Shark Existence
The shark existence of the east coast of the USA decreased in the last 15 years substantially. The number of the hammerhead sharks sank around 89%, those of the thresher sharks around 80%, those of the great white sharks around 79%. The populations of the mako sharks, blue sharks and tiger sharks sank around 40-65%. The existence of the sandbar sharks were reduced in the last 10 years by overfishing by 85-90%.
Canadian researchers announce a decrease of the oceanic whitetip shark by around 99%. They are almost extinguished in certain regions already.
Sharks are not only caught actively for their meat, fins or cartilages. Millions of sharks die as non-usable catch (bycatch) in the nets and longlines of the swimming fish factories.
In the year 1991 the longline fishery brought in 8.3 million sharks world-wide. It is assumed that about half of it were blue sharks. More than 87% of these 8.3 million sharks were thrown away!
In the USA, along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, annually approx. 2.5 million sharks are fished by sportfishing (game fishing). From that approx. 20-40% (500’000 – 1’000’000 sharks) got killed.
The population of all sorts of sharks is worldwide extremely threatened. In total 82 shark and ray species are registered on the so called “Red List” of the World Conservation Union.
Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with age, approx, Atlantic, Atlantic Coast, blue, blue sharks, bycatch, canadian researchers, car, cartilage, catch, Co, coast, conservation, decrease, ear, existence, fact, fin, fins, fish, fish factories, fishery, fishing, game, game fishing, Got, Great, great white shark, great white sharks, Gulf of Mexico, half, hammerhead, hammerhead sharks, head, line, List, longline, longline fishery, longlines, mako, mako sharks, meat, number, ocean, oceanic whitetip shark, overfishing, population, ray, Red, region, research, researcher, round, row, sand, sandbar, sandbar sharks, sea, serv, shark, Shark Existence, shark existence of the east coast, Sharks, Sharks are fish, Species, sport, swimming, threat, Threatened, thresher, thresher sharks, tiger, tiger shark, Tiger Sharks, Union, US, USA, way, White, white shark, white sharks, whitetip, Wide, world, world conservation union, worldwide, year, year 1991
SOS attend international conference in Brussels
Following its acceptance of membership to the recently formed Shark Alliance, Save Our Sharks (SOS) attended the first anniversary and inaugural meeting of the Shark Alliance member groups in Brussels.
Around 35 delegates from 6 countries, U.K, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Holland attended plus the directors and staff from the Pew Charitable Trusts, who financed the meeting.
Save Our Sharks were represented by Nigel Proctor (on behalf of the SOS committee) who met up at Brussels airport with the Sea Anglers Conservation Network (Scotland) representative, and SOS liaison officer Denis Kelly.
“Fins On”
One of the principal proposals that came out the conference is to be headed “Fins On” where the aim is to have sharks landed whole. There will be a drive to raise public awareness of the issue, and we will try to capitalise on the IUCN red listing, and create further publicity.
“Shark Week”
Another proposal is to hold a “Shark Week” in each member country, where each country’s members create a project to involve the community, schools, museums, aquariums and the like to raise awareness of shark issues.
There will be more to follow on the above shortly
There were many other issues and points made, however, these are the principal ones
• Strive to raise public awareness of shark related issues,
• Create adequate publicity and maintain the pressure,
• Educate journalists away from ‘sensationalism’ without portraying sharks as an animal they clearly are not, they are apex predators, not cuddly, loveable ‘toys’,
• Pre-influence the journalist way of thinking prior to ‘shark week’ and Ocean Day,
• Feed the media with facts and data to ‘force’ the attention on sharks prior to EU discussions on shark management,
• Similarly with CITES,
• Important to maintain ‘shark friendly’ states and get them to lobby less friendly countries,
• Lobby the UK to dispense with its ‘special permits’,
• Ensure that the Shark Alliance has a high profile at the release and showing of the new shark film,
• Don’t alienate the fishing industry,
• Work with fishermen, more is likely to be achieved at a faster rate,
Denis and Nigel were made extremely welcome and clearly treated as being amongst equals, if but a little less experienced in the ways of policy and lobbying. Nigel stated after the meeting that, “We have made significant moves along the pathway of shark conservation and have little to fear in the future, in terms of acceptability, we have a lot to offer and should not be afraid to push forward with our objectives, we can gain a great deal from liaison with the other member groups of the Shark Alliance, however, we also have a great deal to offer as well”.
