DIVE IN and Help Save Sharks!
Approximately 100 million sharks are killed every year. That's an enormous number, and these amazing fish are quickly becoming endangered. Sharks are at the top of the food chain and keep our oceans healthy. You have a powerful voice, and there are lots of things you can do to help protect our fin-tastic friends!
- Help replace fear with facts! Learn about the many different species of sharks, their habitats, and their behaviors. Investigate how different kinds of human behaviors are threatening sharks. With facts you can correct people's misconceptions about sharks. Share what you learn with friends and others. Create a presentation to share with your classmates, or write an article for your school paper! Be creative!! The more people who know the truth about sharks and why they deserve our protection, the more progress we will make in saving them.
- Don’t support restaurants or stores that sell shark products! Shark meat isn’t the only product on the market that comes from sharks. Did you know shark cartilage and oils are used in some beauty and nutrition products? Never eat shark fin soup or take shark cartilage pills. And don't spend money at stores or restaurants that sell shark products. Write a letter asking them to stop. If you boycott shark products, and encourage others to do the same, there will be less demand for them and fewer sharks will be killed.
- Don’t fish for sharks. If you are fishing and do catch a shark, don’t take it out of the water. And never try to pull out the hook--just cut the line instead. You must avoid causing the shark any extra stress that would likely kill it.
- Swim with sharks! Diving or snorkeling with sharks is thrilling and very safe. Shark tourism brings in money and governments will be more willing to set up conservation zones if it will help bring money to the community.
- Recycle and reuse. Trash is a huge danger to many species of sharks. Sharks often mistake garbage for food, and it can kill them. Keep your beaches clean. Organize a beach clean-up!
- Be mindful about eating seafood. Sharks are often killed as by-catch from commercial fishing. What this means is that sharks get caught and strangled in nets of fisherman who are fishing for other seafood. When you do eat seafood, use an app like this one to make good choices by eating seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that have less impact on the environment.
- Write to your lawmakers! Write a letter to your representative asking him or her to introduce or support legislation that will protect sharks, ban shark finning and fishing, and set up conservation areas in the oceans.
- Raise money for sharks or volunteer with shark conservation organizations! Instead of birthday presents, ask friends to donate money for shark conservation. Hold a bake sale. Get creative!
- Spread shark love! Use social media to share with your followers about the importance of sharks. Share fascinating facts, photos, blog posts, and articles.