I’m sure you remember the haunting theme song for the classic shark-attack movie – Jaws. The drama it creates sums up the terror that has been cultivated within us toward sharks. But are sharks really the villains they are portrayed to be?
In honour of Shark Awareness Day, we chatted with a couple students and practitioners of marine biology from Caribbean. They shed light on the massive creatures of the sea and what we learned about sharks and climate change was quite interesting.
Here are 4 reasons why sharks are the true heroes of our oceans and could be influential in turning the tables on climate change.
Sharks are the gatekeepers of balance in our marine ecosystem.
We’re quoting Tricia on that point.
Tricia King, an environmental storyteller, born on the Caribbean twin-island of St. Kitts and Nevis shared with us that the way Hollywood casts sharks contributes to shark killings worldwide, which is unfortunate because this negatively affects the entire marine system, which in-turn affects us.
Just as bees play a foundational role in upholding Planet Earth, so do sharks.
As Tricia passionately expressed, “Diving into the ocean without sharks would be like looking at a painting without paint, unimaginable. We would not be able to retrieve the economic benefit that can be derived from ecotourism surrounding sharks presence in our waters.”
Sharis Garcia, from Trinidad and Tobago agrees with Tricia.
“Without sharks, the oceanic system can shut down,” she said, with emotion in her voice. Read more
