Monday, March 03, 2014

Real Shark Conservation!

Early morning on the river, looking for baby Sharks. Source.

And I cite.
So what can we do to really make a difference? 
First of all, we have to decide what our goal really is. Do we care more about saving sharks, or do we care more about what other "conservationists" think about us.

If your answer is, saving sharks, here are some things you can do. 

I have to warn you though. Nobody on the internet will know what you did. There are not going to be a lot of people slapping you on the back and telling you what a good job you did. Aside from very few people acknowledging your efforts, your only reward is going to be the knowledge that your efforts helped save some sharks.
Indeed.
Here's the nice account by someone who did just that, by taking a trip to Fiji and pursuing hands-on Shark conservation and research with Projects Abroad - sans moldy black-dyed duck wings, simply because she wanted to make a difference.
And make a difference she did.

Kudos!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Are you saving sustainable sharks, because you think every shark matters or are you working on non sustainable sharks?
Sustainable shark species do not your or anyone's help. This is a big problem just because a animal is a shark does not mean it needs help.
Al Brenneka

DaShark said...

Al, I assume by "sustainable" you mean "not threatened" - correct?

We advocate the preservation of marine biodiversity with a special interest in Sharks, and also sponsor research.

You are correct: not all sharks are threatened with extinction and in those cases, they need no "saving".

If you consult this blog, we advocate the sustainable management of fisheries (for any species), meaning that there are cases where it's OK to fish for Sharks, at least in theory.

In practice, things are obviously much more complicated, especially in those developing countries that do not dispose of the necessary resources and know how to adequately manage their fish stocks.

Does that answer your question.

Unknown said...

Thank You,
I support as many of my fellow shark survivors support Proper fishery management allows for and promotes removal of appropriate numbers of sharks while insuring species survival.
We do not want species in trouble to be ignored nor do we want species not in trouble to receive unnecessary attention just because they are elsobranch's.
These days you do need to ensure the purpose of shark NGO's.
There are shark NGO's out there saying they are saving sharks but the actual sharks they are saving don't need any saving they are sustainable as they are.

I have been an observer of your projects for many years and a shark attack survivor for 37 years and a shark advocate for 27 years.

My original question was one needed to see if you actually want to save elsmobranch's in trouble or one of those trying to make a dollar off sharks being killed.

There are NGO's out there that actually want more sharks killed so they get a bigger paycheck.

Al Brenneka

DaShark said...

Of course I know who you are Al! :)

Just to be perfectly clear.
We are not an NGO, we don't solicit funds but instead pay for everything we do out of cash flow, and encourage our clients to compensate the local villages for respecting our MPA, Shark Reef Marine Reserve.
You can see what we do here.

BTW congratulations for the SYM that is a serial winner in my infamous end-of-year recaps!