Are We on a Race with Extinction? Study Case: Shark and Ocean Ecosystem
In 2017, a group of researchers from The University of Western Australia (News UWA, 2017), completed a four month research of shark - coral reef ecosystem within the marine ecosystem. The result was surprising, as it turns out shark plays an important role in sustaining and regulating the ocean health. A group consists of researchers from school of Biological Science UWA, and the UWA Ocean Institute performed a video-based observation using a bunch of baited video camera to monitor the behaviour of this pack of "wolf of the ocean ". The research was performed by collecting the biological data from over 600 fish from more than 60 species. According to the programme leader, Professor Jessica Meeuwig, the increasing pressure of climate change, bleaching and overfishing to coral reef ecosystem and marine life has urged the importance of assessing the role of shark to reef resilience. Massive numbers of tools and equipment including 63 kilometres of rope, 12 tonnes worth of camera rigs and total of 29 terabytes of video imagery results from more than 1000 sampling stations were used to support this research.
So with the enormous efforts of time, gears, researchers, funds and resources, to all who is presumably uncommon to marine and environmental science some question might come up. "Does the creature really worth that high? What's the loss to our environment and why can't we just leave them defend themselves? they're a fierce fighter after all"
Unfortunately, the image of this predator mostly comes from a movie screen. Embedding the images of fierceness and brutality to sharks which shamefully, not entirely right. Let us dig in to some of the truthful facts to straighten the perspective towards this commonly misunderstood and widely feared animal.
Shark's Crucial Role in Ocean Ecosystem
Despite the popular belief of shark's viciousness, this animal actually plays an important role for the health of the ocean. Nicole Couto (2016), The University of Rhodes Island graduate, an ocean scientist and a writer for oceanbites.org explained in her article titled How Badly Coral Reef and Sharks Need Each Other that sharks play an important role of apex predator in ocean ecosystem, particularly coral reef ecosystem. Species like hammerhead, tiger and bull sharks are apex predator and they have no natural predator of their own. They are on the top of the food web in the ecosystem. They are transient predators, they travel over hundred of kilometres, stopping at its natural feeding ground, the coral reefs. Its looming and distinctive presence is intimidating and means death for small fish which are its natural prey. Sharks are top dominant predators, but has anyone ever thought what would actually happen if these sharks never actually "fulfil" its duty as apex predator?
The loss of apex predator, as written in one of Coral Reef Alliance (2017) article: Coral Works to Protect Sharks, could potentially upsets the natural food web and changes the composition of the coral reef community. As mentioned before, apex predator preys for smaller fish. These smaller fish are well known as mesopredator. In ocean habitats where sharks occupy, these mesopredators also responsible for the existence of herbivore fish which consume marine's algae. The sinking numbers of top predator like sharks will result in the growing number of mesopredator, and this growing number of mesopredator will be responsible of the depleting number of crucial herbivore fish which consume marine's algae. In the end of the chain, marine's algae will outgrow the coral reef, and in the world of marine science, the blooming event of marine algae will suffocate coral reef and often leads to toxic waters.
The visualisation above gives the big picture of how apex predator sustains the health of ocean ecosystem, particularly coral reef. Apex predator helps to regulate the ocean's health by maintaining the balance of the whole ecosystem. Studies have shown that coral reef ecosystem with great numbers tend to have higher diversity and bigger density of individual species.
Fisheries Practise Toward Sharks Population
Indonesia's young conservationist who is currently serving with Indonesian Manta Project, Rafid Shidqi (2017), wrote an article of how shark is striving to face horrendous threat of fishing and finning in Indonesia, particularly Raja Ampat, West Papua: Shark Conservation in Indonesia: A Brief Perspective on Local Shark Protection in Raja Ampat MPA Network, West Papua. Indonesia sea is a home to approximately 118 species of shark due to its place at the heart of coral reef triangle region. However, these species are targets to fisheries practise of various scale, from small-scale fishers to big commercial trawlers. Over 10 year of period, population of shark in Indonesia is relentlessly down to more than 90%. Numerous of attempts and efforts have been performed to minimise the practise of shark fishing and finning, if stopping it is still far from possible. Regional and national regulations and rules have to be established to keep sharks from getting slaughtered for commercial purpose. In Indonesia, so far it's only whale shark has been brought under the legal protection, which means selling any part of its body is strictly prohibited. Other species of shark though, has yet to receive any legal protection despite the fact that their body part is continuously targeted as commercial fishing practise. Sembiring et al (2014), performed a DNA bar-coding research of caught shark fin to determine the target species of shark fisheries practice in Indonesia The result showed that 40 different species of shark were targeted as commercial fisheries practise with 5 of them (silky, scalloped hammer head, blue, big eyes tresher and tresher sharks) represent more than 50 % of the total samples. The majority of samples were listed as "endangered" which reached the staggering 92%.
