Station #1

Fishing leads to significant shark

population declines, researchers say

Posted by JoAnn Adkins × 03/01/2013 at 12:19 pm

The world’s shark population is experiencing significant decline with perhaps 100 million or more sharks
being lost every year, according to a study published this week in Marine Policy. While sharks are one of
the oldest vertebrate groups on the planet, the population decline is causing concern across the world.

“This is a big concern because the loss of sharks can affect the wider ecosystem,” said Mike Heithaus,
executive director of FIU’s School of Environment, Arts and Society and co-author of the paper. “In
working with tiger sharks, we’ve seen that if we don’t have enough of these predators around, it causes
cascading changes in the ecosystem, that trickle all the way down to marine plants.”

Such changes can harm other species, and may negatively affect
other populations of fish that humans rely on for food. Based on
data collected for the latest study, shark deaths were estimated at
100 million in 2000 and 97 million in 2010.

The biggest culprit in the significant population decline is a

combination of a global boom in shark fishing — usually for their
valuable fins — and the relatively slow growth and reproductive
rates of sharks.

“Sharks are similar to whales, and humans, in that they mature late in life and have few offspring’ said
Boris Worm, lead author and professor of biology at Dalhousie. “As such, they cannot sustain much
additional mortality. Our analysis shows that about one in 15 sharks gets killed by fisheries every year.
With an increasing demand for their fins, sharks are more vulnerable today than ever before.”

While some sharks are receiving protection through national and international agreements, the team of
researchers suggests that laws should be passed in order to protect shark species. In addition, countries
should impose a tax on imports and exports of shark fins in order to discourage people from selling them.
Finally, placing limits on the number of sharks that can be caught as well as designing protected areas
where fishing is not allowed, can help the shark population survive.

The key message in this research is sustainability. Because of the important role sharks play in marine
ecosystems, the researchers insist that we must increase protective measures in order to prevent
possible extinction of some of these top predators.
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Coral Reef Decline with the Loss of Sharks

Sharks play an important role maintaining the health
of the ecosystem, including habitats such as coral
reefs and seagrass beds. Studies show that healthy
coral reef habitats are associated with the presence
of sharks. In the Pacific, scientists compared the
conditions of coral reefs in relatively pristine, less
populated areas with reefs that were heavily
impacted by human activities, such as overfishing and
habitat destruction. In the pristine locations,
scientists found more stable, healthy coral reef
ecosystems with a high amount of sea life. These
healthy reefs had more sharks and other large predators. In areas dominated by
human activity where sharks have been overfished, fewer corals were seen.

Some studies in the Caribbean have found that as sharks decline, populations of
their prey, like groupers may increase. Herbivorous fish, like parrotfish, are then
eaten in larger numbers by the groupers. Many corals depend on these
herbivorous fish to eat algae and allow new corals the opportunity to settle and
grow. As populations of these fish declined, they were no longer able to keep
algae growth in check, and coral organisms had trouble growing on the reef.

As a result, the reef shifted to an algae-dominated ecosystem, which was less

diverse than healthy coral reefs. These important studies show sharks significantly
impact coral reefs.
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Great White Shark

Carcharodon carcharias
Few creatures strike more fear in humans than the great white shark. In
reality, great white shark attacks on humans are rare – and it is even
rarer for one of these attacks to be fatal. However, the size of the great
white shark and its efficiency as a predator add to the perpetuation of this unnecessary fear.
The great white shark averages 4.5 m (15 ft.) in length, but some have been recorded as large as 6 m (20 ft.) long!
They generally weigh up to 2250 kg (5000 lb.).

Great white sharks are blue-gray on the dorsal, or top, part of their bodies. This helps them blend in with the bottom
of the ocean when viewed from above. The belly, or ventral, part of the body, is white. This makes it difficult to see
the sharks from below, with sunlight shining in around them. They have strong, torpedo-shaped bodies and powerful
tails that help them swim. Great whites can reach speeds up to 24 km/hr (15 mph).

