Becoming an Endangered Species
While it's a sad moment in shark history, it is an unforgettable one nonetheless. For all the killing sharks do in our imaginations (thanks to movies like Jaws), unprovoked shark attacks are extremely rare, and fatal ones even more so. Indeed, we humans inflict far more damage on sharks than they do us. Each year, fisherman kill as many as 73 million sharks by slicing off their fins — highly valued for shark-fin soup, a popular dish in Asia — and tossing the bloodied carcasses overboard. Tens of millions of other sharks likely die every year accidentally because of fishing gear meant for other species. In total, the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that today as many as a third of all shark species are threatened with extinction, including the great white shark. It's clear that sharks aren't the real killers — we are.