From my point of view, perhaps the lack of regulation for the rest of shark species could be due to the tempting price of shark's body part in market. However, the absence of accurate and precise data of shark's population stock within the ocean in the world and in Indonesia in particular makes it a bit difficult to determine the actual status of this beast. Although, it is predicted that approximately 30% of shark species are threatened or nearly threatened with extinction, the status of the rest remains unclear due to insufficient data.
Unspoken Truth of Consuming Shark Fins and Meats
The spiking price for shark's meat in markets is tightly affiliated with the high demands. Despite the popular belief in many communities of using shark's fin and meat for health reason, consuming shark's fins and meat could actually trigger a terrible risk for human's body. Neil Hammerschlag (2016), of University of Miamy explained about how consuming shark's fins and meat could actually pose risks for both shark's and human's life: How and Why Consuming Sharks Fins & Meat Can Put Both Humans and Sharks at Risk. Fins and muscle tissue were collected from 10 species of shark to determine whether or not toxic materials are found within the samples. Study detected that concentrations of mercury and Beta-Methylamino-L-Alanin (BMAA) were detected in ten out of ten shark's fin and muscle which was used as research sample. In ocean environment, BMAA is produced by cyanobacteria or blue green algae and current study have linked BMAA for the cause of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer, dementia or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Mercury elements enter the ocean through atmospheric disposition, primarily due to human activity like coal fire burning, while BMAA concentration in the ocean is significantly increasing due to the changes in climate and human activity which affect the coastal waters such as nutrient pollution. Together, these element are "a perfect combination" and high likely pose a synergistic toxic impact to human body. Imagine consuming shark's meat that contains these two in daily basis, thanks to misconception of shark's meat. Research reports conducted at the Seafood Inspection Laboratory in Bali as reported by Eco-Business.org (2017), revealed that Bull shark meat tested on January, 2017 contained 2.431 ppm of mercury. Consuming mercury-contained meat won't do instant harm to our health, in case you wonder. However, the long term risk to our health is real. Similar to smoking cigarettes, health risk depends on repeated exposure, toxin levels and as well as baseline health and genetic predisposition of the consumer. After all, bunch of more obvious protein sources are available pretty much everywhere. so, why break the bylaw and risk our life?
Sustainable Commercial Benefit from Shark
All the talks, this leaves us to the benefit we could draw from shark without actually harming them.. or us. If we could utilise this shark resources for a wiser purpose, the beast could actually worth more in its natural habitat than on the plate wrote Eco-Business.org (2013). In recent years, Palau, The Maldives, Honduras, Tokelau, The Bahamas, The Marshall Islands, The Cook Islands, French Polynesia and New Caledonia have created sanctuaries by banning shark fisheries for commercial purpose. From establishing this shark tourism, $340 million is expected to be earned and the total projection is hoped to surpass $780 million over the next 20 years. This example is a good trail to be followed by other countries that sharks does not only worth upon dining tables. Utilising the resources for much wiser and more sustainable purpose will earn us a continuous income. This way, it is actually a possible win-win solution in terms of bargaining with stakeholders. Fishermen, most of them are money-oriented and offering a well earned alternative income, wrapped with good understanding and education stand as a good chance and good bargain to reduce the high numbers of shark fisheries in recent years. When it comes to a mouth-watering amount of money, the stakeholders will positively be tempted. That what brings them to the business at the first place anyway.
After all.. the title of this writing is quite literal expression. We are literally on a race with extinction. Many of species out there are in actual threat of extinction, probably more than we know and this shark issue is just mere handful of examples. It's a tip of the iceberg. We might still far away from from completely stopping it and an extinction has its own natural selection and probably inevitable but still, as not the only living creature to in this planet we have responsibilities upon our shoulders to make it last longer.
In the end, a quote sparks in my head, can hardly tell who wrote it cause the author is unknown but the content makes perfect sense. It says:
So with the enormous efforts of time, gears, researchers, funds and resources, to all who is presumably uncommon to marine and environmental science some question might come up. "Does the creature really worth that high? What's the loss to our environment and why can't we just leave them defend themselves? they're a fierce fighter after all"
 |
| Pack of Oceanic Shark |
Unfortunately, the image of this predator mostly comes from a movie screen. Embedding the images of fierceness and brutality to sharks which shamefully, not entirely right. Let us dig in to some of the truthful facts to straighten the perspective towards this commonly misunderstood and widely feared animal.
