Thursday, January 19, 2012

Dan Rather anyone?

Howdy friends, loved ones, random others who stumbled here from "Peace Corps Journals"...

The world is a crazy place, and in this line of work, things seem even less predictable than usual.  This week I had the good fortune to mix things up a bit and work on my second annual (wow - how long have we been here again?) Faces of Tomorrow Medical mission.  The adjectives of praise and superlatives abound. Inspiring, life changing, life-affirming, etc. I will do a full post on that later, after I get over the emotional hangover of seeing them leave again.

Where all this is going, is that you just never know what's going to be thrown your way.  One day you're sitting around drinking tuba with a bunch of crusty old fishermen, trying to slip in a good word about the local marine protected area, the next you're helping a US-based dentist suction the blood out of someone's mouth who has just had eleven teeth extracted (true story). Peace Corps just throws you curve balls like that, and really, most of the time it's great.  But whatever it is that draws me away for a while, CRM work always, infallibly, pulls me back.  The thing that's got me really hooked this time (excuse the pun) it this issue of shark finning.  Apparently, most people out there actually have no idea we have a crisis on our hands.  This I learned this past week while talking to a man who was singing the praises of shark fin soup, and who had no idea that sharks were in any kind of peril whatsoever. "It's not like we have a shortage of sharks, right?" he said. My eyes widened.  I guess I assumed that everyone knew that sharks are in major trouble, but that's probably because everyone I interact with on a daily basis is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Southeast Asia who has had to put up with my ranting about it for the last 17 months.  It's like how I assume that everyone knows that Bluefin tuna are careening towards extinction as well.  But these animals are not the best advocates for their own survival. Tigers are majestic, pandas are adorable, sea turtles endearingly wise - and that's great for them. Sharks and tuna on the other hand? A little harder to sell as creatures deserving of our love and protection.

But here it is: We are fishing them to extinction. And they are very, very important animals. Apex predators like sharks and tuna regulate the entire rest of the food chain - they keep everything in balance. Additionally, because they are so good at what they do, they are intentionally slow to reproduce.  This self-regulating mechanism keeps their own populations in check and is why they will not recover from being over-fished.

I beg you, friends, family, and strangers, take a stand.  You don't have to actually do anything, you just have to alter your habits to not do the damage. Don't eat Bluefin, and don't eat shark fin soup.

And click the link below to watch this awesome Dan Rather special shot by the incredible and dedicated Shawn Heinrichs, whom Mom, Ryan and I met and dove with over their visit last November.

http://blip.tv/hdnet-news-and-documentaries/dan-rather-reports-shark-fin-clip-4-5895207

You're the best.


6 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the link...

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  2. I have stopped eating shark fin soup! Cold turkey, just completely stopped after reading this!

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  3. Right now sharks are being hunted because of the misconception that they're some sort of bogey-man of the deep. But these fish are indeed important in the food-chain; they're basically the garbage processors of the deep. They'll eat anything and digest it, playing an important role in keeping the oceans clear (which means eating them is a pretty bad idea because they'll have high concentrations of heavy metals and other pollutants).

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  4. I take back that sharks eat anything. My mistake. :8) They're at the top of the food chain and remove sick and injured fish (which are easier to catch), a big part of their role in the ocean habitat.

    More details on their eating habits:
    http://www.sharksavers.org/en/education/shark-myths/52-myth-sharks-eat-anything.html

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  5. Yes, I'm glad you cleared that up. The notion of sharks as mindless killing machines that will eat anything is precisely the problem. They are actually quite picky eaters, which is why even in shark "attacks" - which are really more like shark accidents - flesh is rarely consumed. They bite, realize they made a mistake, and take off. In reality, sharks are intelligent, shy animals, the majority of whom pose no danger to humans whatsoever. Their decimation is a true tragedy, and will have lasting, significant effects on the health and productivity of the oceans.

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