Great whites use their speed and coloring to help them hunt. They search for prey at the surface of the ocean while
swimming below. Once they spot a target, they use a burst of speed to bump their prey while simultaneously biting
it. They have several rows of teeth that can number into the thousands. As teeth fall out, they are rapidly replaced by
those in the row behind them. These sharp, serrated teeth can be devastating. A single, large bite can be fatal.

When great white sharks are young, they feed on smaller prey, like fish and rays. As they grow larger, they feed more
exclusively on marine mammals, such as sea lions, seals and small whales.

The great white is at the top of the food chain and has few threats in the ocean. Only orcas and larger sharks can
pose a risk. The only other risk to the great white shark is human interaction. They are sometimes caught by accident
in fishing nets or intentionally sought out by sport fisherman. Their jaws and fins are sold for considerable amounts of
money.

Not much is known about the mating habits of great white sharks. What is known is that after mating the female
develops several eggs which hatch in her womb. The newly-hatched shark pups feed on unfertilized eggs in the womb
as they develop before being born. In general, the mother gives birth to a litter of two to ten pups, each of which
average 1.5 m (5 ft.) in length. Male great whites reach maturity at 9-10 years of age. Females mature even later,
between 14 and 16 years of age. Female sharks are thought to give birth once every couple years, but even that is
uncertain.

Great whites spend their time in temperate waters all over the world, although they have been known to make brief
trips into colder water in the north. They live in the upper part of the ocean, towards the surface, and close to the
shore, where sunlight shines through and prey is available.

Great White Shark Distribution (see dark

areas on map) -----------------------------
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 Name ___________________________________Per____

Shark Station Worksheet

Station #1
1. What is causing sharks to decline?

2. Scientists classify organisms as either r-selected or K-selected species. R-selected species (mice, rabbits, frogs)
reproduce quickly and have lots of offspring. K-selected species (humans, elephants, lions) reproduce slowly and
only have a few offspring. Which type of species (r-selected or K-selected) would you guess sharks are classified as?

3. If you had a sample of 15 sharks, how many would you expect to get killed by fisheries each year?

4. How can we prevent shark overfishing?

Station #2
5. Which city has the most shark fin species in its soup? ______________________________________

6. Which shark species is found most often in shark fin soup? __________________________________

7. Why do you think scientists chose to use DNA to identify the shark fins in this study?

8. Name two species of shark on the chart that are closely related (Hint: look at their names)

Station #3
9. What did scientists find in areas that had been influenced by humans?

10. What did scientists find in pristine locations with healthy coral reefs?

11. How does the shark population influence herbivorous fish?

12. As shark populations decline, what happens to the algae? Why does this happen?
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13. Look at the y-axis on the graphs. It is labelled “relative abundance”. What does the word abundance mean? (Look
it up if you need to)

14. What happened to the abundance of sharks from 1970 to 2005? ______________________________________

a. Why do you think this is?

15. What happened to the abundance of rays from 1970 to 2005? ________________________________________

a. Why do you think this is? (Hint: think about food chains)

16. What happened to the abundance of mollusks (shells) from 1970 to 2005? __________________________________

a. Why do you think this is? (Hint: Think about food chains)

17. Draw a food chain for these three animals. A food chain links the animals together according to how they eat each
other. For example, a food chain with a cricket, a mouse, and a snake would look like this:
Cricket  Mouse  Snake

18. Which organism (mollusk, ray, or shark) would you consider to be a keystone species? ______________________

Station #5
19. It is estimated that humans kill ______________________ sharks per year.
20. At this rate, sharks will be extinct in _____________________ years.
21. Shark teeth grow in __________ like a conveyor belt.
22. Over ______________ tons of shark fins are processed each year.

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23. Describe at least three different aspects of the Great White Shark’s niche using the information provided on the
sheet: