Shark Finning Film

My goodness, it's good to be back blogging again! I apologize for such an extended absence. I've been attempting to get settled into graduate school. My move went well, and I'm doing great in Eastern North Carolina...North Carolina is the place to be if you're a science blogger! More about graduate school and my research soon.

For now, I want to share a link to an Anti-Shark Finning movie that was sent to me by my friend Peggy of Gateway Hammerheads (a SCUBA club in St. Louis). This film was partially funded by the Shark Foundation. It's sobering, sickening, horrifying, and nauseating. Most of you have probably seen similar footage. The more times and different ways we can illuminate the realities of shark finning, the faster we'll rid of the planet of this scurge.

We can not continue to remove sharks from the ecosystem at the rate we are...it is entirely unsustainable and the ramifications of removing these apex predators will quickly trickle down the food web. If this sort of thing was happening to other apex predators around the world (lions, leopards, tigers, wolves, bears), the outcry would be tremendous!

http://www.vimeo.com/7645560

Feel free to share this link. Pass the word!

Anti-Finning Protest

Tomorrow is the anti-finning protest in San Francisco's Chinatown! If you happen to read this and you're in the Bay area, please join them. I plan on monitoring the Shark Safe project blogsite for details throughout the day. I will relay them to you.

See my previous post for information about the protest as well as previous posts for information about the destructiveness of shark finning.

The Chinatown protests tomorrow are taking a different form than the standard marching and chanting that is so common, especially in San Francisco. They're dividing in small groups, thereby spreading throughout the whole area, and targeting restaurants that serve shark fin soup. Shark Safe project is trying to educate and inform restauranteurs and patrons of the health risks of consuming shark products (high mercury levels) as well as the dangers to our oceans. Please see their latest blog for more information. It's an excellent approach, and I'm excited to hear how it goes tomorrow!