Humans have always seen sharks as a threat, especially since Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie base on Peter Benchley’s novel “Jaws” (1974), which depicts sharks as vicious human-killing monsters.
On average, only 8 people per year die from shark attacks, which is not much in comparison to the approximately 100 million sharks killed by humans every year. Many of these sharks die as undesirable by-catch of the commercial fishing industry. Others fall victim to shark-finning, where the fins are cut off the living animal, and the rest of its body is thrown back into the ocean, left to die a cruel death. Sadly, shark fins are one of the most desired and expensive seafood products.
The killing of sharks has been going on to such an extent, that many shark species are near extinction, and the marine ecosystem is threatened by the disappearance of this apex predator that is at the top of the food chain and helps balance the marine ecosystem. Sharks have inhabited this planet for over 400 million years and belong to the oldest species known to man.
