400 million sharks die a year.In some parts of the world, yes. But a growing number of countries, including the United States, have banned or are banning shark finning in their territorial waters. The Bahamas and Cuba are the two most recent nations to join the trend. But plenty of sharks are caught in unprotected waters, so some places like Hawaii, which has one of the biggest markets for shark fins outside of Asia, have banned all shark-fin products to curb the demand.Yes. Each year, 73 million sharks are reportedly killed by shark-finning fishermen, which has reduced shark populations by as much as 80 percent, according to a U.S. report. And while other hunted species, such as tuna, produce millions of eggs each year, female sharks will produce only two to four young during the same time. Now as many as one third of all shark species are threatened or near extinction.
But they are scary and eat people!
Not exactly. Sharks suffer from bad publicity, thanks to the 1975 movie Jaws, which forever tainted the carnivorous fish as the ultimate enemy to all living things. But sharks don't even like the taste of humans, says Australian shark researcher Christopher Neff, as quoted in the Daily Mail. Sharks account for just a sliver of water-related deaths. In 2010, for example, just six people worldwide were killed by sharks, while more than 1 million people drown in any given year.
