Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Shark Shepherds - Diplomacy huh!

Good question!

Sometimes I hate to be right.
The Ueber-Angel's floating babemobile is on its way to Fiji (!) and somebody has had the simply brilliant idea to try and use the Fijian media to put pressure on government to reconsider its ban.
Same old same old - zero respect, just the usual shenanigans and strong-arm tactics, and this not in order to achieve results but merely in order to star, or whatever, in a sensationalist reality show.

From the article
The ship left Honiara yesterday for its Shark Angels mission in the South Pacific where it aims to help stop the killing and finning of sharks on the high seas...

So what about the assertion that
Hunting down shark finning boats was never part of the plan, and neither was the media involvement - just idle talk and outright lies?
This is not diplomacy and outreach; this has either been some pathetically amateurish attempt at disinformation - or it is the symptom of some major clusterfuck and messaging disaster where the laudable intentions of many are being highjacked by the megalomania of a few.
And the SA brand? Who cares - right?

Here's a thought.
When it comes to Shark conservation, both the Solomons and Vanuatu have nothing.
How about stopping there and doing some real, hard work. It'll take several years but what the heck - wasn't it about going where nobody dares to go, or whatever, for the Sharks?

To be continued no doubt!

PS: stellar post by Patric here!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So disrespectful!

Anonymous said...

I could not agree more Mike. There has been some great work going on in Fiji and I would hate to see this f it up. Why don't they go to Palau to work on a shark sancutary, that way when they leave after a week the can claim victory. Then again, maybe this is not a good idea, who knows what can be undone.

Horizon Charters Guadalupe Cage Diving said...

And people thought my satirical SSCS post from the future was Krazy with a "K".

The ONLY reason Julie and the Shark Train Wreck she's calling a TV show is hot on Fiji's tail is the fact that Fiji has been in the news, on the radar, and leading the pack for sharks in the Pacific for over a decade.

A decade of hard work by many dedicated and smart folks as you well know.

There's a term for her and her ilk, it's called Carpetbagging.

Sadly Sea Shepherd invented and perfected Conservation Carpetbagging as was aptly demonstrated during the award winning movie - The Cove.

Never in the history of conservation film making have so few taken direct credit from so many who had invested boots on the ground.

Note to Julie and her crew, heed the advice you are getting, go elsewhere and actually do something for sharks for a change.

As in make an actual difference, we all know sharks are in trouble, "raising awareness" is the sad sack conservation way to help sharks, especially if you are actually "willing to die for sharks," or so your propaganda goes.

You failed miserably in S.A with the shark nets, (nice pizza box and lipstick sign though) and as far as anyone can tell in the conservation space you're really good at self promotion and not much else.

Self promotion does not save sharks, newsflash, I know.

It's not too late.

You have a film crew, a budget, a boat and some modicum of talent, so go be successful.

Success in this case means leaving Fiji and those who have poured blood, sweat and tears into local and successful shark projects - alone.

It is very easy to slide onto a bandwagon, it is much harder to break out and do your own thing.

In the end people actually respect those who blaze a trail.

Are you really just a SSCS puppet/clone who takes orders and direction from a bloated conservation org that is more media machine than innovator?

Or are you and your crew savvy, smart, and an actual leaders with new ideas, fresh approaches and breakout media?

Because that's what needed RIGHT NOW for sharks.

Food for thought.

DaShark said...

Man, that comment is longer than my post!

Well said.