WHEN SHARKS ATTACK

· Out of the 465-known species of sharks, more than a quarter are near threatened, forty-eight species are vulnerable, and 15 are endangered.

· 11 of the species that the International Union for Conservation of Nature has data for are critically endangered, facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.

· The demand for shark fins is driven by the market for shark fin soup. Fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up in the global shark fin trade annually.

· There are over 465 known species of sharks. Due to overfishing, discriminatory killing, and accidentally getting tangled in nets met for other fish, at least a quarter of sharks may be headed for extinction.

· 10 U.S. states, Texas, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, and Washington, have banned the trade of shark fins.

· As one of the top predators in the ocean, sharks are an important part of the marine ecosystem, by keeping fish populations balanced, and cleaning the ocean of carcasses from dead animals.