Patric - peaceful Coral Conservation?

Beware - the whirling dervish of marine conservation is back!

Behold!

So, what is this stuff?

Prima vista, somebody wants to turn the global shorelines into some sort of Atlantis-like theme parks by plastering them with some kitschy fusion of  Mayan, South East Asian and ancient civilizations - and quite frankly, my initial reaction as a rather traditionalist marine conservation advocate has been a mixture of derision, disbelief and outrage.

But upon closer inspection, things may be a tad more nuanced than that.

Turns out that this is Patric Douglas 2.0.

Yes that would be HE, the devil incarnate of the global Shark diving industry where the infamous creature spent a decade running circles around his competition whilst gleefully trash talking and blog dogging his little black heart out - and where in the process, he managed to drag the entire kicking and screaming industry straight into the 21st century!

And Patric is nothing if not unconventional.

Like I said back then,

some of his proposals are really way out there where I have problems following, at least at first glance - but time after time, as results are being achieved and emotions are being superseded by pragmatism and dispassionate analysis, I discover that I end up by ultimately agreeing with his ideas. 

So for the time being, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The proof is obviously in the pudding, and only time will tell whether his idea is the latest visionary brainchild of a consummate lateral thinker, or whether it is nothing more than some outlandish money making scheme. 

For me, this project will be credible if it will indeed establish viable habitat and contribute to Coral restoration - and if not, not. I don't doubt that it will be successful - but if the marine conservation does not lead to tangible results, then it will be nothing more than a clever business idea that may rake in serious money for Reef Word and tourism operators alike. Nothing wrong with that - but in terms of marine conservation, it will be nothing more than the usual greenwashing, albeit on a monumental scale, and yes, pun intended. We shall see!

Be it as it may, I invite you to explore the exhaustive website as below the usual Patric-esque all-pervading multiple layers of breathy marketing, you will discover a wealth of serious considerations that will maybe prompt you to give pause and maybe, just maybe reconsider your initial reservations.

Enjoy!

But now to the juicy part! :)

The man is blogging again - and I for one don't believe for a second that no one on this blog is taken to task like he boldly, and I may add, rather naively asserts!

Yes Coral and Reef people don't wear bird cages on their head quite yet.

And I'm totally with My name is Shiva, so? when she observes that

Researchers have no skins, they are opaque netherworld creatures that flit from one thing to another, occasionally deigning to drop 'pearls of knowledge' upon those beneath them.

You know, like pigeons.

But unlike pigeons, if you grab one from the air they become offended and irate - but never violent.

Instead, they call in other researchers who flit through the breeze to defend the 'offended one' unleashing a barrage of 'pearls of knowledge' upon those that would dare question or corner. 

Yes, indeed, mostly.

But then again, my personal observation is that the arcane and seemingly peaceful word of Coral conservation is very much predicated on not upsetting the apple cart.
This is prime marine NGO territory, meaning that there's tons of money and plenty of nice, cozy and only moderately challenging little careers at stake here, and this is a tranquil oasis of peace and contentment where everybody appears to tacitly agree that debate and strife carry the risk of ruining the party for everybody. So they quietly plod along harmoniously and peacefully in their little universe that remains blissfully oblivious of such mundane technicalities like deliverables, ROIs, timelines let alone accountability whilst the donors are successfully being conned out of convinced to contribute ever more money to what are essentially open-ended endeavors with zero likelihood of ever being completed. 

Yes maybe a tad harsh and cynical considering the many bleeding hearts out there - but is it that far off the mark?

So what if somebody came along with a different solution.

A solution that would predicate that conservation could be run like a for-money venture, with zero donations but instead, with the full complement of capitalistic project management where what counts is productivity and where procrastination and bullshit walk. A solution that would risk upsetting the applecart.

Think the oh-so-peaceful community of career conservationists and coralniks would simply meekly acknowledge the impending existential challenge?

Having been there myself, I think I know the answer.