At the conference Nigel reiterated the high level of importance UK anglers attached to sharks, skates and rays, making the point that the bad old days of trophy fish were long gone. He finished off by indicating our commitment and referencing the prohibition on the landing of tope along the English east coast (c 200 miles of coastline) which to the best of our knowledge is the first full protection, and or prohibition on the landing of any shark species in European waters. This brought about a warm and consensual round of applause, which probably indicates that we are not outcasts any more, but highly regarded and welcome members of an important Shark Alliance.
Well done to Nigel and Denis for helping to put recreational shark fishing on the front-line of European shark conservation
The next few months
We are in for a quiet time in Scotland until after the elections but there is much to do, in England and Europe. We will be writing to our members shortly with more details, please get involved.
• Liaise with the Shark Trust to organise a “Shark Week” to raise public awareness with the overall goal of banning the removing of fins at sea.
• Lobby Defra to stop handing out special permits which allows finning on Porbeagles. Both of the above are part of the “Fins On” campaign.
• Keep pressure on Defra to announce the results of the tope consultation.
• Build up a case to take to the EU to implement tope management across Europe.
• Remind Defra of their intention to implement a maximum landing size on rays, skate and spurdog.
• Keep pressure on the Scottish Exec. to have the Firth of Lorne, Sound of Mull and surrounding lochs and waters designated as a Spurdog nursery area.
• Lobby the EU to have the 25 per cent by catch on rays implemented in all UK waters.
• Continue with the red tape to get SOS listed for charitable status. Once achieved we can apply for grants to help with the campaigning and administrative costs.
Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with ability, acceptability, acceptance, age, aim, air, airport, Alliance, alliance member, amp, Anglers, animal, anniversary, apex, apex predators, applause, aquariums, area, attention, awareness, ban, behalf, Brussels, brussels airport, Build, campaign, campaigning, capitalise, case, catch, cent, CITES, Co, coast, coastline, commitment, committee, community, conference, conference in Brussels, consensual, conservation, conservation network, consultation, Continue, country, Data, day, deal, Defra, Denis, Denis Kelly, Director, dog, Don, drive, ear, Educate, England, English, Ensure, EST, Europe, European, european waters, Exec, experience, fact, fear, feed, film, fin, Finning, fins, Firth, fish, fishermen, fishing, force, form, France, front, future, gel, Germany, germany switzerland, Gland, goal, Great, group, half, hand, head, hold, Holland, importance, Important, inaugural meeting, industry, influence, intention, International, issue, Italy, IUCN, iucn red list, journal, journalist, knowledge, land, landing, leg, level, Liaise, liaison, liaison officer, line, List, listing, Lobby, Lorne, lot, management, maximum, meeting, member, member country, member groups, membership, mind, Mull, Network, network scotland, Nigel, Nigel Proctor, nursery, object, ocean, offer, officer, organise, part, pathway, Pew, pew charitable trusts, point, policy, porbeagle, Porbeagles, Pre-influence, predators, pressure, Principal, principal proposals, proctor, profile, prohibition, project, proposal, protect, protection, public, public awareness, publicity, rat, rate, ray, recreation, Red, release, Remind, representative, round, Save, Scotland, Scottish, sea, sea anglers, sensationalism, serv, shark, Shark Alliance, shark conservation, shark fish, shark fishing, shark species, shark trust, shark week, Sharks, ship, showing, size, skate, skates, SOS, Sound, Species, spurdog, staff, status, Strive, Switzerland, tape, term, The Shark Trust, time, tope, trophy, Trust, Trusts, U.K, UK, uk waters, US, use, water, way, Week, With, work
A STING IN THE TALE FOR SHARKS AND RAYS
Expert findings show sharks and rays are now amongst Europe’s most threatened animals as more are added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Gland, Switzerland, 20 February 2006 (IUCN) The number of species of sharks and rays on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species will increase based on the findings of a three-day expert workshop, hosted by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), that examined the conservation status of the species in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean waters.
The workshop confirms the widely-accepted notion that slow-growing sharks and rays are exceptionally vulnerable to over-fishing, and that deep-water species are being depleted at an alarming rate. Some formerly important commercial species are now so rare that they are no longer being sought by fishermen, but their risk of extinction is still rising because of continued incidental capture in fisheries for more abundant species. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of shark fisheries management in European waters.
