The Sharks Need Our Help

Sharks may not be the cuddliest creatures on the planet, but they serve important roles as apex predators in the oceans and have mostly been unjustly vilified as dangerous man-eating predators who kill wildly and without reason. After watching the movie Sharkwater, I know this isn't the case. Due to the rising middle class in several Asian countries, sharks are facing unprecedented danger from overfishing. With no regard for laws, boats send out miles of cruel longlines, catching everything in their wake, including sharks, turtles, dolphins, and albatross. And in one of the cruelest practices in fishing, sharks often have their fins cut off and then are thrown back into the water alive to sink slowly while drowning.

You would think that world heritage sites including the Galapagos Marine Park and Cocos Island, Costa Rica would be immune to these types of practices, but unfortunately, there is very little enforcement and the citizens of many of these countries have very little incentive to protect sharks as finning is a multi billion dollar business. Taiwanese mafia basically control the shark finning industry out of Puntarenes in Costa Rica, and help the locals build roads in exchange for looking the other way while they grossly exploit Costa Rica's natural resources.

The Galapagos Marine Park and Cocos Island in Costa Rica are a couple of the only places in the world that scalloped hammerheads gather in huge schools of hundreds of individuals. Someday I would love to have the opportunity to swim with scalloped hammerheads in the Galapagos, and I hope that they are still there when I've finally had enough training to do the difficult dive. Watch this incredibly moving youtube video to see how amazing Cocos is and how majestic these beautiful animals are.(Ignore the part at the end with the dramatic sinister music.)The second video is one of my favorites and shows the majestic whale sharks of the Galapagos Marine park.

         


If you're outraged by the cruel and illegal overfishing of sharks all over the world, but especially at world heritage sites, there are a few things you can do:

1. See the Sharkwater documentary by Rob Stewart. I promise you will never look at sharks the same way again.

2. If you're an American Express cardholder, you can vote to have AMEX fund Rob's project to educate Costa Ricans on the value of Cocos and the sharks there. Vote here.

3. Go swimming with sharks. No seriously. Shark tourism is an incredible way to prove the monetary and ecological value of preserving the shark populations all over the world. I'll post some links of reputable shark diving tours available.

4. Do not eat shark fin soup. Refuse to eat at restaurants that serve shark fin soup. Most of the restaurants in Toronto are offering shark fin soup that does not come from legal and reputable sources. If you are of Chinese descent, consider a shark fin soup free wedding.