As a resident of a coastal town, I can’t imagine what it would be like if this were happening here. This past summer a friend of mine took me fishing, not for nourishment but for the experience and I ended up catching a baby shark (don't worry, I threw him back in). The whole experience was pretty amazing. Then back in October I got scuba certified and got to “swim with the fishies.” So when I saw these images taken by Thomas P. Peschak for TIME Magazine of the shark trading business, I was shocked. Over 73 million sharks are killed every year for trading purposes resulting in around 50 different species added to the endangered species list. Not only are these fishermen killing sharks that are on the endangered species list, but their nets are trapping innocent sea life. If you’ve watched Whale Wars on the Discovery Channel then you know that yes, maybe a handful of ships get caught and shut down but the cycle continues because there is big money in the business. The same for the shark trade business. I won’t get into politics over this but it’s pretty sad to see.

Like I said, I had a great experience with these creatures (sharks are awesome) and these pictures really hit me hard. Let us know how these affect you in the comments below.

[Via TIME]