“Sharks and rays are amongst the most threatened animal groups in the UK today. I welcome the development of a Red List baseline, against which to monitor the hoped-for changes in their status that should arise from increased awareness of their plight,” said Dr Malcolm Vincent, JNCC’s Director of Science.
Nearly 100 species of sharks and rays were evaluated against the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Categories range from Extinct to Least Concern and Data Deficient. Species deemed Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered are considered threatened with extinction and are added to the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Shark Specialist Group, which convened the meeting, will compile these assessments for a regional report that will include recommendations for conservation action.
Proposed additions to the Red List include three species of angel sharks, two species of skates, and several species of deep-water sharks, all of which are considered Critically Endangered in the region, as well as two species of coastal ray, now considered Endangered. The species found to be at lowest risk were generally small and fast-growing coastal species, like cuckoo ray and lesser-spotted catshark, and very deep ocean species that are still beyond the reach of today’s fishing fleets.
Angel sharks, formerly abundant large coastal sharks, were once a common sight in fish markets, but have largely vanished, almost unnoticed, from the European seas that are their world stronghold.
Now officially declared extinct in the North Sea by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (fisheries advisers to European countries), the angel shark was nominated in 2001 for strict legal protection in British waters, but we are still waiting for government action on this proposal, said Sarah Fowler, Co-Chair of the Shark Specialist Group. Workshop participants emphasised the urgency of protecting this, and many other imperilled species.
Three species of deep-water sharks, taken as incidental catch in fisheries and increasingly targeted for their meat and rich liver oil, were assessed as threatened. A population decline of 80-95% prompted a Critically Endangered classification for the region’s deep-water gulper shark.
These exceptionally slow-growing sharks are simply not biologically equipped to withstand such intense fishing pressure, said Tom Blasdale, Marine Species Adviser at the JNCC. We welcome recent European Union action to manage deep-water gillnet fisheries, but similar measures are still urgently needed to protect deep-water sharks taken by trawls and longlines.
The shortfin mako shark, a favourite target of commercial and recreational fishermen around the world, was proposed as Vulnerable in the Northeast Atlantic and Critically Endangered in the Mediterranean Sea.
This wide-ranging species is increasingly the target of fisheries and yet lacks any type of protective measures in this region, warned Alen Soldo of the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Croatia. Of particular concern are mako sharks in the Mediterranean, where our findings revealed ongoing fishing pressure well beyond the reproductive capacity of the species.
In contrast to similar workshops held in North America, South Africa, and Australia, the workshop yielded little if any good news, due largely to the lack of shark and ray conservation measures in this region. Protection is granted by just a handful of European countries for the three largest species (basking shark, devil ray, and great white shark). The few European shark and ray quotas in place are routinely set far in excess of actual catches and therefore do not limit fishing pressure. They also cover only part of these stocks. Scientists advice for zero catch of many depleted shark and ray species has been ignored. There are no international limits on shark catch, even as fisheries for wide-ranging shark species (such as mako and blue sharks) expand and evidence of their declines mounts.
Scientists from government agencies, universities, and private institutions participated in the workshop including authors of published papers on shark and skate population status and experts who develop advice on shark quotas for European and international fisheries of the Northeast Atlantic. Experts from England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Russia, Sweden, Canada, and the USA took part.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world’s most authoritative guide to the status of biological diversity. The workshop was the eighth in a global series to assess all of the world’s shark and ray species and develop regional conservation priorities. Resulting Red List proposals are preliminary until accepted by the global Shark Specialist Group network.
Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with abundant species, action, addition, advice, Adviser, age, air, Alen, angel, angel sharks, animal, animal groups, assessment, Atlantic, Australia, author, awareness, baseline, Basking, basking shark, Biological, blue, blue sharks, British, capacity, capture, catch, Categories, catshark, cent, Chair, Class, classification, Co, coast, commercial species, committee, Concern, conservation, conservation action, Continue, contrast, Council, Criteria, Critically, Croatia, cuckoo, Data, day, decline, deep ocean, Deficient, Development, devil, Director, diver, dr malcolm, Dr Malcolm Vincent, ear, Endangered, England, EST, Europe, European, european waters, exception, excess, expert, expert workshop, Exploration, Extinct, extinction, favourite, Feb, February, fin, finding, fish, fisheries, fisheries management, fishermen, fishing, fishing fleet, fishing fleets, fleet, form, gel, gene, general, gill, gillnet, Gland, gland switzerland, Government, Great, great white shark, group, gulper, hand, handful, hold, host, Important, Institute, International, Italy, IUCN, iucn red list, iucn shark specialist group, JNCC, Join, Joint, joint nature conservation committee, lack, land, Least, leg, line, List, liver, liver oil, longline, longlines, mako, mako sharks, management, Marine, market, meat, Mediterranean, Mediterranean Sea, mediterranean waters, meeting, Nature, need, Network, news, North, North America, North Sea, Northeast Atlantic, notion, number, ocean, Oceanography, official, oil, Ongoing, paper, part, place, plight, population, Portugal, pressure, product, proposal, Proposed, protect, protection, range, rat, rate, ratio, ray, reach, recreation, Red, region, report, rise, risk, round, row, Sarah Fowler, Science, Scotland, sea, serv, shark, shark fish, shark fisheries, shark specialist group, shark species, Sharks, shop, shortfin, side, sight, situation, skate, skates, skin, Soldo, South Africa, Spain, Specialist, Species, species of sharks, stand, status, stronghold, Switzerland, TALE FOR SHARKS, target, Tens, threat, Threatened, today, Tom Blasdale, type, UK, Union, urgency, US, USA, use, Vulnerable, water, water sharks, water species, White, white shark, Wide, With, work, workshop, world
Killing Sharks
Sharks have a great deal to fear from humans. Compared to the 10-15 people killed by sharks each year; over 100 million sharks perish at the hands of humans annually and many populations may face extinction. Sharks are killed for many reasons, including fear; food, sport, and ‘machismo’, but the great majority perish due to simple greed. Many shark products have commercial value, including: the flesh; the skin for high-quality leather; teeth and jaws for ornaments; liver oil for cosmetics, medicines, vitamin A, and skin-care products; and cartilage for false cancer ‘cures’. However; the product that drives the market are the fins. After drying, collagen fibers are extracted from them, cleaned, and processed to make ‘shark fin soup’. In spite of the fact that these fibers have little flavor or nutritional value, the soup is considered a delicacy, and may sell in the Orient for more than $100 ( £65) a bowl.
Over the years, shark fisheries have come and gone. In the early part of the century, sponge fishermen in Florida killed sharks to boil them down for their oil. The oil was then thrown on the ocean to smooth the surface of the water and make it easier to see the sponges from the boat. That ended when a plague killed off the sponges. In the 19405 to .19505 a number of shark fisheries sprang up to supply the market for vitamin A. That ended with the discovery of a method for its synthetic production. However; most shark fisheries, such as the one for dogfish sharks to supply the ‘fish and chips’ market in the UK, have ended only when the number of sharks dropped too low for the fishery to be sustained.
The explosive growth of the Chinese economy and rapid expansion of trade with the outside world during the 1985 and 1995 created an unprecedented situation. Suddenly there was an insatiable demand for shark fins of almost any size or type. Improvements in shipbuilding and navigational electronics meant that shark fishing boats could now go anywhere in the world, moving from one place to another as local shark populations were destroyed. The fins are now so much more valuable than the rest of the shark that the carcass is often discarded after the fins are removed, to save storage space on the boat. Often the fins are sliced off when the shark is still alive and the mutilated shark is dumped back into the water to die a slow and agonizing death.
Why should we be concerned about this situation? After all, wouldn’t the ocean be much safer without sharks? The answer is no. The chance of being attacked by a shark is already less than the chance of being struck by lightning. The real dangers for people in the water are drowning, exposure, and being struck by a boat. In the USA, for example, drowning incidents outnumber shark attacks by 1,000 to I. Without sharks, the whole experience of being in a natural ocean wilderness would be immeasurably reduced. It would be like being on the Serengeti with no lions or cheetahs. In losing the opportunity to view these magnificent and superbly-adapted predators in the wild, we are also losing part of our spiritual connection with nature.
