Terrifying? Yes. Absolutely necessary? Also yes. Photo: The Independent
By now you’re probably sick of hearing about sharks. After Mick Fanning’s highly publicized encounter with a great white at J-Bay last month, sharks have become public enemy number one, usurping the likes of Bill Cosby and Donald Trump. It’s like the Salem Witch Trials out there. Humanity has once again illogically fallen into mass hysteria, mob mentality and fear mongering to persecute a faction. But instead of poor Puritan women, it’s man’s eternal enemy of the deep. The widespread panic has reached a fever pitch, leading people like Laura Banks of The Daily Telegraph to believe that sharks should be culled, which is a Dumb Idea.
But mankind’s obsessive fear of sharks and the continued efforts to rid our waters of them is a mindless rally cry towards our collective demise. Like an integral element of any ecosystem, sharks play their part. The animal kingdom is a balanced system of predator and prey – when one vanishes, the entire thing gets disrupted. And with sharks being one of the longest-living animals on the earth, their presence is key for maintaining the ocean and life on land as we know it.
In many places, shark populations have already drastically diminished, due to over fishing in an effort to feed China’s high demand for shark fin soup. Journalist Juliet Eilperin has documented the extensive deterioration of sharks in her 2011 book Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks, which admittedly sounds like a nightmare-inducing horror story for any surfer or swimmer. Eilperin reports that between 1970 and 2005, the tiger shark population in the Atlantic declined 97% while bulls, dusky and smooth hammerheads have dropped more than 99%. The result was overpopulation of the shark’s prey including stingrays, which are no fun to get stung by – especially when their numbers are on the rise. “They became the thugs of the ocean,” Eilperin writes about the cownose rays, “rampaging and pillaging in their quest to sustain their ever-rising numbers.” And like the stingrays, there have been “jellyfish explosions” – two words when paired together conjure up haunting imagery.
In terms of great white sharks, the population estimates are harder to pin down. Unlike most fish, great whites have evolved to live in most of the world’s oceans, with sightings spanning from South Africa to North America, the South Pacific to Europe. Because of their vast habitat capabilities, it’s nearly impossible to get an accurate number on just how many great whites there are and if their population is increasing or decreasing. Certain studies suggested a recent increase in sightings of great whites but at the same time, the study was criticized because perhaps it was due to more people looking due to shark attack paranoia. Another study conducted by reputable shark researchers found that the great white population off California had increased. But still, because of their widespread living quarters, great white populations have also been found to be falling, like in a study conducted by Shark Watch South Africa, looking at the population off of Gansbaai, SA.
If great white populations are slowly dwindling away, the consequences are relatable to what happened with the wolves of Yellowstone National Park. By 1926, the gray wolf, which was an essential part of the region’s ecosystem, had been killed off by hunters. The result of the wolf’s departure was a trickle-down restructuring of the entire landscape. Initially the elk population, the primary prey of the wolves, began to flourish. As a result, the overabundance of elk caused overgrazing and thus a decline in trees and plants like aspens. That, in turn, forced the bird populations to suffer due to less places to make nests. It was like an environmental domino effect – when one species fell, the rest tumbled with it. But when the wolves were reintroduced in 1995, the elk population decreased, the aspens increased and the entire ecosystem headed back towards homeostatic harmony.
As an apex predator, sharks don’t have any other species coming after them in the natural world. They’re like the Superman of the sea; but if they did have a kryptonite, it would be humans. Ever since Jaws, man has demonized the fish and situated them as our sharp-toothed adversaries from beneath. But sharks were here long before us. In their 450 million years of existence, they’ve been an integral element in maintaining a balanced ecosystem. While mankind – in existence for only 5 million years – has undeniably led the charge towards an environmental collapse, particularly post-industrial revolution. So for once, it would be in our best interest to look at the big picture, not just our petty, self-centric fears, and embrace sharks as the necessary creatures they are.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m as afraid of sharks as the next guy. When I see a dark patch of seaweed while I’m surfing, my stomach drops and my primordial survival instincts take hold. But that’s something I’m willing to live with – the infinitesimal likelihood of an attack, coupled with the absolute necessity of sharks, outweigh the alternative of an environmental meltdown. Sharks are a necessary evil, like cops – we may not always like them, but we need them. And plus, how scary does swimming with an “explosion of jellyfish” or “rampaging and pillaging” stingrays sound? I’ll take the sharks over that any day.
