Humans have exterminated more than 71% of all sharks on the planet and kill 76–80 million individuals every year.

People are afraid of everything. Bears, wolves, sharks — anything that seems dangerous to them and anything the system has conditioned them to fear since childhood. We are told that these animals must be killed without any limits or restrictions! Meanwhile, real science is ignored, scientists are not heard, and the extermination of animals continues relentlessly. On such a scale that many species are now on the brink of complete extinction! And together with them, ecosystems collapse, triggering cascading destruction across the natural world.

Take sharks, for example — the “wolves” of the seas and oceans, performing critically important ecological functions. Yet everything around them is saturated with hatred. Films portray sharks as monsters, a deliberately negative image is constantly promoted, and many people genuinely believe that sharks kill enormous numbers of humans around the world every day!

But is that actually true?

Unfortunately, sharks are now on the brink of extinction. They are being systematically exterminated across the world while public fear is ruthlessly exploited. According to global scientific data, worldwide catches of sharks, rays, and chimaeras have tripled since 1950, reaching 868 thousand tonnes in 2000 before declining to 680 thousand tonnes by 2018. But this did not happen because humanity suddenly decided to protect nature! Not at all. The decline in catches reflects collapsing populations.

I studied the scientific assessments: researchers say humans kill millions of sharks every year, and demand continues to rise rapidly. As populations decline, prices increase, attracting even more people eager to kill sharks for luxury seafood markets. Scientists estimate that fishing mortality for sharks increased from at least 76 to 80 MILLION INDIVIDUALS PER YEAR between 2012 and 2019, the period covered by these studies.

And yes, of course, we are constantly told that terrifying sharks are waiting for humans. You have undoubtedly heard this many times before, watched films about it, read the headlines! But have you ever wondered why every shark attack on a human — say, in Egypt, familiar to the entire world — immediately explodes across global news outlets? Because such incidents are extremely rare and therefore generate massive media attention.

Here are the facts. The International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum confirmed 65 unprovoked shark bites worldwide in 2025, while the average for 2020–2024 was only 61 cases per year. These are bites, not deaths! Actual fatalities average only about 8 per year. That means for every human death, humans kill roughly 8.9 million sharks annually.

This is the real statistics.

At the same time, global shark populations have declined by 71% since 1970, and sharks have already disappeared entirely from nearly 20% of surveyed coral reefs. In the northwestern Atlantic, large coastal and oceanic shark species declined by more than 75% within just 15 years. All of this is the result of human killing — humanity is systematically wiping sharks out of the seas and oceans.

The scientific data are as follows:

• Since 1970, oceanic shark and ray populations have declined by 71%.

  
  

• Fishing pressure on sharks and rays has increased approximately 18-fold.

  
  

• Shark fishing mortality during 2012–2019 was estimated at a minimum of 76–80 million individuals per year. And these are only confirmed figures.

  
  

• Earlier global estimates suggested around 100 million sharks killed annually, with a range of 63–273 million.

  
  

• The absolute record was set in 2000, when humans killed 868 thousand tonnes of sharks in a single year.

  
  

• By 2018, official catches had fallen to 680 thousand tonnes; scientists confirm this reflects population depletion: the oceans are simply being emptied.

  
  

• Sharks no longer exist on nearly 20% of surveyed coral reefs — they have been exterminated.

  
  

• In the northwestern Atlantic, white sharks, hammerheads, and thresher sharks declined by more than 75% within approximately 15 years.

  
  

• In the Mediterranean Sea, shark populations have declined by more than 97% over the past two decades.

  
  
• Specialists estimate the global trade in shark products at approximately 1 billion dollars annually. Imagine the scale of these commercial interests and why shark extermination continues to thrive.

These are the facts. And what have sharks actually done to humans? Extremely rare attacks — while for every human death, people kill an average of 8.9 million sharks.

To prepare this material, I studied eight scientific papers from around the world, produced by leading universities and organizations. In every study, specialists reached the same conclusion: the situation is critical and urgent measures are needed to protect sharks! At the very least because sharks are key components of marine and ocean ecosystems. Sharks are called the “wolves of the seas” for good reason — just like wolves on land, they perform essential biological functions that cannot be replaced by other species.

Humanity is simply destroying one of the ocean’s critically important functional mechanisms, condemning entire ecosystems to slow but inevitable degradation.

Our project on Territories of Full Ecological Tranquility is not only about protecting terrestrial ecosystems, but marine and ocean ecosystems as well. It is about creating enforced sanctuaries for wildlife with protected migration routes and absolute non-disturbance status. If we succeed in changing the world’s protected area system, all animals — including sharks, whales, rays, dolphins, and many other species — will gain a chance to survive.

Just think about this! Sharks have existed on Earth for 400 million years — they survived mass extinctions, shifting oceans, dinosaurs, and extreme climate upheavals. But in just the last 50 years, humans have reduced oceanic shark and ray populations by 71%, leaving only about 29% alive, while the extermination continues at accelerating rates.

Tell the truth: share this material, spread it further, become a voice for wildlife! Join our struggle for Life!

© PAVEL PASHKOV