But something else would be changed as well -the whole ecology of the ocean. Predators control the populations of their prey species in a beneficial way. They eliminate diseased and genetically defective individuals, and they stabilize population fluctuations. On land, when we have removed the natural predators of deer; for example, their populations have exploded until they overgrazed their food supply and died of starvation and disease. In the ocean we are not sure what all the consequences of removing the apex predators from the food pyramid might be. We do have one example, though. A shark fishery in Tasmania collapsed after two years of over fishing. Shortly afterwards, the fishery for spiny lobsters also collapsed and fishermen observed a lot of octopus in the area. Octopuses are both major predators of spiny lobster and an important food item for sharks. It seems that once the numbers of octopus were no longer controlled by the sharks, they became too numerous and decimated the lobsters. Economically, for those other than shark fishermen, it doesn’t make sense to allow sharks to be fished out, not only because of the possible damage to sustainable fisheries, but also because of the loss of earnings from divers coming to see sharks. Worldwide, shark-watching has become a multi-million dollar business.
Why do shark populations collapse so quickly when people begin fishing them? The answer lies in the life history of these animals. In many aspects, sharks are more similar to mammals such as whales, dolphins, or ourselves, than to other fish. Whereas most fish reach maturity in only a few years and produce thousands or millions of eggs per year; sharks take many years to reach maturity. Some species may not begin to reproduce until they are over 15 years old. Some species produce as few as two pups biannually, averaging only one offspring per year: So when a population is over fished, it may take many years to recover; or it may never recover: Some scientists believe that sharks should never be fished at all, that their biology is too fragile to withstand any exploitation. Perhaps sharks should have the total protection given to marine mammals in many countries. Unfortunately, sharks do not have big ‘fan clubs’ as dolphins do.
Although both are large predators with slow reproductive rates, sharks are handicapped, from a.: public relations perspective, by the fact that their mouths appear to be frowning, and that they must open their mouths to pass water over their gills, exposing their teeth. Dolphins, on the other hand, always appear to be smiling, because of the shape of their mouths. Since they breathe through the blowholes on top of their heads, they do not have to open their mouths and expose their formidable teeth in order to get oxygen. But even the dolphin’s smile may not protect it from the greed inspired by the high prices being offered by international buyers of shark fins. In a number of countries, fishermen are slaughtering dolphins to chop up for shark bait.
We should create save our sharks and dolphins lanyards to create awareness
Filed under Save Sharks · Tagged with A. That, age, amp, animal, answer, apex, apex predators, area, awareness, biology, boat, bowl, BSE, Build, business, Cancer, cancer cures, car, carcass, care, cartilage, cent, century, chance, chinese economy, Co, collagen, collagen fibers, collapse, Concern, connection, control, damage, deal, death, delicacy, demand, discovery, disease, diver, dog, Dogfish, dogfish sharks, Dollar, drive, ear, ecology, Economically, economy, EST, example, expansion, experience, exposure, Extinct, extinction, face, fact, fear, fin, fin soup, fins, fish, fish and chips, fisheries, fishermen, fishery, fishing, fishing boats, flavor, flesh, Florida, food, form, gene, gill, Great, greed, growth, hand, head, history, I. Without, Important, Improvements, insatiable demand, International, item, jaw, jaws, Killing Sharks, land, laugh, leather, life, lightning, liver, liver oil, lobster, loss, lot, machismo, majority, Mammals, Marine, marine mammals, market, maturity, mean, method, mid, mouth, Nature, navigation, navigational, navigational electronics, number, ocean, Octopuses, offer, offspring, oil, opportunity, order, Orient, outnumber, oxygen, part, perish, place, population, predators, prey, process, product, production, protect, protection, public, pyramid, quality leather, rapid expansion, rat, rate, reach, real victims, reason, Red, rest, row, Safe, sand, Save, sea, sense, Serengeti, serv, shape, shark, shark fin soup, shark fins, shark fish, shark fisheries, shark fishing, shark populations, Shark Products, Sharks, ship, shipbuilding, side, situation, size, skin, skin care products, skin-care, slaughter, slice, something, soup, space, Species, spiny, spiritual, spite, sponge, sport, stand, starvation, storage, story, supply, surface, synthetic production, Tasmania, thing, trade, tuna, type, UK, unprecedented situation, US, USA, use, value, vitamin, water, way, Whale, Wide, wilderness, With, world, worldwide, year
SHARKWATER FILM
The Canadian born photographer and filmmaker never held a video camera before he began the Sharkwater project — but that is not apparent when you see the film. On the contrary, the imagery is beautifully framed, inspiring, and stunningly breathtaking. The images that Stewart sets forth will awe you, and will capture your heart.
