Imagine you’re in a tank, surrounded by giant, deadly sharks. They circle around you in a slow whirl-pool of fins and razor-sharp teeth. Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? 

But the real story behind sharks is one of a victim. That story most likely begins in June of 1975, when Jaws became a summer blockbuster film about the hunt for a great white shark of extraordinary proportions on Amity Island. The movie portrays sharks as bloodthirsty monsters set on killing humans, however, the reality of shark ‘attacks’ is not that simple. 

Recent studies have shown that sharks, especially great white sharks, often mistake humans in the water for seals and sea lions. The sharks have difficulty telling apart the shapes of humans and seals from below. Unless they are very hungry, they will take a bite of a human, have a taste and decide they don’t want to keep eating what is now clearly not a seal. Most people have a fear of shark attacks, however, according to National Geographic, you are more likely to be killed by a vending machine, or domestic pigs than by a shark.

The demonizing of sharks has fatal consequences on sharks in the wild and about 300 species are classified as vulnerable or endangered on the IUCN Red List. Sharks are endangered for many reasons, but the main ones are the overfishing, damage to reefs, and shark finning; shark finning being perhaps the most gruesome of the human activities. Shark finning is when fishers catch sharks, saw off all their fins to be sold and used in delicacy dishes, and often toss the de-finned shark back into the water to rot. 

While the massacring of sharks is sad to begin with, it also has a huge impact on the world, since sharks are a vital part of the ocean ecosystem. They have been identified as a keystone species, which is a species that is essential to its ecosystem, or even the health of habitats worldwide. Sharks keep populations of fish under control, which keeps the biodiversity of ocean ecosystems rich. Without sharks, fish would overpopulate ocean habitats and reefs would fall into disrepair. 

Sharks are so important to the health of the oceans, which makes the rapid decline of shark populations even more worrying. Thankfully, there are many organizations all over the world that are working to help against the rapid decline of shark populations. Some organizations include the Shark Conservation Fund, Shark Allies and Shark Trust. 

While the importance of sharks has been ignored for decades, and society has accepted and often encouraged the unjust killing of sharks, actions like these cannot be ignored any longer. Sharks need to be saved, because without them, our oceans will die.