Helping sharks???

[Lake Muroc Diver]

Here is a link that addresses this issue:
http://www.sharktagger.com/tagging.html
I am no tree hugger, I am an outdoorsman and one time hunter. I hate the capricious waste of life and think poaching should be a capital offence. We are Gods creatures and wild animals do deserve a little more respect. At least some common sense, maybe enforcement with a Destroyer fleet to keep the Hooligans out of our Nature reserves and coastal waters. On a planetary scale the fight is uphill. Even our international partner in industry, Japan , has no reins on their fishing fleet, allowing the harvesting of whales "for scientific purposes", with the governments blessing, that ends up in restaurants as a cheap burger meat.
The lowly shark is in a long line of sea creatures to be saved and is not as cute or noble as those above him, since they do eat a surfer or two, and little girls on the beach every year. I am very pessimistic about the whole future of our beloved oceans.
Greenpeace may need to change their name to Green WAR.

 

[vladimir]

I objected--lightheardedly, I thought--to your sweeping generalization, "they don't swim", and to the implication that the Chinese have a monolithic world view. It seems like ivory tower naivete to me.

 

[fishoutawater]

Not to make sweeping generalizations against Chinese people and their habits, but I do sometimes find how they treat animals rather revolting.
I saw a film once showing a Chinese guy skin a dog. He skinned it alive while it was tied to a fence post. They do it that way so the dog will remain standing and not get any dirt on its flesh. What really turned my stomach though, was seeing the skinned alive dog still wagging his tail.

 

[TheRedHead]

I'm not shocked that other cultures have different worldviews about anything really. Not making a judgement. Can't really generalize about an entire culture in change either. The Chinese stopped producing Tiger Balm when the government outlawed it. My source tells me that they've outlawed seahorse harvesting recently because of government edict. And I have no doubt they could make shark fin soup a thing of the past.

 

[Bruciebabe]

One person can make a difference but how large of a difference??? I'm really going to write to the Palau tourism board and tell them how I feel. I know it's not just Palau it's all over the place who else should I write to??

"WE" must do something now or the sharks will never recover which will destroy reef populations. Sharks play a huge role and I feel as divers we have an obligation to protect them.

What could scubaboard do??? I'm going to write people but if only one person does it they'll blow it off as some tree hugger. This won't stop, it's only going to get worse. As we speak sharks are being finned and our oceans are being destroyed. I just feel like know one cares because they aren't cuddley or cute.

Hi, there are already organisations out there trying to bring some sense to the world before we have total disaster (which losing an apex predator would be).
Try http://www.sharktrust.org/ , the website is full of useful information and a forum which will help you become an activist. Everyone who does something makes a difference. You can also join the organisation which gives them funds to lobby professionally and gets you a magazine.
They have had great success. CITES, http://www.cites.org/ have started to give some sharks, such as Basking Sharks, levels of protection. CITES is the main global organisation for protecting endagered species so you could also let them know what you think.
Then there are tourist organisations. An economist once worked out that a single shark on a Maldives divesite was worth over US$ 100,000 in tourist revenue and only tens of dollars if caught for it's fins. (This does not stop the Maldivian government from being a major exporter of shark fins to China!!!). There are tourist offices to promote tourism in every country and they also have offices in USA and all the main Western countries. Their job is to add to the economy of their country by attracting Western tourists. If those Western tourists say we might come if there are sharks to see but we won't come if you are killing them, they have to take notice. This works, SCUBA diving is a major earner for Egypt in the Red Sea, last year they banned all shark fishing. They can easily see the right course of action when there is so much money involved.