Forty years ago this summer, American moviegoers met an animal that "lives to kill ... a mindless eating machine ... that will swallow you whole." Those words, from the trailer for the June 1975 release of "Jaws," helped establish the erroneous, and, sadly, enduring image of sharks as vicious, voracious man-eaters.
In the decades since the release of "Jaws," the number of sharks in the world's oceans has fallen dramatically. It is estimated that approximately 100 million sharks are killed every year, a deeply unsustainable number that is pushing some species toward extinction.
To learn more about why shark populations are declining, and what countries and conservation organizations are doing to protect sharks worldwide, read the full opinion piece on thehill.com.