Sharks are at risk of disappearing from the Mediterranean

Thousands of tons of sharks are caught each year and the impact of plastic waste can make the Mediterranean sharks absent from the future.

Sharks are at risk of disappearing from the Mediterranean due to excessive hunting and plastic waste pollution , conservationists said July 12. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), more than half of sharks and rays in these waters are threatened and nearly one third of them are caught to the brink of extinction.

The number of sharks has severely declined in the Mediterranean over the years.(Photo: CGTN).

Libya and Tunisia are the two countries that need to be the biggest responsible when the two countries catch sharks of up to 8,400 tons per year, according to a report published by WFF before Shark Awareness Day 2019. A total of more than 60 Shark species have been recorded with fishing nets throughout the Mediterranean.

Besides hunting, the explosion of plastic waste on the sea is also putting the shark population at risk. Ocean predators may have difficulty moving if caught in plastic waste, or poisoned by micro-plastic particles entering the food chain.

"The rapid decline of shark populations is an alarm signal of the state of the sea and overfishing . All Mediterranean countries are responsible for this. Sharks are part of Sea and play an important role in human culture, so we need to take action to ensure they still exist in the future, ' said WFF's Giuseppe Di Carlo.

Sharks have existed on Earth more than 400 million years ago but they are susceptible to decline in numbers due to their slow growth rate and long gestation period. There are currently 79 shark species classified as endangered endangered animals according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red Book.

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