Sharks in the Ocean
The shark populations have been decreasing at a rapid rate. This decline in sharks could allow other predators to thrive. One predator is the ray. It is believed that the increase in the ray population has caused shellfish populations to greatly decrease.
Ocean Fauna
As the sharks decrease in numbers the rays, such as the Cownose Ray and the Longheaded Eagle Ray, have increased in numbers. Since sharks feed on rays, and the sharks are being killed at great numbers, the food chain is being disrupted. We don't know all of the effects yet, but we do know that in areas Japan where the shark population has decreased and the Longheaded Eagle Ray has had a population bloom that the shellfish of the area has been decreasing at faster rates. Commercial Shellfish Fisheries have been seeing a decline in the number of available shellfish which has put pressure on them to catch enough for demand.
Another ray problem is the Cownose Ray and the clam, oyster, and scallop fisheries of North Carolina. They, too, have experienced pressure from the decrease in sharks and the increase in rays. The rays, which feed on the clam, oysters, and scallops, have increase so much that the available bivalves are so low in numbers that the fisheries have had to shut down. These fisheries had been open for over a century. Future Effects of Shark Finning
Any ecosystem, when a major change in a population of a specific species, gets disrupted and affects other ecosystems. For instances the air we breath comes mostly from the oceans. We don't know know for sure what the decrease in sharks could affect this, but we do know that whenever an ecosystem is altered it has an effect on others and may affect the very air we breath.
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