China - Sharks...this could be huge

As per the Humane Society International:

“The news that the government of China will stop serving shark fins marks a watershed moment for the global movement to protect sharks and pushes China onto the world’s stage as an emerging leader in shark conservation."

Read complete article here 

The Economist - Shark Fin Soup

It is always great when reputable media cover shark finning.  Today The Economist published an article about the Chinese going green and doing away with traditional habits.  


"But if disapproval of the consumption of shark’s fin encourages the Chinese to see it as luo hou (backward), one of the most dreaded of all Chinese epithets, they might want to renounce the stuff anyway.


This has already happened with spitting in the streets, which many Chinese now regard as a backward habit. Eating dogs, too, is increasingly viewed as barbaric (a 600-year old dog-eating festival in eastern China was cancelled in September after public uproar). If the new Chinese elite can be persuaded that deliberately eating endangered species ill befits their aspirations to cosmopolitanism, there might be some hope for the sharks."


Be sure to read the complete article here

WildAid has recently launched a campaign to get people to stop eating shark fin soup.

Help Bring Sharkwater to China

I have already covered this in the past, but I recently got an email from Neil Hammerschlag campaigning to bring Sharkwater (I still cannot get over the DVD cover) to China.  By now everyone knows where I stand in reference to the movie and Rob Stewart...HOWEVER...I really do believe that showing this movie in China will have an impact.  I am surprised it has been taking so long - should have debuted there before showing in the US (I know, I know)

You can donate at Save The Blue - a non-profit which Neil is part of.  With the donation you will also receive a shark pendant - I already got mine.

Will this logo mean anything...

My dad sent this email below to a Shark Group on Google - wanted to share to see if anyone had any suggestions:

"While I was showering this morning, I had an idea that is probably a bit naive. I will share it with you, though. Who knows - it might be feasible.

We have been talking about the possibility of drawing the world's attention to the shark finning problem using the Beijing Olympic Games as a PR-pltaform from whence to make a world-wide appeal to boycott the games.

We know that the Chinese authorities have already taken the decision not to serve shark fin soup during official events so as to not offend Western guests' sensitivities. This is, of course, absolutely ridiculous as it only reflects a clumsy attempt to fool the world. Jack Ma of Alibaba has publicly declared that he and his family do not eat shark fin soup anymore - and will not even consider stopping his company from actively trading shark fins. Same thing.

My proposal would be that the large and well known conservation organizations join forces to launch this one specific project: "Help the Sharks survive - do not support the Beijing Olympic Games".

There are many highly respected organizations that could unite and perhaps delegate the management of the campaign to one organization:

WildAid
Shark Research Insitute
Save Our Seas Foundation
Shark Alliance
Shark Trust
The Sea Shepherd
The Humane Society
Sharkproject

..... individuals such as Jean-Michel Cousteau and Rodney Fox, and others.

I understand each of these groups have their own agendas. However, having in common the same basic goal - protecting the marine fauna - it should be possible to coordinate a joint campaign once.

With the synergies thus applied the boycott message could resonate loudly throughout the world - and in mainland China where the population at large is probably not aware of the "issue" and, therefore, cannot establish a link between the consumption of shark fins and an ecological disaster with far-reaching consequences for humanity.


Could this topic be worth discussing it between ourselves before moving forward?

Best wishes,

Wolf"