territory on a reef.

The range of the Carribean reef shark.

How Can We Save Sharks?

  When people talk of the sea, they will speculate over what creature is most dangerous within it. Killer whales? Chevron barracuda? Belcher sea snakes? Even tuna and dolphins are dangerous in their own right.

  Time and time again, the answer ends at "shark", or more specifically, "the great white shark". This overwhelmingly common misconception has driven people to fear of such fascinating creatures. How is it possible for those who are dedicated to sharks to alter the majorities' perception of these glorious animals as the scourge of the sea?

  But this is far from the most absurd aspect of the perception. What is is the following: people know that sharks are not the cold blooded killers they have many times been portrayed as. People know that they are more likely to be struck by lightning than be attacked by a shark. And yet, many still refuse to alter their misguided perceptions. The abhorrent description of sharks in the aforementioned manner has struck them to the bone with sheer terror.

  The far spread knowledge of sharks is often rejected by those who do not want to listen; by those too scared and too foolish to change before it is too late, and the sharks have left our oceans, have been eradicated from our seas.

  Why is it that people can not change?

  This mountain is one the human race must overcome together; this mountain is one the human race have to climb. The time for evading the situation, the time for walking around the mountain instead of scaling it, is over. Together, we must face up to the problem and defeat it before the worst comes.
  It is not unimaginable that some of those who read this will be confused as to how people can "evade" the situation. The following quotation is from Aaron MacNeil of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, interviewed by the BBC on the subject of Hákarl, an Arctic delicacy made of Greenland shark.

"It probably won't catch on enough to threaten the species."

  In the case of Hákarl, this is likely to be true, as this food is considered by many as the most disgusting nourishment on the planet. However, such statements are made, and have been made, many a time by those who underestimate the danger sharks face this very day. This is the meaning of "evasion". The failure to accept that the human race was wrong and still is. Not only that, but it is the failure to make action towards helping this necessary cause, and the failure to want to as well.

  All said, it is true that many people and governments are slowly making amends to humanities errors: Barrack Obama, President of the United States of America recently ordered the protection of 490,000 square miles of ocean between Hawaii and American Samoa. This protects the vast area from fishing and extraction of sea minerals. Due to its location, this marine reserve, originally pioneered by President George Bush in 2009, will protect hundred of thousands, if not millions of sharks, spanning multitudes of species.

  This admirable memorandum is a step along the path to save sharks. A small step, it is true, on a long path which will force its walkers to climb a great many mountains, but then, the late Neil Armstrong's motivational words as he became the first human ever to step on the moon:

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

  It was but a small step. But it triggered dozens more successful moon landings and has inspired people to this day. The one small step made by Barrack Obama could also trigger inspiration of such a fashion, and if it does, a bright, glistening future for sharks could be well within humanity's reach.

  If every person in the world could make an effort, no matter how small, human kind could soon fix what it has broken over centuries of abusing the oceans and, moreover, the sharks within them.

SHARKFEST 2014

  Happy birthday SHARK NEWS!! The SHARKFEST 2014 celebrations are underway and every day there will be new posts on the SHARKFEST Celebrations page. Scroll to the bottom of the page to join in with the celebrations!!

The Bronze Whaler Shark

  The bronze whaler shark is found throughout the Mediterranean Sea and also around Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Often going by the name of copper sharks or narrowtooth sharks, bronze whalers can grow up to three metres long. There have been many attempts to enclose bronze whalers in aquariums for public viewing. However, specimens of the genus do not adapt well to captivity and have been known to swim repetitively into the glass walls of their tank, damaging both the glass and themselves. It is also common for them to develop fatal infections from other creatures enclosed alongside them.
  Unlike many sharks, bronze whalers commonly form schools of up to and even above a hundred specimens. It is suspected that the reason for their doing so is that they are often preyed upon by larger sharks such as great white, tiger and bull sharks.

The range of the bronze whaler shark. In dark blue
is the confirmed range, in light blue, the suspected
range.

  Bronze whalers generally feed on fish such as tuna and also prey upon octopi and squid, as the majority of requiem sharks do. In addition, they have been known to consume stingrays and dogfish. Bronze whalers are often observed participating in the Sardine Run around South Africa.
  It is unknown how threatened bronze whaler sharks are by fishing, although they are a popular target of illegal finners. Several conservation projects are now underway in order to protect bronze whalers and other threatened species, despite the fact that bronze whaler numbers are uncertain.
  Attacks on humans by bronze whaler sharks are surprisingly more common than other sharks, although still infrequent. It is, perhaps, to be expected as divers commonly observe these sharks in coastal waters worldwide. In addition, those who dare to observe the Sardine Run from close quarters are often bitten accidentally if a feeding frenzy starts. However, some believe that bronze whalers are also the perpetrators of numerous unprovoked attacks and it is possible that they could soon be amongst the top ten most dangerous sharks to humans, based on recent averages. One explanation for this could be that people have mistaken them for other sharks, as they look very alike several other large species. It is also thought that there may have been several unconfirmed attacks following shipwrecks and aeroplane crashes in the ocean where survivors have been forced to remain in the water for indefinite periods.

A bronze whaler shark swimming nearby a school of
mackerel.

The Cookiecutter Shark

  The cookiecutter shark is a small shark which inhabits deep waters. It can grow up to fifty centimetres in length and spends the day at depths of up to 3,570 metres below the surface. They rise to the surface at night, where they hunt their prey. It is rather hard to imagine what prey a minuscule shark such as this could hope to catch at the surface of the open ocean. Most Sunlight zone creatures are larger animals than those of the Twilight and Trench zones. The few small fish species there are do not often stray into the open ocean. However, the cookiecutter shark has developed a hunting technique so sophisticated, it is hard to believe it is true.
  The cookiecutter shark has an unusually rounded jaw for a shark. The reason for this is its hunting technique. Using its bioluminescent body, the cookiecutter shark attracts other sea creatures to it. These creatures are, more often than not, dolphins, sailfish and whales. As the animal passes by, the diminutive shark uses its jaw to latch on. it then swims in a circle until it tears away a cookie-sized piece of its victims tissue. Hence the name, cookiecutter.
  Due to the fact they only come into humanly accessible waters at night, cookiecutters are rarely encountered by people. However, using cameras, they have been monitored by biologists, which is how we first learnt of their feeding method. Cookiecutter attacks on people are extremely uncommon, both for the reason above and the fact that humans have less blubber than dolphins and other creatures they prey on.
 

A cookiecutter shark examining a diver's camera.

The range of the cookiecutter shark.

The unusually rounded jaw of a cookiecutter shark.

A cookiecutter shark bite on a yellowfin tuna.