Photo: Yves Lefebre/AP

The Federated States of Micronesia, along with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, announced earlier this month that they were establishing a shark sanctuary of more than 2 million square miles in the southwestern Pacific, an area equal in size to two-thirds of the continental United States.  Sharks are currently endangered from over-fishing, particularly for shark fins for soup.

Fighting Decline, Micronesia Creates Shark Sanctuary

This conservation strategy effort started out small. Two years ago, the tiny Pacific nation of Palau declared its territorial waters a shark sanctuary. Next came the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. This June, Honduras said it too would ban shark fishing in its waters. And last month the Bahamas followed suit.

But nothing tops what just happened out in the southwestern Pacific, where islands in Micronesia, including Guam and the Marshall Islands, have said they would ban shark fishing in more than 2 million square miles of their waters.

But why does the preservation of sharks matter?   Simply stated, without sharks, coral reefs die.

CORAL Campaigns to Protect Sharks

Sharks are often “apex” or top predators, helping to regulate species abundance and diversity while maintaining balance throughout an ecosystem. Studies have shown that coral reef ecosystems with high numbers of apex predators tend to have greater biodiversity and higher densities of individual species. 

The loss of apex predators in a reef ecosystem upsets the natural food web and changes the composition of the reef community, eventually leading to the decline of critical reef species like herbivorous fish. With fewer herbivores, algae can become overgrown, suffocating the reef and reducing the number of available niches for fish species.