Shark's Crucial Role in Ocean Ecosystem
Despite the popular belief of shark's viciousness, this animal actually plays an important role for the health of the ocean. Nicole Couto (2016), The University of Rhodes Island graduate, an ocean scientist and a writer for oceanbites.org explained in her article titled How Badly Coral Reef and Sharks Need Each Other that sharks play an important role of apex predator in ocean ecosystem, particularly coral reef ecosystem. Species like hammerhead, tiger and bull sharks are apex predator and they have no natural predator of their own. They are on the top of the food web in the ecosystem. They are transient predators, they travel over hundred of kilometres, stopping at its natural feeding ground, the coral reefs. Its looming and distinctive presence is intimidating and means death for small fish which are its natural prey. Sharks are top dominant predators, but has anyone ever thought what would actually happen if these sharks never actually "fulfil" its duty as apex predator?
The loss of apex predator, as written in one of Coral Reef Alliance (2017) article: Coral Works to Protect Sharks, could potentially upsets the natural food web and changes the composition of the coral reef community. As mentioned before, apex predator preys for smaller fish. These smaller fish are well known as mesopredator. In ocean habitats where sharks occupy, these mesopredators also responsible for the existence of herbivore fish which consume marine's algae. The sinking numbers of top predator like sharks will result in the growing number of mesopredator, and this growing number of mesopredator will be responsible of the depleting number of crucial herbivore fish which consume marine's algae. In the end of the chain, marine's algae will outgrow the coral reef, and in the world of marine science, the blooming event of marine algae will suffocate coral reef and often leads to toxic waters.
 |
| Coral Reef Web Food System (Oceanbites.org) |
The visualisation above gives the big picture of how apex predator sustains the health of ocean ecosystem, particularly coral reef. Apex predator helps to regulate the ocean's health by maintaining the balance of the whole ecosystem. Studies have shown that coral reef ecosystem with great numbers tend to have higher diversity and bigger density of individual species.
Fisheries Practise Toward Sharks Population
Indonesia's young conservationist who is currently serving with Indonesian Manta Project, Rafid Shidqi (2017), wrote an article of how shark is striving to face horrendous threat of fishing and finning in Indonesia, particularly Raja Ampat, West Papua: Shark Conservation in Indonesia: A Brief Perspective on Local Shark Protection in Raja Ampat MPA Network, West Papua. Indonesia sea is a home to approximately 118 species of shark due to its place at the heart of coral reef triangle region. However, these species are targets to fisheries practise of various scale, from small-scale fishers to big commercial trawlers. Over 10 year of period, population of shark in Indonesia is relentlessly down to more than 90%. Numerous of attempts and efforts have been performed to minimise the practise of shark fishing and finning, if stopping it is still far from possible. Regional and national regulations and rules have to be established to keep sharks from getting slaughtered for commercial purpose. In Indonesia, so far it's only whale shark has been brought under the legal protection, which means selling any part of its body is strictly prohibited. Other species of shark though, has yet to receive any legal protection despite the fact that their body part is continuously targeted as commercial fishing practise. Sembiring et al (2014), performed a DNA bar-coding research of caught shark fin to determine the target species of shark fisheries practice in Indonesia The result showed that 40 different species of shark were targeted as commercial fisheries practise with 5 of them (silky, scalloped hammer head, blue, big eyes tresher and tresher sharks) represent more than 50 % of the total samples. The majority of samples were listed as "endangered" which reached the staggering 92%.
From my point of view, perhaps the lack of regulation for the rest of shark species could be due to the tempting price of shark's body part in market. However, the absence of accurate and precise data of shark's population stock within the ocean in the world and in Indonesia in particular makes it a bit difficult to determine the actual status of this beast. Although, it is predicted that approximately 30% of shark species are threatened or nearly threatened with extinction, the status of the rest remains unclear due to insufficient data.
 |
| Shark Fisheries and Finning Practise in Indonesia (Wahyu N. Utami, Brawijaya University) |
 |
| The Result of Caught and Finned Sharks in Indonesia's region (Wahyu N. Utami, Brawijaya University) |
Unspoken Truth of Consuming Shark Fins and Meats
The spiking price for shark's meat in markets is tightly affiliated with the high demands. Despite the popular belief in many communities of using shark's fin and meat for health reason, consuming shark's fins and meat could actually trigger a terrible risk for human's body. Neil Hammerschlag (2016), of University of Miamy explained about how consuming shark's fins and meat could actually pose risks for both shark's and human's life: How and Why Consuming Sharks Fins & Meat Can Put Both Humans and Sharks at Risk. Fins and muscle tissue were collected from 10 species of shark to determine whether or not toxic materials are found within the samples. Study detected that concentrations of mercury and Beta-Methylamino-L-Alanin (BMAA) were detected in ten out of ten shark's fin and muscle which was used as research sample. In ocean environment, BMAA is produced by cyanobacteria or blue green algae and current study have linked BMAA for the cause of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer, dementia or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Mercury elements enter the ocean through atmospheric disposition, primarily due to human activity like coal fire burning, while BMAA concentration in the ocean is significantly increasing due to the changes in climate and human activity which affect the coastal waters such as nutrient pollution. Together, these element are "a perfect combination" and high likely pose a synergistic toxic impact to human body. Imagine consuming shark's meat that contains these two in daily basis, thanks to misconception of shark's meat. Research reports conducted at the Seafood Inspection Laboratory in Bali as reported by Eco-Business.org (2017), revealed that Bull shark meat tested on January, 2017 contained 2.431 ppm of mercury. Consuming mercury-contained meat won't do instant harm to our health, in case you wonder. However, the long term risk to our health is real. Similar to smoking cigarettes, health risk depends on repeated exposure, toxin levels and as well as baseline health and genetic predisposition of the consumer. After all, bunch of more obvious protein sources are available pretty much everywhere. so, why break the bylaw and risk our life?
