Are Humans Shark Preys - Essay Example

The word ‘shark’ would intimidate several people as they are familiar with the notorious characteristics of this species depicted in Hollywood movies. However, the emerging trend of wildlife tourism has promoted the significance of sharks, especially in the Western world. Although Sharks are found greatly advantageous to mankind, unfortunately, their features such as skin, meat, fins, and the oil found in the liver have become the key reasons for their hunt. Sharks are also being killed during normal fishing processes other than direct human encounters. They are caught either by the nets specifically designed for their hunt or sometimes harmed by the nets used for normal fishing. “More than 58000 blue sharks were killed accidentally when 32 fishing boats embarked on an excursion to capture squid in Japan in the late 1980s” (Killing of Sharks, n.d.).

The very valuable shark fin soup is generated by extracting the fins of sharks when alive, and they are left to gradual death by dumping into the water. The increasing demand for shark fin soup has led to the mounting level of shark hunts in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. According to WildAid director Peter Knights, fishermen in all countries experience a decline of sharks in number and in size (Shark fin soup).

Human-shark encounter has become one of important subjects for several movies across the world. Unfortunately, many of these films have depicted humans as shark prey. For instance, the Hollywood movie “Deep Blue Sea” is a fulltime thriller based on shark-human encounters. Obviously, films of such sort have a negative impact on the human approach to sharks. Some of the books like “Shocking shark stories” which describe human encounters with sharks have well influence on intimidating people that eventually compel them to hate this species. Some of the movies and other media have even been successful in creating the myth of sharks being man consumers. This misconception also has intensified the shark hunt.

As Dobson (p. 51) states, the term ‘shark attack’ is an ‘anthropocentric interpretation’; and many apparent attacks are mere ‘mistaken identity’ as sharks normally test bite objects to verify if they are edible. According to the authors, this characteristic has been exaggerated as sharks’ unkind behavioral traits. Scientists believe that Sharks lived during the time of dinosaurs and have survived to the present time. Although researchers are deeply at odds, sharks have been found in 416 species so far.

In short, the alarming rate of hunting has taken sharks to the verge of extinction. Governmental initiatives with regard to the preservation of these species are inadequate so far. Although several environmental concerns have been active across the globe, collaborative effort is lacking to address this issue with enough importance. In the same way, all experimental studies on sharks have to be well-regulated so that any deliberate or inadvertent human encounter can be averted. People who are genuinely concerned about the survival of this species should boycott all shark products to ensure their conservation.