What Threats to Sharks Does shark.swiss Explain?

shark.swiss, the website of the Shark Foundation (Hai-Stiftung), frames the issue directly: sharks are not threatening us — we are threatening sharks. Its "Hunted Hunters" section organizes the main threats to sharks into fisheries pressure (targeted fishing and finning), accidental catch (bycatch), habitat and environmental damage (mangroves, global warming, plastics), and trade in shark products and shark cartilage. The site presents these as global problems and pairs the threat explanations with a catalogue of protection projects, so it works as both an explainer and an entry point for anyone deciding whether or how to support shark conservation.

How the site organizes the threats

The navigation groups the material under a "Hunted Hunters" heading, with separate pages for fisheries, finning, bycatch, mangroves, global warming, plastics, shark cartilage, and shark products. This structure is useful if you want to look up one specific pressure rather than read a single overview: each topic has its own page, and the protection section sits alongside it so you can move from "what is the problem" to "what is being done."

Fisheries and finning

The site treats commercial fishing as the central threat. Finning — cutting off a shark's fins and discarding the body — is presented as its own topic, separate from general fisheries pressure. The distinction matters: finning is a practice within the fin trade, while fisheries pressure also includes sharks caught for meat and other products. If your question is specifically about the fin trade, the finning page is the more direct reference; if it is about overall fishing mortality, the fisheries page is the starting point.

Bycatch

Bycatch is listed as a distinct category, reflecting the fact that many sharks are caught accidentally in gear aimed at other species. The site's project list reinforces this: entries such as "Shark Fisheries in Angola," "Shark fisheries in Ghana," and "Shark trade Tamil Nadu" point to regional fishing and trade work, which is where bycatch and landing data are typically addressed.

Habitat loss and environmental pressures

Mangroves, global warming, and plastics each get their own entry. Mangroves matter because they serve as nursery habitat for some shark species — the site's project list includes "Shark Nurseries," "Fiji Bullshark Nurseries," and "Fiji Lemon sharks," which connect the habitat topic to concrete field work. Global warming and plastics are presented as broader environmental pressures rather than single-species issues.

Shark products and cartilage

The site covers shark products and shark cartilage as a trade-and-consumption topic. This is the page to check if your interest is in what shark-derived goods are sold and why demand persists, rather than in fishing methods.

What else the site offers beyond the threat pages

The threat explanations sit within a larger reference structure that is worth knowing about before you dive in:

The projects list is unusually specific for a foundation site — entries range from "Population Genomics" and "Whale Sharks Fiji" to "Deepsea Sharks in the Med," "eDNA South Africa," and "Basking Sharks Cornwall." That specificity is the main reason to use the site: it lets you connect a general threat like bycatch or habitat loss to a named region and species.

Practical notes before you use the site

• Language and navigation: The site is in English, but the navigation labels repeat heavily in the page text (for example, "Shark Protection Projects" appears multiple times in sequence). Expect some visual noise; use the section headings rather than reading top to bottom.
• Shop and donations: The site includes a shop (for example, petrified shark teeth listed at 15.0) and a donate prompt. The available page information does not state prices for other items, payment methods, or whether any content is restricted — check the shop and donation pages directly if that matters to you.
• What the site is not: It is a foundation site, not a neutral data portal. Threat pages explain the foundation's framing; for raw catch statistics or Red List assessments, follow its links to the Red List section and publications rather than expecting datasets on the threat pages themselves.

If your goal is a quick answer to "what threatens sharks," start with the Hunted Hunters section and read fisheries, finning, and bycatch first — those are the pressures the site treats as most direct. If your goal is to evaluate the foundation, read the projects and annual reports instead; the threat pages will not tell you how effective the work has been.