Plea to Richard Spinrad
Sharks: The Collateral Damage of Climate Change
Sharks are the most beautiful and fascinating creatures in the entire world to me. The moment I knew that I wanted to work with sharks was when I was a little girl on vacation. We were on an excursion and the guide put bait in a cage about 15 feet below the surface. While the sharks inevitably started to swarm, we started to hold on to a rope and watched them through our snorkels. I was closest to the boat since my mother was worried that they would attack but all I wanted to do was swim down and touch them. I knew a lot about sharks, even then, due to my love of Shark Week. My dad and I would watch all of it and I devoured each encounter, each breech, and each species’ unique attributes.
However, my favorite shark is the Atlantic black tip; I remember watching a special on them targeting a fish migration. How they worked together to ball up the fish and then the attack was the coolest thing I had ever seen. To this day, they are my favorite shark, and it is my dream to research them and learn how climate change affects them. Their homes, mainly being in the Gulf of Mexico and Carribean waters are being destroyed along with the species themselves.
I did a semester-long research paper on sharks, and I narrowed my topic down to sharks in tropical Atlantic waters. I spent countless hours reading, watching videos, and scouring sources and links for this paper. Overall, what my research found was that these leaders of their ecosystems are being displaced, their habitats are being seriously degraded, they have less food, their locomotion is not adapting, and their numbers are plummeting.
The acidification of the tropical Atlantic waters is causing the ruination of sharks’ habitats which is causing a lack of marine biodiversity, food displacement and competition, changing currents, and damage to coral reefs. The locomotion of sharks is being ruined due to warming temperatures and acidification; this affects locomotive efficiency by affecting skeletal mineralization, increasing metabolic rates when swimming, prolonging the time it takes to recover from exercise, and the time it takes to locate prey. This is very worrisome due to food availability and forced displacement being two very common issues, such as reef fish being displaced which is affecting the Atlantic blacktips.
Sharks are and will keep being harmed by climate change. There needs to be more research in all aspects when it comes to sharks. Scientists underestimated the impacts CO2 and acidification will have. There needs to be more studies on juvenile and baby sharks, their physiology, locomotion, and morphology. More empirical data is needed to properly assess the vulnerability sharks have and what needs to be done so proper policy is put in place. The sharks within the tropical Atlantic Ocean are facing harsh consequences and are unable to evolve at the necessary rate; more research is needed on this topic overall, and until then, data will remain inconclusive. Funding from the NOAA needs to be used effective immediately.
The NOAA is a powerful voice and has a lot of influence as an objective, fact-based governmental agency. Leveraging the power of the NOAA could prove beneficial when it comes to passing more laws and regulations about the delicate state of the oceans. The NOAA has a budget of $6.9 billion and the amount of research, conclusive studies, and influential campaigns that could be brought about from that money could be what saves the oceans, and sharks. Campaigning for the “Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act of 2022” will be essential since it is for the NOAA. Congress.gov, states, “To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide for ocean-based climate solutions to reduce carbon emissions and global warming; to make coastal communities more resilient; and to provide for the conservation and restoration of the ocean and coastal habitats, biodiversity, and marine mammal and fish populations; and for other purposes.” This shows that the entire goal is to make the NOAA do everything that I have suggested. This would help the sharks start to thrive again, the creatures that are essential for ecosystems to survive. Campaigning for this bill, when it has not been touched since December of 2022 is crucial for the marine life that has survived.
The tropical Atlantic has been decimated by climate change from the ruination of the coral reef ecosystems to the dwindling numbers of the primary predator, sharks. It is deplorable what is happening, and the NOAA has not only the power but the responsibility to enact change. More research must be done on how sharks are being hurt, and those in power must be pressured to pass necessary laws that will save the tropical Atlantic and the entire world. Sharks need to stop collateral damage and they cannot wait much longer for a savior.
Works Cited in This Paper
“H.R.3764 (2021-) - Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act of 2022” Congress.gov, Library of Congress, December 30, 2022, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3764\
Works Cited For Research
Chacko, Susan. “Oceans Are Warming Twice as Fast than the 1960s and It Could Get Much Worse.” Down To Earth, 21 Oct. 2022,
Dolce, Chris. “Why the Tropical Atlantic Ocean Is Different from This Time Last Year, and What It Could Mean for Hurricane Season.” The Weather Channel, The Weather Channel, 3 May 2018,
“Ecosystem Responses to Climate Change.” Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Assessment,
“The Effects of Climate Change on Sharks.” American Oceans, 2 May 2022,
Fisheries, NOAA. “Climate Change Is Shifting Tiger Shark Populations Northward.” NOAA, 19 Jan. 2022,
Fisheries, NOAA. “The U.S. South Atlantic Marine Ecosystem: An Ecosystem in Transition.” NOAA, 25 Mar. 2022,
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/news/us-south-atlantic-marine-ecosystem-ecosystem-transition.
Gallagher, Austin J., et al. “Tiger Sharks Support the Characterization of the World’s Largest Seagrass Ecosystem.” Nature Communications, 1 Nov. 2022,
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33926-1.pdf.
Harriet, Harriet. “Sharks and the Climate Crisis.” Sharkguardian, Sharkguardian, 20 Oct. 2022,
“How Sharks Keep Our Oceans Healthy.” IFAW (international fund for animal welfare), 12 July 2022,
Pistevos, Jennifer C A, et al. “Ocean Acidification and Global Warming Impair Shark Hunting Behaviour and Growth.” Scientific Reports, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 12 Nov. 2015,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4642292/.
Rosa, Rui, et al. “Biological Responses of Sharks to Ocean Acidification.” The Royal Society
Publishing, 29 Mar. 2017
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0796.
Vilmar, Matilda, and Valentina Di Santo. “Swimming Performance of Sharks and Rays under Climate Change.” Springer, Stockholm University,
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11160-022-09706-x.pdf?pdf=button.
