Speaker 1: Welcome to brain staff from house stuff works dot com
Speaker 1: where smart happens. Next week is Shark Week on the
Speaker 1: Discovery Channel. So today's question is both well timed and depressing.
Speaker 1: The question is how long before sharks start going extinct?
Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine sharks ever going extinct. Sharks have
Speaker 1: been roaming the oceans for millions and millions of years. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: human beings are putting so much pressure on sharks from
Speaker 1: so many different angles that many species are already endangered.
Speaker 1: What kind of human threats do sharks face? Let us
Speaker 1: count the ways. First, there are habitat problems. Human activities
Speaker 1: impact every part of the ocean. Carbon dioxide in the
Speaker 1: atmosphere is increasing the acidity of the ocean. Urban runoff,
Speaker 1: farm runoff, salt runoff and sewage all change ocean chemistry
Speaker 1: and water quality. An article in the Times of London
Speaker 1: indicates that the Great Barrier reef will be gone in
Speaker 1: twenty years because of ocean warming. According to one scientist,
Speaker 1: there's nothing we can do at this point to stop it.
Speaker 1: With all the reefs gone, sharks take a huge hit.
Speaker 1: Then there's the loss of fish because of everything from
Speaker 1: over fishing to water quality problems. It's thought that the
Speaker 1: oceans will run out of fish over the next several decades.
Speaker 1: With nothing to eat, many shark species will perish with them.
Speaker 1: Then there is direct fishing pressure on sharks. One article
Speaker 1: I read this week mentioned that a hundred million sharks
Speaker 1: are killed each year for their fins alone. That is,
Speaker 1: the shark is caught, the fins removed, and then the
Speaker 1: still living but helpless animal is thrown back in the
Speaker 1: ocean to die. If you think back to the buffalo
Speaker 1: that once roamed the American plains by the millions, you
Speaker 1: see a direct correlation. The buffalo were hunted to extinction
Speaker 1: in just a few decades. Sharks will follow that same path.
Speaker 1: If we don't do something, it seems like an impossible problem,
Speaker 1: and some parts of it are impossible for us to
Speaker 1: solve as individuals. But if you have any desire to
Speaker 1: help sharks and other marine animals, there are two things
Speaker 1: that you, as a single person can do. First, you
Speaker 1: can stop eating seafood, all seafood, and encourage your friends
Speaker 1: and neighbors to do the same. Get evangelistic about it.
Speaker 1: If enough people stopped eating things like tuna, flounders, salmons,
Speaker 1: scallops and swordfish. There would be far more fish in
Speaker 1: the ocean. Plus it will cut back on the sharks
Speaker 1: killed by fishermen looking for other species. The second thing
Speaker 1: you can do is to put persistent pressure on local
Speaker 1: and national governments to stop ocean pollution and to end
Speaker 1: carbon emissions. The fact that we will lose the Great
Speaker 1: Barrier Reef should be a wake up call for all
Speaker 1: of us. That is an immense tragedy and something that
Speaker 1: should shake us to our core. Help your government see
Speaker 1: that this kind of abuse must end quickly. Shark Week
Speaker 1: is August two through eight on Discovery Channel. See Shark
Speaker 1: week dot com for details. For more on this and
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, because it how staff works dot
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