Diver UK – July 2019

DEEP BREATH

divEr 82 divErNEt.com

A

LL CREATURES GREAT and

small. They’re all equal...but are

some are more equal than others?

At the Shark Trust we pride ourselves on

standing up for all sharks, regardless of

their public profile. But there are no

prizes for guessing which shark sells the

most shark adoptions, which shark gets

the most webpage visits, which shark

generates the biggest responses on our

Facebook feed.

The great white wins over the small-

spotted catshark (almost) every time.

So what? It’s the shark that we all love

(or some love to hate). It’s an amazing

animal that stirs emotions, gets the pulse

running and generates interest. You can’t

say that of the little brown chap cowering

under the rock.

But it can be a problem. Because

sometimes, rather than being seen as

ashark, the white

becomes perceived

as theshark.

The shark by

which others are

measured.

“Sharks are top

predators”. “Sharks

are powerful

swimmers”. “Sharks

bite people”. “Sharks

are an endangered

species”. These

statements (apart

from the last one)

are all, of course,

partly true. Some

sharks do fit those stereotypes. But many

others don’t.

The last statement – which I’ve

encountered many times – is patently

nonsense. Sharks are not an endangered

species. They’re a diversity of animals

(species) with a wide range of

conservation statuses and a wide range

of conservation needs.

That’s an important distinction

because, not living in a universe of

unlimited time and resources, we need to

prioritise if we’re to protect nature.

We can’t protect everything, but we can

use science to direct us to the biggest

need. That means digging into the detail.

I’M NOT GOINGto pretend that we don’t

trade off the more charismatic animals –

of course we do. The word “shark” comes

with associations that, for better or worse,

make our job easier. I mean, we’re not the

Sea Cucumber Trust after all (no

disrespect to sea cucumbers).

When I’m talking about sharks,

particularly to groups outside the

conservation echo-chamber, one of the

most common questions to come back is:

“Why do sharks matter?”

It’s a fair question. Why should we care

about sharks? Recently, after giving my

well-rehearsed lines about eco-system

function, cultural importance and

economic value, I was challenged with

“Why not bees, then?” It’s a valid point.

Without bees, we’re all in trouble. And

leafcutter ants might hold the solution to

antibiotic resistance. The smallest of

plankton can determine the fate of huge

populations of seabirds and marine

mammals. Phytoplankton generates as

much oxygen as forests.

There’s power in the smaller things in

life and we need to make sure we celebrate

their contribution to the diverse jigsaw

that is Nature.

But sharks do matter as a vital piece in

that jigsaw, and it’s our job to make that

case. I can’t say that one shark is any more

important than any other. They’re all tied

into the complex web in their own way.

And, if we’re being honest, we can’t say

that the loss of any one species will matter

more than any other, except in our heads.

Sure, if we suddenly managed to wipe

out the great white, we’d all feel pretty bad

about it, and it would be a failure on a

massive scale. But will it spell the end for

the world as we know it?

A recent study showed sevengill sharks

around Seal Island, South Africa, moving

into a niche coinciding with a decline in

the local population of whites. That’s

what Nature does. It adapts.

So, would the extinction of the great

white matter to Nature any more than the

“lost shark” that was formally identified

only a few months ago, but is thought to

have already been driven to extinction?

Maybe. Maybe not. But it would matter

to us.

WE MAKE OUR OWNdecisions on what’s

important, and this filters through into

which species or groups of species we

support – with time, with research and

with cold, hard cash.

These are not always rational decisions;

they’re based on a self-fulfilling loop

between those seeking to raise awareness

and our own preferences for large,

charismatic creatures.

We choose our

icons and we

support them –

think of the panda.

That’s not wrong.

But we mustn’t

ignore the smaller,

less glamorous,

less “attractive”

animals.

The big

challenge

is to get people

connected with

Nature, in all its

dizzying

complexity.

That’s not always an easy task with so

many other issues filling our heads, our

TV screens and social feeds.

So if we have to use the allure of the

big, exciting, charismatic animals as

flagships to get people interested, then so

be it.

BUT WE DO HAVE to be honest. And we

have to open up rather than narrow

down. Divers are some of the best people

to appreciate the lesser things in life.

We’ve all dived with someone who loses

their mind over a tiny nudibranch. We’ve

all marvelled at macro shots of something

exquisitely beautiful but virtually

invisible to the naked eye.

We’ve all set off on a trip with the goal

of spotting charismatic megafauna and

come home with bigger memories of

something smaller. Celebrate it. Size really

doesn’t matter!

Great whites

might have

become the

poster shark

but, apex

predator or not,

every marine

creature has its

place in Nature’s

jigsaw. So how

much would it

actually matter

if white sharks

were driven to

extinction?

asks PAUL COX,

Managing

Director of the

Shark Trust

thought

little guys

US FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE