Work in groups to read the articles. Group a reads text a

Group B reads the text B

Make notes and tell your partners which problems does your text describes. Discuss them together.

Text A

Shark protection - Palau to lead with the right example

If sharks were about to go extinct this would create irreparable damage to ocean ecosystems because sharks as the main predators play extremely important role in ocean food chain. Shark hunting  is sadly still not stopping, and what world really needs to save many shark species from going extinct is to create protection areas that would ban all commercial shark fishing. 

This is exactly what tiny Pacific state Palau plans to do. Palau's president Toribiong said how his country plans to create the world's first "shark sanctuary", banning all commercial shark fishing in its waters. This area will protect about 600,000 sq km (230,000 sq miles) of ocean giving many shark species chance to recover population.

Globally, sharks are being massively slaughtered, some estimates say that around 100 million sharks are killed each year, and if this trend continues many shark species will be brought to the brink of extinction. Current protection efforts are definitely not enough, and unless we see more examples like this one from Palau we will very soon witness big problems with marine ecosystems. 

Palau is really the first nation that recognized how important sharks are to healthy marine environments, and protecting such large area is bold first step that many other countries should follow if we are to protect these majestic creatures. So far the best examples of shark protection were implementation of catch limits and restrictions on shark fining which is definitely not enough to show shark killing as current numbers show. 

With this "shark sanctuary" Palau will become the No.1 country in the world in shark conservation efforts. Currently 21% of shark species are listed as "threatened with extinction" while 18% are "near threatened". These numbers reflect the seriousness of situation, and it is of vital importance to find the possible solutions that could ensure more efficient conservation efforts. Protection areas definitely look to be one of the best available options to save sharks. However many countries will have to follow Palau's example if we are to see some success.

Text b Endangered animals - Sharks

Sharks are mostly known as vicious and dangerous animals, especially since the legendary movie Jaws which really made of them ferocious predators but the truth is that sharks in fact rarely attack people unless provoked and only small number of them is actually dangerous for humans. There are about 400 sharks species and only three have been involved in a certain number of unprovoked and fatal attacks on humans: the great white, tiger shark and bull shark.

Sharks usually live for 20-30 years but some species (whale sharks) can even pass the 100 mark. Sharks' biggest weapons are their teeth that are constantly replaced throughout shark's life (some sharks can lose 30,000 teeth in a lifetime). Their most important sense is their smell and some species are able to detect as little as one part per million of blood in seawater which gives little chance to their prey. But smell is not all that sharks have, sharks also have excellent sense of hearing and can hear their prey miles away.

Sharks aren't just impulsive cold blooded killers as many people believe, on the contrary, many species possess powerful problem-solving skills, social complexity and curiosity as they sometime work together in hunting their prey. They're also very fast swimmers so their prey is unlikely to escape them if nearby.

Every year, an estimate states that 26 to 73 million sharks are killed by people in commercial and recreational fishing. Shark's skin is used for many purposes and they are also common seafood on many tables around the world (especially in the form of shark fin soup).

According to "International Action Plan for Sharks" powered by CITESmore than 100 out of 400 shark species are being commercially exploited of which many are so overexploited that their long-term survival isn't certainty even with appropriate action and there's also serious lacking in monitoring the international shark trade.

Since sharks are on top on the food chain it's absolutely vital to preserve them from extinction because their extinction would mean extremely negative impact on sea ecosystems resulting in many undesirable consequences.

There are certain positive moves but it will take lot more than now and then action to save these great predators from threatening extinction and there's lot of work left in this segment. Not just in research but in the legislation too.

There's a certain irony in the fact that the biggest sea predator has become prey on the edge of the extinction, and all because of (who else, but) humans.