Stewart set out to create a film that would simply depict how beautiful sharks are in their natural habitat. The finished product, however, ended up evolving into so much more. Instead, we’re drawn into an amazing story of human drama, organized crime, corruption, and greed.
The film kicks off with clips from military training videos archived from the 1960s. As might be expected, they depict sharks as ruthless and bloodthirsty man-eaters. The clips belie the ignorance of their times with suggestions such as putting one’s face in the water and yelling to deter a marauding shark.
While it provides an almost humorous relief to the serious subject matter, it is important to realize that 40 years ago, these films were definitive and authoritative. Forty years ago, we held these precepts to be truth. We look back and laugh, because now we know better. …Or do we?
The chasm between reality and the popular beliefs sustained and fueled by exaggerated media is still enormous.
In reality, sharks do not eat people, and they are not mindless killers. As long as people view sharks as dangerous predators, they won’t care about saving them, and this is exactly what Rob Stewart hopes to change.
Early in the film, Stewart begins to debunk some of the mystery and fear around sharks as he holds and pets an eight foot long Caribbean reef shark as if it were a lapdog. From this point on, his understanding of sharks and his community with the underwater world is evident.
In an effort to capture even more compelling underwater footage of sharks, Stewart joins renowned conservationist Paul Watson and the controversial Sea Shepard team aboard the Ocean Warrior. The team is invited and implored by the President of Costa Rica to help patrol the waters surrounding Cocos Island, one of the places celebrated as a gathering area for sharks, and where illegal shark fishing often takes place.
Complete with colliding ships, gunboat chases, espionage, corrupt courts, and spurious charges of attempted murder, the adventure that ensues is nothing short of epic.
Organized crime and conspiracy surrounding the shark fin industry is deeply entrenched. With dried fins sometimes fetching in excess of $400USD per pound, it is a multi-billion dollar industry rife with greed and corruption.
But it is more than corrupt government officials, or the “shark-fin mafia” that threaten Stewart’s life. Shortly after the entire crew must hurriedly flee from Costa Rica, Stewart is diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, the “flesh-eating” disease. Rare but deadly, the disease threatens to claim Stewart’s leg, and possibly his life. Alone, with only hope by his side, Stewart remains bedridden in a Panamanian hospital for an agonizing week before doctors can make any prognosis.
Determined more than ever to make a difference, Stewart defies reason and returns to Costa Rica. Knowing he would be arrested on sight, he and his crew must sneak back into the country. Ironically, when they arrive in Puntarenas, they are able to blend in — Protesters line the streets, demonstrating against shark finning and illegal shark fisheries. “Costa Ricans were rallying for sharks. . . I realized our adventure had helped awaken a country”, remarks Stewart with renewed faith.
Over the next four years, Stewart shot more than 400 hours of footage in 15 different countries. In addition to interviews with shark and conservation experts like Erich Ritter, Patrick Moore, and Rex Weyler, Sharkwater includes commentary from average beachgoers, showing how desperately fear and hate of sharks are ingrained. As one Australian angrily believes, “they’re the scourge of the ocean, and everyone should go and catch one.”
Sharks have been an integral part of the oceanic ecosystem for 400 million years, but their populations have declined by more than 90% in the last 50 years alone. It is estimated that more than 100 million sharks are killed for their fins each year.
Shark finning is neither humane nor sustainable. Any shark is taken, regardless of size, age, or species. After its fins are cut off, the shark is thrown back into the water. Unable to swim, and bleeding to death, the shark suffers a slow and torturous death.
Much of the demand for the fins stems from shark fin soup, a traditional asian dish often served at weddings and special events. Once a rare delicacy consumed by Chinese aristocracy, the dish is viewed as a symbol of status and power, and is gaining in popularity as China continues to modernize and its 1.2 billion people become more affluent.
Indeed, there is an uphill battle to be fought, but there is hope.
The Sharkwater crew interviews one Chinese bride who, defying long tradition and facing cultural stigma, makes a statement by refusing to serve shark fin soup at her wedding banquet. We can only hope that this — what is now seen as a controversial decision — will eventually become the norm.
With its spellbinding cinematography and riveting story, Sharkwater has won awards at every film festival where it has appeared. Sharkwater will change the way people view sharks and the ocean. It will open their eyes. . . and, hopefully, their hearts. You can create pet chrome emblems with Shark image to create awareness too.
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