Image courtesy of National Geographic
For those of you who didn't know, its Shark Week, the annual event where the Discovery Channel airs all programs related to these top predators. You have until Sunday night to get your shark fix in!
Shark Week also brings up another topic: the near extinction of these magnificent creatures.
As predators at or near the top of marine food webs, sharks have helped maintain the balance of marine life in our oceans for the past 400 million years. Research shows that the massive depletion of sharks has cascading effects throughout our oceans. Fins from up to 73 million sharks are used every year for shark fin soup, resulting in the collapse of many shark populations worldwide. An estimated 1/3 of open-ocean shark species are currently threatened with extinction, with certain populations experiencing a 99% population decline. - WildAid
Save from killing an elephant just for their tusks, there seems to be nothing more wasteful than shark finning. WildAid, and other organizations, have made it their top priority to make people more aware of the dangers of this awful practice. You can read more about what they're doing by following this link. OMUNKY donates 5% of its profits to help stop horrible practices such as shark finning. But, we need your help! Sign WildAid's Shark Pledge, and lets end this horrible practice.
The bottom line is Shark Fin Soup is bad for you, it doesn't taste good, it's bad for sharks, and its bad for our oceans. So stop eating it! I've actually never met anyone on this side of the world that has eaten this "delicacy". But still! No!