The Importance of Sharks in the Ocean

While you’re out at sea during your Hawaii Shark Cage Dive, you’ll learn many interesting facts about the shark. Though they are the marine creature that strikes fear into anyone entering the ocean, and just the thought of one is enough to make you swim back to shore, the importance of sharks in the ocean needs to be understood. As an apex predator, their presence in the ocean has a massive impact, and helps oceanographers to understand the ocean’s health and the long-term ramifications of mistreating the ocean.

The captain and crew on your shark cage tour know all about the ocean’s most feared predator, and do a great job of sharing their knowledge. Once you’ve been in the water with the sharks, you are sure to have a new appreciation for them, and having seen them up close, may not be as worried about their presence as you were when the boat took off from the harbor.

While it may not seem possible, sharks impact the entire ocean, from the biggest fish to the grass on the bottom on the ocean floor. The shark impacts everything, and with the changes that the ocean has gone through over the years; the impact is starting to be felt in a big way. Consider this: the shark as a species dates back 450 million years, and have sat at the top of the oceans food chain for just as long. The ocean is dependent on the shark, and believe it or not, wear are too. The ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet, and if the ocean suffers, we suffer as a result. Everything from a reliable food source to oxygen and the removal of greenhouse gasses come from the ocean, and the shark’s role in all of that is monumental.

The most immediate impact of sharks in the ocean is on the natural food chain, with fish populations being held in check from the top. Studies have shown that without sharks, industries have collapsed, due to the secondary predators population increasing. In this example, cow-nose rays, which feed on scallops, decimated populations that local fisherman relied on to supply local markets. The shark, feeding on the ray, had been overfished and was not there to keep the ray population in check. The sharks even effect the reefs, feeding on large fish, that feed on small reef fish; when the shark isn’t there to feed on secondary predators, the reefs are picked clean of fish like the clownfish, who keep the reefs clean.

While you’re out on a shark cage dive, take a minute to appreciate the importance of the shark. Though intimidating, they are vital to the health of the ocean, and the Earth.

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