Very Bad News

[justleesa]

Gee, I'll take a guess. Someone cut his fins off, probably while he was still alive, and threw him back into the ocean as garbage.

That I figured out too...what I meant was there is no track to the incident as it isn't, as far as I know, on the menu here. Maybe done by someone who is accustomed to sharkfin soup or wanted a trophy of sorts

 

[jbichsel]

First let me say that ANYTHING that comes out of the UN, I talk with a 6,000 lb grain of salt. I am NOT a fan of the UN.

HOWEVER.......what is happening to shark populations (and other species) is tragic and will have dire consequences at some point. They are a vital part of the eco system and balance is preserved. Take away that balance and the scales fall apart.

I think taht education is the biggest part of helping the situation. Project Aware is a worthwile cause and it targets kids mainly. Teach them young and the battle is half won.

I love sharks. I love to feel them as they swim, the power, muscle and rough texture. I love to watch how they move, observe and react. They are to me, possibly the most interesting creatures in the ocean.

Estimate of losing 100,000,000 (one hundred million) sharks per year are horrific.

But how do we break the culture barrier? Education.

A great job has been done with whales, but they are mamals and don't eat people. I occasionally run into someone that thinks sharks should be killed whenever they are seen. Then I have to try to explain the "circle of life" and provide some analogy they can grasp.

I think that media, news, print and entertainment, does a great disservice for the most part, to the plight of sharks by over sensationalizing any incident between sharks and humans, that give a completely idiotic view of what they are and what they are about.

Any, if anyone wants to fund me coming somewhere to study sharks, I'm open.

 

[MantaRey]

Good point, and maybe you are right perhaps we need a high profile person, film / pop star

Shifting baselines did that. They have a whole bunch of celebrities, it's a really great project.

Your money and sacrifices for research is also very great... Sadly not enough businesses are willing to lose a little profit for that. Which bothers me because by protecting the marine environment- especially a place like utila- you are protecting the best industry possible for both man and animal: tourism.

Too much money is wasted on artificial reefs and beach project. Don't get me wrong, artificial reefs are a great thing, but they are only patch fixes. You can replace parts on a car, doesn't mean the car will last any longer than it's designed to.

 

[jbichsel]

That I figured out too...what I meant was there is no track to the incident as it isn't, as far as I know, on the menu here. Maybe done by someone who is accustomed to sharkfin soup or wanted a trophy of sorts

From the amount of trash I've seen on Oahu's beaches and they vast majority of Japanese writing on said trash, I can well imagine it was probably the victim of a Japanese fishing vessel somewhere around Oahu.

 

[Sideband]

Shark finning has been illegal in US waters since 2000.

 

[pterantula]

Spending money isn't always the best option. Shockingly: money isn't as important as you might think it is.

Okay, sorry, but that is a bit naive, I have to take this aside. Money is extremely important to business owners, small governments and the laborers themselves; they might not say it in so many words, but many microeconomies have no other means of staying afloat. These populations start to grow (don't get me started on that moral tangent), and it becomes even more pressing to stay economically viable.

You can not expect a fisherman or a community of generational fishermen to accept that they can sustain themselves slightly better in 20 years by starving themselves today. Subsistence communities just want to make it through each harvest alive. This thinking (which yes, should be reeducated, but see below) continues all the way up to illegal poaching, done by genuine capitalist entrepreneurs (it's a double-edge, ain't it great? Yes it is, but anyway) who are indeed trying to better their lot in life - maybe they're even trying to transcend the old tribal subsistence mentality.

You're dealing with people's mindsets here, plenty changing can be done without spending great amounts of money. Information and knowledge is free afterall.

I agree, but education - at least in terms of where I think we're conceiving it - is an incredible luxury. The ability to even think abstractly about the global economy of food chains and ecosystems is one of the by-products of our luxurious "leisure society", brought about by massive industrial advances, over many decades.
We need to be cognizant that this is a paradigm leap than not everyone in the world has made.

Sorry for the rant....

 

[MantaRey]

But how do we break the culture barrier? Education.

Going back to what I said before: It's also in the method of education. Too many conservation society's out there focus too much on law and pointing the finger. Which is such a useless way of educating anything. Time and time again throughout life that is proven.

Instead of telling people that they need to stop killing things, we need to teach them to practice restraint and limitations; because you'll NEVER break a cultural barrier. By the time you do, it'll be too late. So you tell them; if they want to continue their practice, they need to limit themselves to preserve them for the future.

Not tell them: stop killing the sharks, they're all gonna die and the oceans will die.

Not everyone in this world has the same grasp to what the oceans and their importance as fellow divers.

 

[MantaRey]

Okay, sorry, but that is a bit naive, I have to take this aside. Money is extremely important to business owners, small governments and the laborers themselves; they might not say it in so many words, but many microeconomies have no other means of staying afloat.

OK but I was saying how the money is used. There are plenty of ways in educating the public without the use of spending huge amounts of money.

You can not expect a fisherman or a community of generational fishermen to accept that they can sustain themselves slightly better in 20 years by starving themselves today. Subsistence communities just want to make it through each harvest alive.

That is very true. But you're wrong on one thing, you can show them other ways. Just an example from my personal experience: for my work in Ecuador I worked with many anthropologists who have established themselves in a village called Salango. A village which has been based solely around fishing for thousands of years. Very recently there has been a major shift from fishing to tourism (mainly whale watching tours). The people there know that tourism is a much wiser investment of time than fishing. The transition is being made. It takes very little money to do this kind of work. Take the amount that you'd pay a celebrity spokesperson for a year and that would be way more than enough.

IMHO the best conservationists are anthropologists not just biologists.

One thing we all agree on is that education is obviously the key. You just have to be careful on how you do it. After all you can only teach those who are willing to learn in the first place. You can't just barge in and tell them they're wrong, that'll gain no one's attention.

But than again those are just my two cents. And to me, money hasn't been the dictating factor of my life.

 

[MantaRey]

Oh yeah the problem with Salango: is the industrial fishing factory- owned by europeans- who have established their walled fort there and annihialate the area.

In that case: I agree money would be the deciding factor. But you're not gonna win the hearts of the owners of the company and politicians, so you turn the tables. Build the tourism industry enough so that the revenue and importance exceeds that of the factory. And the politicians will be on your side.

 

[pterantula]

A village which has been based solely around fishing for thousands of years. Very recently there has been a major shift from fishing to tourism (mainly whale watching tours). The people there know that tourism is a much wiser investment of time than fishing. The transition is being made.

Please allow me to amend my previous statement with the words "right away"... Reeducation is certainly an option, but it does take time. (And for people like me who need an income from somewhere, it also takes some money... if ya got some, I'll go down there too.... )

But than again those are just my two cents. And to me, money hasn't been the dictating factor of my life.

(Mine either, but you must live somehow; do you work, or do you have massive savings, or grants? Just wondering. There are so many things for which I'd love to volunteer, but I must work instead....)