New changes in customs and laws
Show success in a worthwhile cause
Life as a shark
Is no walk in the park
Cos Man is the bad guy in “Jaws”
Headline: Making Headway in the Movement to Protect the World’s Sharks
A mostly optimistic article–successes on several fronts, including both legal prohibitions on possession of shark fin (unless you happen to be a shark), and social and ad campaigns which have cut the popularity of shark fin soup in China and elsewhere.
This is no small problem:
In an increasingly prosperous Asia, the market for the soup has grown drastically, causing overfishing around the globe. The presence of the once-common hammerhead in large parts of the western Atlantic, for example, has decreased by up to 89 percent over the last 25 years.
And it is not easy to stop, when money is involved, even when appropriate laws are in place. But as the headline suggests, change is at hand.
Earlier this year I was at the aquarium and saw a sign pasted to the glass wall of the shark tank:
The sign was reversed, so that it looked back-to-front from my perspective.
‘Nuff said…
@StuartVO LOL, that’s awesome! Which aquarium and was it an official sign?
Hi onefuriouslama.
It was at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town.
Yes, it was an official sign, and they had several more in that theme. Like pointing out that toasters kill hundreds of times as many people per year as sharks.
They take their role as conservationists seriously. For example they have a large rotating “sculpture” made out of a discarded fishing net and pieces of ocean litter, to raise awareness of ocean pollution.
And they also have Japanese deep-sea crabs with metre-long legs that still haunt my nightmares. :-)
In case y’all didn’t already know, South African shores are renowned for the large shark population, yet if even one person gets bitten in a year it’s big shock.
But I digress – The issue here is not really killing of sharks out of fear, it’s pure commercial greed.
Anyway, if you ever see one of those astounding pics or clips of a Great White going airborne, it was most likely taken off the coasts of Cape Town or Durban.
</proud Saffie bragging about his country’s wildlife>