Thoughts from an Oceanmind

Nico and I have have become pretty good friends over the last month - more like the brother I never had - we share many passions, among them freediving, the ocean, social media, short hair - only difference is that I do not get seasick. And we were actually born on the same day. Last week Nico joined us to Ft. Myers, while new to the Shark World (I almost regret introducing him to this), he is not new the to non-profit world.

He just posted an interesting article on his blog:

"The Plethora of Non Profits: An Ego Battle" -

This could be easily applied to any industry - the shark / shark diving one without a doubt...it is pretty sad that these are the first impressions that people have...a lesson for all:

"Part of me wanting to create the social network Ocean Minds was to offer a platform for people and organizations to communicate and promote a sustainable and healthy lifestyle around the worlds oceans: our playground. I also had in mind for it to be a place where non profits can coordinate on joint efforts.

This past week end, I joined shark minded Brendal Davis of Sharksavers and Felix Leander of Oceanic Dreams to participate in what was supposed to be a protest against the “Are You Man Enough” Shark fishing tournament to be held in Fort Myers,Florida June 6 &7th.

Thanks to several individuals and organizations including the Shark foundation, Shark safe, and Sharksavers the protest ended up to be a nice meeting. They succeeded by uniting their efforts to get public attention on the matter and have the tournament become a catch and release only before the day of the protest. For a more in depth summary of the day, check out Felix Leander blog entry."

Read the complete entry on Nico's blog at: http://www.oceanminds.com/blog/

Shark Savers

Jamie, Julie, Felix, and Janet

While in New York City last week, I had the opportunity to meet the women behind Shark Savers, a non-profit organization whose mission is simple: “…to save sharks, we will increase awareness, educate, bring organizations together, and empower a grassroots effort to protect and sustain sharks on a global scale."

Janet, Jamie, and Julie started the organization about six months ago and thus far have created a big splash. They are an extremely motivated bunch, energetic, and more importantly, they love sharks. I think they will be successful at growing the organization and spread the message; they have quit their jobs to protect sharks fulltime. Convinced, I have become a monthly donor, and I encourage you to do the same – make a donation, help these girls help sharks.