Whales, Dolphins,Tuna and Sharks – How Does Japan Change?
As I sat down this morning to read the Huff Post I can across this article “Shark fishing in Japan – a messy, blood-spattered business” detailing a commercial shark processing center at Kesennuma.
I have never heard of the place, and the images feature a graphic expose of commercial animal processing.
Nothing more.
In the U.S. and Europe animal processing has long since been sanitized behind industrial fortresses that bring whole animals in one end and spit out boxes of product out the other.
Westerners are, simply put, largely divorced from our food chain.
Japan’s food processing is still in many ways very Asian, where the public is invited to see or admire freshness, and purity of product. Unlike western values that feature stamped on dates, Asian cultures like to see and be engaged with their food sources. It’s how they do food.
It’s a cultural difference that Japan is being overwhelmingly attacked for. Their public display of food and food processing exploited by dozens of western based conservation groups.
I am struck by the efforts of so many conservation groups who are rabid in their individual assessment of Japans and China’s food chain. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and it’s loon fringe being the worst of the lot, having their own reality television show with regular on screen quotes by western “vegans” who alternately decry whale harvests while demonising Japan in the process.
For Japan, reeling from multi-pronged attacks on tuna, sharks, whales, and dolphins, not to mention five or six species of fish, I find myself asking “where does Japan go from here?”.
The ugly issues with all of this Japan focus on food, and one not being discussed, is that this entire effort is an overwhelming western effort. These are western faces demanding Japanese people change what they eat.
Really?
For any conservation effort to be successful you need the ability to reverse positions and see your conservation opponents view. Right now Japan is under siege by a western generated cacophony of what might be viewed as culinary imperialism. A lot of how Japan harvests food is repugnant to western eyes long since divorced from the blood and gore.
A quick look, and by no means an in depth one, over the last two months of western media hits against Japan reveals a disorganized patchwork of many conservation agendas:
Shark fishing in Japan – a messy, blood-spattered business
New video reveals dolphin hunt just as brutal as ever
Birch Bay resident sets sail to stop dolphin slaughter
Whale wars: Boat claims ram attempt
Food giant Princes accused of selling endangered tuna on the High Street
It’s quite a storm of protest and one I fear will just have Japan hunker down and play turtle without getting any concessions to sustainable harvests, which at the end of the day would be a big win.
Without a doubt there are some serious issues with species loss and rampant over harvest of animals – worldwide. But this focus on Asians by westerners, I fear, will ultimately backfire under a counter, and western conservation driven, nationalistic blow back.
How long can westerners keep up their demands on what Asians can and cannot put into their mouths?
How long will the Japanese stand for this growing patchwork of food based conservation agendas and increasingly shrill conservation noise?
How does Japan change, when it seems every week a new food source is identified and a new western conservation group, using in-your-face conservation tactics and media hits gleaned from other groups, goes on the attack?
I am all for conservation, but is not time that individual groups look up from their pet projects in Japan and Asia to take a larger view of how this growing group effort to conserve wildlife is being perceived in Asia?
We all want to see change but this recent trend to “Jump on Japan” does not leave any room for compromise, nor does it allow Japan and Japanese people to assess their own inalienable rights to choose what they consider a food source or not.
Another look at this issue from Da Shark.
Another look with RTSea Blog.
Cheers,
Patric Douglas CEO
www.sharkdiver.com
www.sharkdivers.com
415-235-9410
Pete Thomas Outdoors – Brazil Shark Fin Bust
If you have not yet become a fan of the Pete Thomas Outdoors blog you should do so soon.
Investigative journalism is what this blog is all about. And it’s no surprise because Pete is a reporter with a free reign to cover just about anything. Fortunately one of the things he cares about are our oceans, and more specifically sharks.
Pete covered a recent shark fin bust from Brazil that no one is talking about yet. One ton of fins destined for Japan with a $ 29,000 fine.
“The owner of the export company in Brazil was fined $ 29,700 and crews of the fishing boats also are expected to be penalized for illegally slaughtering sharks.“
Good to have Pete on our side.
Complete story.
The Humane Society of the United States Joins Shark-Free Marinas to Reduce Killing of Ocean’s Great Predators
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Humane Society of the United States Joins Shark-Free Marinas to Reduce Killing of Ocean’s Great Predators
‘Shark-Free Marina Initiative’ promotes catch-and-release
Note: There are Shark-Free Marinas in Harwich, Mass.; Key Largo, Fla.; Miami; Tequesta, Fla.; Vero Beach, Fla.; West Alton, Mo, Fiji, Tonga, and the U.K
(March 15, 2010) — The Humane Society of the United States has teamed up with Shark-Free Marinas in a campaign to significantly reduce worldwide shark mortality.
Fittingly, the effort is called the “Shark-Free Marina Initiative” and seeks the support of marina operators worldwide to prohibit the landing of any shark on their premises, thus encouraging catch-and-release fishing. To help publicize the plight of sharks and the need for their protection, The HSUS and SFMI are supplying signs and public information to participating marinas in the U.S. and the Caribbean.
“The Humane Society of the United States is pleased to join the efforts of the Shark-Free Marina Initiative,” said John Grandy, Ph.D., senior vice president of wildlife for The HSUS. “The HSUS works tirelessly to end animal cruelty, exploitation and neglect and is deeply concerned by the deteriorating status of shark populations.”
Luke Tipple, executive director of the Initiative, said, “The Shark-Free Marina Initiative welcomes the support of The Humane Society of the United States and its members to protect beleaguered shark species.”
The HSUS, the nation’s largest animal protection organization, strives to end the killing of sharks in sport tournaments around the United States, and works to raise public awareness about celebrating ocean life instead of destroying it. The Shark-Free Marina Initiative encourages marinas to adopt shark-friendly policies, preventing kill tournaments from using those facilities.
Facts Dozens of marinas in the United States, the Caribbean and the South Pacific have registered as Shark-Free Marinas since the initiative began in 2008. The HSUS also works to protect sharks by campaigning against shark finning, and the organization recently petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to list the porbeagle shark as endangered.
The Shark-Free Marina Initiative runs a Regional Ambassador program where anyone can get involved in their important work. Visit the SFMI Web site (sharkfreemarinas.com) or The HSUS Web site (humanesociety.org/protectsharks) for more information.
Other groups supporting the Shark-Free Marina Initiative include the Fisheries Conservation Foundation and Cape Eleuthera Institute.
Media Contact: Liz Bergstrom, 301-258-1455, ebergstrom@humanesociety.org
Sharks – the Science – the Success!
Over in Fiji Da Shark and his entire team have a lot to be proud of when it comes to templates for sustainable and research interactive commercial shark sites – they have written the book.
We’ll let Da Shark tell it in a blog post from today:
The section about Shark Tourism fascinates me.
- The yearly turnover of Beqa Adventure Divers is FJD 1,100,000 (of which FJD 45,000/year marine park levy), all of which gets re-invested in country. Add to that the ancillary revenues in the tourism industry (airline tickets, transfers, accommodation, meals, souvenirs, excursions etc) and assume that the ratio is 1:2 (which is very conservative!) = FJD 2,200,000, gives a total of FJD 3,300,000.
- We work with approx 100 Sharks, meaning that every Shark contributes FJD 33,000 to the Fiji economy – not once but per year!
- Assuming that on average, a Shark will live for 20 years (less for Whitetips, more for Bulls), then the value of one Shark on our Shark dive is FJD 660,000.
- Our competitors work with the same Sharks. Assuming that their cash flow is similar to ours, one can double the above numbers.
