♪ (music) ♪
Biodiversity is really how we define our own existence, isn't it?
♪ (music) ♪
It's us and say tens of millions of other species
that occupy this planet with us.
♪ (music) ♪
It's like there's this incredible web where we're all connected.
And when you start to lose these linchpin species,
the environment starts to fail.
♪ (dramatic music) ♪
When we translate human activity into these forces of extinction,
♪ (dramatic music) ♪
there are several major factors that are contributing.
♪ (dramatic music) ♪
One of the major drivers of extinction
is that we hunt some species to oblivion.
♪ dramatic (music) ♪
It's what we're doing with sharks now.
♪ (dramatic music) ♪
With the explosion of demand for shark fin soup,
♪ (dramatic music) ♪
global estimates for the shark fin trade
put it in the neighborhood of a billion dollars.
It's a huge amount of money.
So sharks are targeted by fleets around the world.
They may simply cut the fins off and then release them
to a slow and very unpleasant death.
Do you keep all the sharks or put the bodies back?
You cut the fin? Then toss.
♪ (melancholic music) ♪
We don't actually know how many sharks are in the ocean.
What we do know is that the big sharks,
the apex predator in the open ocean food chain,
their numbers have declined between 90 and 99%.
♪ (melacholic music) ♪
Sharks have survived four mass extinction events.
They've been around the planet longer than dinosaurs.
A lot longer.
Sharks have ruled our oceans for over 400 million years.
They've been responsible for regulating and maintaining
the entire balance across our oceans.
Now we're in a situation where sharks are being removed from that system.
♪ (melancholic music) ♪
Humans are really the single most impactful species
this planet has ever seen.
♪ (melancholic music) ♪
We have these prehistoric brains and we have this god-like technology,
and when you bring them together,
the result is not necessarily a happy one.
♪ (melancholic music) ♪
You know, species are like a house of cards.
♪ (melancholic music) ♪
You can't just sort of take one card out of the deck
and not expect the deck to crumble.
♪ (melancholic music) ♪