Sharks: Misunderstood and Threatened | In Person (Ryan Ranch)

Course Description:

Few animals evoke as much primal fear as sharks. Perfected by over 400 million years of evolution, these apex predators have survived five mass extinctions. Despite their remarkable adaptability, sharks are hunted—often for their fins—under the guise of "civic duty" and for use in food and medicine. Since 1970, the global populations of oceanic sharks and rays have declined by 71%, due in part to an 18-fold increase in fishing pressure. As a result, three-quarters of shark species are now threatened with extinction. Never before has their future seemed so uncertain and imperiled.