Scientists believe that there could be over 400 species of sharks, and that they are older

than dinosaurs appearing over 450 million years ago, yet they are on the edge of extinction. Imagine
catching a shark and cutting off its fin. The shark you have caught is no longer able to swim. At this
point, you put the finless shark back into the ocean. Since the shark is no longer able to swim, it will
just sink into the ocean until it reaches the bottom. The shark soon suffocates. Believe it or not, this
is actually what is happening to tens of millions of sharks around the world. Sharks also die to
overfishing in which people fish too much and sharks run out of food to eat. Sharks are safe aquatic
creatures and must be saved because they are not dangerous, they are going extinct, and they are
important to the ocean.

One reason sharks must be saved is because they are going extinct. As a matter of fact,
estimations believe that 100 out of 470 are in imminent danger to severe danger. Discovery claims
that 87 countries export shark fins to Hong Kong alone in their Shark Week Infographic “Status of
the Shark” The great white shark is classified as ​Vulnerable​ by the IUCM, which stands for the
International Union for the Conservation for Nature, an organization which classifies animals’
statuses. This shows that sharks could be going extinct too soon, but are they worth saving? After
all, they are scary beasts. That is not the case, however. This propaganda is spread by mainly
media and movies, such as ​Jaws ​and happens to be untrue in most cases.

Another reason sharks must not die out is because they are important to the entire ocean
ecosystem. If sharks disappear entirely, the animals sharks would eat would prosper. That might
sound amazing, but for the animals those animals eat, it would mean very bad news. They would
disappear too fast, and they wouldn’t be able to reproduce fast enough, so they would disappear.
The animals that usually get eaten by sharks would then starve and die out. This means sharks are
important to the ocean ecosystem and their food chains.

One last reason sharks must be saved is that they are not actually that dangerous. Only less
than 5 people die on average due to shark attacks. Only 12-20 species of sharks are considered
dangerous to humans out of around 470. To prove that sharks are not that dangerous, you can look
at the biggest shark species on Earth; the whale shark. The whale shark can range from 18-33 feet.
Despite this shark’s length, it means no harm. It’s teeths’ length is usually less than half a grain of
rice, and are not sharp at all. As a matter of fact, it only eats things like plankton. This shows that
sharks are not actually dangerous to humans.

As a result of overfishing and other shark killing practices, sharks are going extinct. They are
safe aquatic creatures on the brink of extinction, and it would be ​anything but good​ if sharks were
to truly die out. The whole entire ocean ecosystem could collapse, and there wouldn’t be a point to
push sharks to extinction either. Many shark species are dying out. Even the most vicious of shark
species such as great whites and tiger sharks are dealing with the issue. Imagine an alternate world
in which humans are dying out in great numbers like sharks are in this one. We need to save sharks
now.