Exploited by the media as "vicious killing machines", sharks have long been casted as man’s ultimate ocean enemy. Through the years, sharks have earned top billing in the in best-selling books, news segments and blockbuster films. Thanks to all that fame, no marine species is more misunderstood or threatened.

Sharks are essential to life in the ocean, since they feed from sick, weak or old animals, they regulate the health of other species. If we destroy them in exchange for a short-term economic gain, we risk a loss of unimaginable proportions in the long run: the destruction of our oceans and hence, ourselves. 

Every year more people die from dog attacks, mosquito bites or electrocuted by Christmas lights than by shark attacks. On the other hand, humans kill an estimate of 100 million sharks every year! Sharks are being killed faster than they can reproduce.

In Mexico, as well as in most of the world, sharks are threatened by finning, a practice in which fishermen slice off the fins and dump the carcasses back into the sea. If you’ve ever witnessed such a sight, then you are perplexed that sharks, rather than humans, are perceived as the ruthless hunters. After all, they are killed for a $300 bowl of shark fin soup, considered a delicacy in Asia, shark researchers estimate that 100 million sharks are killed for their fins, annually. 

Many open ocean sharks are taken mainly in high seas tuna and swordfish fisheries. Once considered only incidental “bycatch”, these species are increasingly targeted due to new markets for shark meat and high demand for their valuable fins, used in the Asian delicacy shark fin soup. To source this demand, the fins are often cut off sharks and the rest of the body is thrown back in the water, a process known as “finning”, causing sharks a cruel and painful dead. Finning bans have been adopted in most international waters, but lenient enforcement standards hamper their effectiveness. (IUCN) 

Sharks are particularly sensitive to overfishing due to their tendency to take many years to mature and have relatively few young. In most cases, pelagic shark catches are unregulated or unsustainable.