The Coffee House

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46420736

Some of the world's most unusual sharks and rays are on the brink of extinction because of threats such as commercial fishing, scientists have said.

A shark that uses its tail to stun prey and a ray half the length of a bus are on the list of 50 species.

The scientists say sharks have a bad image and people do not understand how important and threatened they are.

And losing even one of these "living fossils" would wipe out millions of years of evolutionary history.

"The biggest myth around sharks is definitely the perception that they are dangerous, that they are man-eating machines - they're not," marine biologist Fran Cabada told BBC News.

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I have to admit, I don't know about this 'image problem' that sharks supposedly have. I thought people respected them, even if they didn't necessarily want to go particularly near them!

Either way, very sad, and I hope this is solved soon .

Oceans will be fishless by 2048.

It's because of movies like JAWS and many of those other "films" showcasing sharks as the main villains... these man-eating killing machines that make the sea so dangerous. People just are too ready to buy that as the truth and don't even bother trying to learn the facts...

Like, sharks do attack people, that's true, but mostly on accident, as they don't really have a way of knowing if what moves in front of them is a person of a fish.

I remember reading about how the Passenger Pigeon was facing the threat of extinction and no-one cared because they were "wonderfully prolific" (even though their numbers were clearly diminishing). Gosh, I thought we were past this crap.

(12-05-2018, 12:38 AM)ObsessedwithBirds Wrote: [ -> ]Oceans will be fishless by 2048.

I do hope not: that in and of itself is pretty alarming . 

I mean, I've known for a long time that the UK's fish stocks aren't sustainable: it's been in the news for years now. But, all gone within 30 years? That's hard for me to wrap my head around . 
 

(12-05-2018, 12:40 AM)Dust Bowl Wrote: [ -> ]It's because of movies like JAWS and many of those other "films" showcasing sharks as the main villains... these man-eating killing machines that make the sea so dangerous. People just are too ready to buy that as the truth and don't even bother trying to learn the facts...

Like, sharks do attack people, that's true, but mostly on accident, as they don't really have a way of knowing if what moves in front of them is a person of a fish.

I remember reading about how the Passenger Pigeon was facing the threat of extinction and no-one cared because they were "wonderfully prolific" (even though their numbers were clearly diminishing). Gosh, I thought we were past this crap.

Yeah, pretty much: I heard the same thing too. They disappeared gradually (by getting shot for sport), and by the time anybody really noticed their absence it was too late to save them .