Rhetoric and

Composition The Daily Rhetoric Will

Dominici

A world without JAWS?

For many, sharks are shark and ray

nothing more than a
nuisance at the beach, or
the product of
entertainment during
Discovery's “Shark
week”. What many
people don't realize in the
immense role they play in
the environment and
marine life. Sharks are
popular for many things
like movies, pop culture,
and food delicacies. This
popularity has
unfortunately come at a
price for many shark
species. The volatile
reproduction rate and low
population makes sharks
and rays particularly
susceptible to risk of
extinction. And now we
are finally seeing the
detrimental effects of
shark’s popularity.
Nature.com published
an article in January of
2021 that outlines just
how serious this steady
decline of shark and ray
population could be called
“Half a century of global
decline in sharks and
rays”. The many
contributors to this study
use advanced methods of
assessment to provide
never before seen
statistics on
populations.
The two forms of
assessment they used
were the Living Planet
Index and the Red List
Index. These
assessments contain
index within their titles
because they address a
wide array of shark and
ray species. This enables
researchers to account
for almost all
Elasmobranchs: sharks
and rays.
The assessments used
were very effective in
providing us with new
information on shark
population. What they
revealed however, is that What they revealed
the future for shark and however, is that the future
ray populations is for shark and ray
abysmal unless we take populations is abysmal
immediate action. These unless we take immediate
findings are action. These findings are
demonstrated in the demonstrated in the
article when they state article when they state
“We find that, since 1970, “We find that, since 1970,
the global abundance of the global abundance of
oceanic sharks and rays oceanic sharks and rays
has declined by 71% has declined by 71%
owing to an 18-fold owing to an 18-fold
increase in relative increase in relative fishing
fishing pressure” (Nature, pressure” (Nature, 3). 71%
3). 71% percent is quite a percent is quite a
shocking number at first shocking number at first
glance. However, the glance. However, the
reasons for how it got to reasons for how it got to
this point are befitting. this point are befitting.
 What can be done?
Immediate legislative action is the only effective solution
The factors that have led to this steady decline
in shark and ray population is unsurprisingly
attributed to human intervention. Particularly
commercial fishing of sharks and rays. With the
increased use of longlines and seine nets, the
fishing of sharks has become drastically more
efficient in recent decades. Researchers can point
to this evidence confidently because it has the
most correlation to shark and ray populations.
There is really no evidence suggesting that any
factor, other than human intervention, is at play.
Many shark species are at the top of the food
chain and would have no other threat besides
humans to their lineage. With the help of
researchers like this, people are becoming more
aware of these
Work Cited
Pacoureau, Nathan, et al. “Half a Century of Global Decline in Oceanic Sharks and Rays.” Nature, vol. 589, no. 7843,
2021, pp. 567–571., doi:10.1038/s41586-020-03173-9.
issues surrounding sharks and rays.
Legislation has been attempted but it is not
currently being implemented effectively. The United
Nations launched an initiative called “The Decade
of Biodiversity” but its ideals were not efficient in
combating the rapid decline in shark and ray
species. It is unknown how detrimental the effects
that certain shark species going extinct would
have. However, the effects would be extremely
negative for biodiversity and would permanently
affect the food chain and marine life. Researchers
acknowledge the economics platform built around
shark and ray fishing and encourage policymakers
to make changes now so that these industries can
remain, only regulated.
 Readability test:
The readability calculator detected that someone reading my article would need about 12-13 years of education in
order to understand it fully on the first time reading. I interpreted this as either a senior in high school or a freshman at
college. This seems like a good demographic seeing as most people reading a newspaper article at least have a highschool
diploma. However, the calculator did suggest quite a few sentences that were a bit too wordy and complicated. I plan on
reworking parts of my article in order to make it more digestible for the average reader. The topic I chose to discuss is rather
complex so it is sometimes difficult to bridge the gap between reader and scholarly article.