Yesterday the world of shark suffering reached a new high when images of tiny sharks in jars were shown on full display being sold in souvenir shops, particularly one online store in the US. This shop was actually brought to our attention by one of our Facebook friends when he saw they were selling dried, stuffed sharks of all kinds. I contacted them with no response (of course). This picture is just heartbreaking….
I’m sure it crosses the minds of all our Shark Guardian campaigners, but really who DOES want to buy such things? What’s more, the range of products sold in this store surely should be managed in some way?
Over the last few months alone the illegal fishing and trading of sharks in well known dive destinations has been brought to our attention. At the end of March, people were shocked to hear about the blatant killing of sharks around Sipidan and Mabul, with an average 50 dead sharks being seen in the waters EACH DAY. This is why the creation of a shark sanctuary there is so important – but gives the question that if finning is going on to this extent, who will police it?
Sign that petition now http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/support-a-semporna-shark-sanctuary-and-the-future-of-our-oceans/
At the beginning of April my friend sent me some photos of sharks in the harbour at Thap Lamu pier,near Khao Lak in Thailand. Similar images appeared on Dive Tribe Thailands’ Facebook page also – dead sharks in full view of tourists arriving and then leaving for day trips out to the Similan islands, the biggest diving destination in Thailand. Having previously worked in the Similans and seen the rapid decline of sharks in just 3 years, these images do nothing to instill confidence in the supposed National park guards who are paid considerable money each day by divers and snorkellers visiting the national park.
Just a few days later Thailand was once again put in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when the widespread sale of shark fin soup and meat was highlighted in Phuket. Again a massive tourist destination and another key
gateway to both the Similan Islands and local dive sites – for divers, particularly, to see this kind of open exploitation on a regular basis…..well how are the governments of these countries expecting dive business to continue??
It is our mission to keep highlighting the sad plight of millions of sharks each year, and to bring these local observations, photos and campaigns to public attention. This is the only way people will know what is happening and this way people can be warned about holiday and dive destinations, and make a choice about where they go and what they choose to do.
To stop visiting these destinations is really not the answer since a fall in revenue may make the fishermen try and catch even more sharks since they can earn more money that way!!!
What we need is more education and more campaigns, particularly to show governments how much more sharks are worth in the ocean than in a bowl of soup.
Palau set the way with this in 2009 and Fiji has recently provided evidence to support this fact. Singapore has amazing things happening at the moment….so amongst all this doom and gloom there really IS hope.
http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/press-releases/shark-dive-tourism-in-fiji-worth-us422-million-a-year-85899379487
We are on a mission to find people we can train to become Shark Guardian Leaders, so they can deliver the Shark Guardian presentation and help spread our wings further. Tell people about what you learn from us, get people to sign the petitions we promote and join us in our campaigns. And in the meantime tell this US company that what they war doing is blatantly wrong http://www.atlanticcoralenterprise.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=133
They have a sign on their website about not selling the baby sharks and the photo was removed quite quickly but they still see it as no problem to sell shark jaws, teeth and a range of stuffed sharks in their taxidermy section. Feel free to let them know how you all feel.
