Lopped Off
Removal of top predators trickles through the food web
By Nadia Drake
In July, the Ecuadorean navy helped apprehend a fishing vessel within the waters of the Galápagos National Park. On board lay the carcasses of 379 sharks — including threshers, hammerheads, Galápagos, blues and a mako. Nearly severed fins hung from the mutilated, slippery bodies. The fins were presumably destined for trade in Asian markets, where shark-fin soup can sell for more than $100 a bowl.
The incident is no aberration; these illegally slaughtered sharks are just the bloodied face of a global problem. Not even marine sanctuaries are immune.
But sharks aren’t the only predators under siege. A host of carnivores perched atop food webs are being eliminated by humans, the real killing machines. Although marine species such as sharks are primarily caught for food, large terrestrial hunters (think lions, wolves and grizzlies) are often targeted for removal because they threaten humans moving into previously wild spaces.