There's a good chance you've never heard of shark finning, but not many people have. “Finning is the inhuman practice of cutting off a shark's fins and throwing its still alive body into the sea. Unable to swim or pass water through its gills, the shark dies from suffocation, blood loss, or predation by other species. (Kelly 2003) You may be wondering why it should matter to you, it should matter to everyone as the shark is the greatest equalizer of the sea. It is important to realize that if all sharks disappear, humanity will eventually become extinct. Sharks have long been on the hunt for their fins, the most valuable part of a shark. They are pulled up or netted and brutally stripped of all their fins while still alive. They are then thrown back alive into the ocean to suffocate, starve, or be eaten by another predator. They lay at the bottom of the sea defenseless and slowly died a painful death. The rest of the shark's body is discarded as it is considered garbage, the meat is considered terrible and not as profitable as their fins. The shark's body would simply take up space on the boat and hinder the amount of profitable parts they could fit on the boat. A shark-free ocean is actually a catastrophic and unfortunate issue in terms of marine ecosystems, and an extremely possible event if things continue to go at the rate they are. “This is an urgent concern, and we are in danger of living in a world effectively free of sharks,” said Stuart Sandin, a marine ecology expert at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. “Fishermen around the world are devastating shark populations.” (Murray 2010) Phytoplankton is the reason the ocean can support life, without this pl......middle of paper......e. It would be a travesty if the animals that survived the dinosaurs could only be seen in books. You can help by making people aware of the problem, you can sign petitions to ban shark finning in your area, don't buy from companies that sell soup. Protecting sharks means protecting our future, our children and ourselves. Friends don't let friends eat shark fin soup. Sharks' reputation is hurting their conservation, people can donate money to cute little animals and animals that are not attached to a negative stigma. We hope that knowledge of how sharks help humans can make people understand that sharks are our necessity for survival. Kelly, Erin and Jim Waymer. “The Decline of Sharks.” Florida Today: 1 August 10, 2003. ProQuest. Network. April 16, 2014.Murray, Ben. "A world without sharks." TakePart. Np, 5 August 2010. Web. 16 April. 2014.