Sharks are very important to the oceans ecosystem. Since they are the top predator, if we lost the sharks the ecosystem would be off balance. Tens of millions of sharks are dying each year because of shark finning. China and Hong Kong have high demands for the fins. The Chinese fishing boats catch the sharks in nets and cut off their fins then release them back into the water. Sharks live by constantly moving and without their fins sharks can’t swim and die suffering. About 8,000 tons of shark fins are shipped to restaurants across the world. Shark populations take a long time to recover as they can take over seven years to reach maturity and they only raise one to two pups a year. People ask the question, why should we protect sharks? They are harmful to humans and we’re better off without them. Well, the truth is you are sixteen times more likely to be stuck by lightening then to be attacked by a shark. Only a few types of sharks attack humans, the rest are harmless.  In the natural world, all things in an ecosystem are linked to each other in some way or another. They all depend on one another. Sharks being the top predator, act like a caretaker. They pick off the weak and small species to insure that there are strong healthy populations and a balanced ecosystem. Tens of Millions of sharks are dying every year due to shark finning. Restaurants are using these fins to make Shark Fin Soup. Sharks cannot survive without their fins so they die. Not only is the finning of sharks barbaric, but their indiscriminate slaughter at an unsustainable rate is pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Since the 1970s the populations of several species have been decimated by over 95%. Due to the clandestine nature of finning, records are rarely kept of the numbers of sharks and species caught. Estimates are based on declared imports to shark fin markets such as Hong Kong and China. Please help stop shark finning and to keep Shark Fin soup off the menu's at restaurants. The ocean's ecosystems really needs the sharks.