Millions of sharks are being slaughtered every year to meet the demand for shark fins and shark meat. About 11,000 sharks per hour, 250,000 sharks per week, 70–90 million sharks per year are killed by humans either through targeted fishing for fins, meat, and other products or through bycatch of other fisheries.
Sharks are therefore quite vulnerable to overfishing, being removed from the ocean faster than they can reproduce. In addition to being harvested for their fins, sharks are often taken as by-catch in other commercial fisheries, and some are popular targets for recreational fishing.
All the major fishing countries use destructive fishing practices that result in the killing of up to 100 million sharks every year and are in large part responsible for the 70% decline in shark populations globally over the past 50 years.
How many sharks are killed each year? Humans kill an estimated 100 million sharks every year. That's an average of almost 274,000 sharks every day, over 11,000 sharks every hour, and around three sharks every second!
Around 100 million sharks are killed each year worldwide, according to a paper published in Marine Policy in 2013. In the study, researchers calculated that between 6.4 and 7.9 percent of all sharks are killed annually.
It's estimated that between 100 – 150 million sharks are killed each year; primarily for use in shark fin soup. Shark fin soup is a delicacy in some cultures and has increased dramatically in popularity over the past two decades.
More specifically, an estimated 6.4% to 7.9% of all shark species in the world are killed each year. This figure, converted into hours, amounts to 11,416 sharks killed worldwide every hour. What is this?
Is the megalodon still alive? 'No. It's definitely not alive in the deep oceans, despite what the Discovery Channel has said in the past,' notes Emma. 'If an animal as big as megalodon still lived in the oceans we would know about it.'
Without sharks as apex predators, the entire ocean ecosystem could fall out of balance. They not only maintain the species below them in the food chain, but also indirectly maintain seagrass and coral reef habitats.
In fact, they are essential to the survival of marine ecosystems but some are now facing their biggest fight for almost 500 million years – extinction.
In conclusion, the combination of dolphins' intelligence, physical abilities, and social structure, as well as their potential to produce an electrical field, makes them formidable predators in the ocean, and this is why sharks are often so afraid of them.
Dr. Sibert and her collaborators, in an earlier study using the same data set, had also found that sharks declined in abundance by roughly 90 percent about 19 million years ago. “We had a lot of them, and then we had almost none of them,” she said. “Basically the sharks almost completely disappear.”
Australia is one of the only countries in the world to actively kill sharks in an attempt to protect ocean users.
“If there is a lack of sharks, then fish and other ocean creatures that would otherwise be consumed by sharks will become too numerous and eat too many smaller creatures and so on, meaning that the whole ecosystem changes massively.”
As apex predators, sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the species below them in the food chain and serving as an indicator for ocean health. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors helping to ensure species diversity.
But despite being potentially such an easy meal, sharks are really not that interested in hunting humans. “They generally just ignore people.
It is Safe to Swim with Sharks
Even when diving with more aggressive sharks like bull sharks and great white sharks, you will be entirely secure if you go with an experienced, knowledgeable dive team. People swim with sharks every day without incident, so you have nothing to be afraid of if you swim with them.
Phelps' fastest speed in the water is around 6 mph and the top speed recorded by a great white shark is around 25 miles per hour. It's still unclear if the Discovery Channel plans to level the playing field or in this case, the ocean, but we can verify that no, a human cannot outswim a great white shark.
Internet rumors persist that modern-day megalodons exist – that they still swim around in today's oceans. But that's not true. Megalodons are extinct.
Worldwide, the Great White is responsible for about ⅓ to ½ of the 100-plus shark attacks per year making them the number one of their species that do so.
Despite the mass fear surrounding the deadly animals, the chances of being attacked and killed by a shark are one in 3.75 million, according to the International Wildlife Museum. The chances are lower than the possibility of dying by a lightning strike, a firework accident, or a stroke.