One of the main attractions of the exhibition is the possibility of observing models with full-scale reproductions of species of sharks and rays such as the blue shark, or tiger, hammerhead, white and bull sharks, among others.

The Casa de la Ciencia de Sevilla, a dissemination centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), joins the complicated task of cleaning up the image of one of the largest predators in the marine food chain, the shark; It belongs, along with rays and elasmobranchs, to one of the oldest taxonomic groups of vertebrates on the planet, with 400 million years in its fins.

This exhibition called “In favor of sharks, a sea of hope”, can be visited until May 29 at La Casa de la Ciencia in Seville. It is part of an awareness campaign that seeks to disseminate the threats that lie in wait for marine fauna, especially elasmobranchs, and the conservation projects that are carried out to protect and conserve it.

Barcelona has already hosted this exhibition that now arrives in Seville as part of its itinerancy. It has been produced by the CRAM Foundation for the Conservation and Recovery of Marine Animals, with the collaboration of the Biodiversity Foundation, with the participation of “la Caixa”, and logistics by the Seur Foundation.

The exhibition proposes four blocks of content: “The fragility of the shark”; “Predator or victim”; “Actions against extinction”; and “CRAM Local Actions”. It will have free guided tours by trained monitors who will explain the contents, especially designed for groups of schoolchildren who come at the request of their educational centers, through email belen.rodriguez@orgc.csic.es or by phone 954 23 23 49 (Ext 144).

Objective: Preservation and change of public perception

CRAM specialists explain that sharks usually have the image of aggressive animals among the public. To verify this appreciation, it is enough to remember one of the many films in which a ruthless shark ravages a busy beach, taking the first bather it meets in its path to the jaws. However, the exhibition seeks to change the public perception of these species and explain that the situation is totally opposite; sharks are the victims of a set of threats that in some cases such as the white shark are causing it to be even listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

These threats are habitat loss; marine pollution; and above all overfishing, which is why scientists estimate that more than one hundred million sharks die every year. It is known that some parts of these species are especially valued in the markets. This is the case of its fins, which in some Asian countries reaches the price of 500 euros per kilogram; a situation that encourages illegal and extremely cruel activities, such as “finning”, which consists of cutting off the fins of sharks and discarding the body into the sea many times when the animal is still alive, in order to save space in the holds of fishing boats and store as many fins as possible.