Sustainable Commercial Benefit from Shark
All the talks, this leaves us to the benefit we could draw from shark without actually harming them.. or us. If we could utilise this shark resources for a wiser purpose, the beast could actually worth more in its natural habitat than on the plate wrote Eco-Business.org (2013). In recent years, Palau, The Maldives, Honduras, Tokelau, The Bahamas, The Marshall Islands, The Cook Islands, French Polynesia and New Caledonia have created sanctuaries by banning shark fisheries for commercial purpose. From establishing this shark tourism, $340 million is expected to be earned and the total projection is hoped to surpass $780 million over the next 20 years. This example is a good trail to be followed by other countries that sharks does not only worth upon dining tables. Utilising the resources for much wiser and more sustainable purpose will earn us a continuous income. This way, it is actually a possible win-win solution in terms of bargaining with stakeholders. Fishermen, most of them are money-oriented and offering a well earned alternative income, wrapped with good understanding and education stand as a good chance and good bargain to reduce the high numbers of shark fisheries in recent years. When it comes to a mouth-watering amount of money, the stakeholders will positively be tempted. That what brings them to the business at the first place anyway.
After all.. the title of this writing is quite literal expression. We are literally on a race with extinction. Many of species out there are in actual threat of extinction, probably more than we know and this shark issue is just mere handful of examples. It's a tip of the iceberg. We might still far away from from completely stopping it and an extinction has its own natural selection and probably inevitable but still, as not the only living creature to in this planet we have responsibilities upon our shoulders to make it last longer.
In the end, a quote sparks in my head, can hardly tell who wrote it cause the author is unknown but the content makes perfect sense. It says:
"This is the most dangerous creature, responsible for millions of death per year and by its side... the Great White Swims peacefully.."
Acknowledgement:
Fellow marine scientists and blog writers, Anthon Andrimida, Wahyu N. Utami, Luh Nyoman Didik and Rafid Shidqi are highly acknowledged for providing sources and collaborating in making this post through ideas and discussion.
References:
- Coral Reef Alliance. 2017. Coral Works to Protect Sharks: http://coral.org/coral-works-to-protect-sharks/
- Couto, Nicole. 2017. How Badly Do Coral Reefs and Shark Need Each Other: https://oceanbites.org/coral-reefs-and-sharks/
- Eco-Business. 2013. Shark Worth More For Tourism Than in Soup: Study: http://www.eco-business.com/news/sharks-worth-more-tourism- soup-study/
- Eco-Business. 2017. Does Your Fish Burger Contained Mercury-Tainted Shark Meat:http://www.eco-business.com/news/does-your-fish-burger-contain-mercury-tainted-shark-meat
- Hammerschlagg, Neil. 2016. How & Why Consuming Shark Fins and Meat Can Put Both Human and Shark at Risks: https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2016/10/07/consuming-shark-fins-meat-puts-humans-and-sharks-at-risk/
- News UWA. 2017. Healthy Sharks Sustain Healthy Ocean: http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201707249790/international/healthy-sharks-sustain-healthy-oceans
- Sembiring, Adrianus., Ni Putu Dian Pertiwi, Angga Mahardini, Riza Wulandari, Eka Maya Kurniasih, Andri Wahyu Kuncoro, N.K. Dita Cahyani, Aji Wahyu Anggoro, Maria Ulfa, Hawis Maddupa, Kent E. Carpenter, Paul H. Barber, Gusti Ngurah Mahardika. 2014. DNA Barcoding Reveals Targeted Species for Endangered Shark in Indonesia. Fisheries Research 164 (2015) 130- 134.
- Shidqi, Rafid. 2017. Shark Conservation in Indonesia: A Brief Perspective on Local Shark Protection in Raja Ampat MPA Network, West Papua: https://bengalshark.wordpress.com/2017/07/11/shark-and-rays-conservation-in-raja-ampat/
"Lad with handful of dreams & wishful thinking.. "
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