Shelley Clarke - more Inconvenient Truth!

So, you didn't like that last post much huh.

I understand.

Much easier to declare victory, preferably on social media and with a selfie, and then ride off into the sunset huh.

But real conservation demands a long term commitment and perseverance, and things are complicated, meaning that the job is really never done. The "other side" are certainly not stupid and will ruthlessly lie and cheat, and exploit any weaknesses and loopholes - so as a minimum we must remain vigilant and continue learning and refining what we do and what we advocate.

Anyway.

Here's some more myth-busting for you, courtesy of Shelley.

Again, please download and keep it, the more as it is once again compelling and really easy to understand.

Again, I'm not gonna dwell.

Readers of this blog are well aware that those campaigns to stop finning are now a thing of the distant past and only waste precious and scarce resources that would be better invested elsewhere. And latest since the epic 97 million paper, we know that the traders are nimble and always manage to source their product from new places and species. And finally, we also get an estimate of that incidental mortality I mentioned the other day - rather shocking isn't it, meaning that the call for better legislation, better trade data, better reporting of incidental mortality, and sustainability through fisheries management is all-the more urgent!

Two topics did however particularly pique my interest.

• First, this.
  

  Less encouraging is the finding by the new Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) analysis (Clarke and Dent in press) that Thailand has surpassed Hong Kong as the world’s largest exporter, and its main trading partners — Japan and Malaysia — may be among the world’s top four importers, particularly of small, low- value fins. Not only do these markets show no sign of slowing down, they are all among the world’s top shark fishing nations and, thus, the full scope of their shark fin markets may be even larger than trade-based estimates suggest (Clarke and Dent in press). When we add to this the facts that most consumer-orientated conservation campaigns target shark fins rather than meat, and that shark meat consumption is both growing and often unrecognized as “shark”, it is clear that the campaigns have more work to do.

  Indeed - like I said the job is really never done!

• And then, what about those remarks about the Marshalls and Palau.
  Yes it sucks but those are developing, comparatively poor countries and full compliance will take time to achieve. But they are certainly trying their darned best, see here and here, and I also want to add that contrary to the usual underhanded sniping, Pew are very much assisting them in achieving better outcomes!
  But NGOs only have so much money and can only help in building capacity - the monitoring, patrolling, apprehending and prosecuting remain the job of those countries and not of the NGOs. And there are plenty of other funding sources all the way to the World Bank and the ADB that could be tapped given the necessary urgency, the more as the poaching and overfishing of the high seas by those distant water fleets is clearly threatening the long-term economic but also cultural viability of those islanders!

So there you have it.

Yes it's once again not only good news - but it is vital information that will only make us better going forward!

And do consider these suggestions - and those by Shelley!