Both the Fiji Shark Project (a self-funded capitalistic venture) and MFF (a self-funded capitalistic venture) that are now being hailed as ground-breaking were initially met with disdain to outright hostility by the established conservation mafia - and I'm also detecting quite a bit of the usual underhanded whispers and snotty snobbishness in acknowledging the true potential of the essentially self funding and capitalistic public/private partnership that has been pioneered in Fiji's first National Marine Park. 

And being very much party to an ongoing project that is collecting evidence to determine whether a recently declared MPA is legit or instead a scam where an NGO has squandered scarce conservation funds and lied to donors and the public; and having witnessed the reaction of said NGO upon getting wind of the impending investigation, I'm highly skeptical that matters will continue to be pervaded by the same karmic tranquility as Patric appears to anticipate.

Plus, Patric is Patric.

Like me, he hates bullshit and being confronted with said excretions, his visceral inclination is very much not to merely hold his nose and look the other way.

We shall see.

There will be temptation - and I for one look forward to plenty of corally fireworks!

Anybody taking bets?

Anyway, welcome back Sir.

It has been way too long - and yes, please do reserve some space for the occasional dabbling in more Sharky matters!

Certified Shark Fin Soup?

Once again, I'm irritated.

A friend has just sent me the link to the following Video.

Let's start with the positives.
It's by two Shark advocates, Alex Hofford & Paul Hilton who are being described as "passionate", it highlights the global plight of Sharks and the barbaric practice of finning, and it features a nice clip on 6:58 of Scarface, all of which is great.

On the negative side, it starts with the usual incorrect statement and is painfully long and tedious. Anything beyond three minutes needs to be absolutely brilliant, or the viewer will loose interest - and I'm afraid that this just isn't.
Plus, as so often, I fear that like the Sea Shepherd clip, it achieves nothing tangible. It's laudable in its intention, certainly personally rewarding for its authors - but alas, it's irrelevant in terms of reducing the number of Sharks that are being killed for their fins.

Let me elaborate - once again.
Shark fisheries are supply limited, meaning that the demand for Shark fins greatly outweighs the supply, and this by orders of magnitude.
Does anybody dispute this?

And if not, why do all those people insist in squandering all that money, time and energy in trying to "re-educate" the consumers of Shark fin soup?
Who are we to tell those people what to eat anyway?

But more importantly, it just doesn't make sense!
If the demand for Shark fins is, say, three times the supply, then we would have to convince more than two thirds of all potential consumers in order to have any effect in reducing the number of Sharks being killed! If it's four times, more than three fourths! Get the gist?
How many people would that be?

Does anybody really believe that this can be achieved via those fashionable Beijing posters, the translation of Sharkwater into Mandarin, videos like this one, or one of those countless competing petitions?
Really? Will they succeed in convincing hundreds of millions of people to change their behavior????

C'mon guys, get real!
I've said it before and will continue to say it: the solution to overfishing is to promote sustainable fisheries, not prohibition. That is where we need to direct our energy and our scarce conservation Dollars, not into ineffective activism!

Ideas?
Southern Fried Science have re-visited the issue of Supply Side Conservation in this post.
Can we maybe adapt some of those recommendations to Sharks?

Dolphin-free Tuna was certainly very bad for the Tuna and an ecological disaster on top of that - but it was great for Dolphins. Following the recommendations of Seafood Watch has become fashionable and works. In my lifetime, the fashionable and ubiquitous Lady Curzon was replaced by Mockturtle and Trepang soup. As we speak, the unsustainable Caviar is gradually being replaced by surrogates. I've seen people pay a premium for eggs from happy free-range chucks.
Consumers may not be willing to completely change their habits, but they can certainly be educated and convinced to choose better products if presented with alternatives - and I see no reason why this would not apply to the consumers of Shark Fin soup.

Maybe one could work with the Shark Fin Industry and create a brand of certified Shark fin soup? From Sharks that have not been finned? From species that are not being overfished?
Could one develop a surrogate?

Just a suggestion.
Certainly more tedious and less fashionable and thus less personally rewarding than making a lot of noise and dishing out money for a good cause - but I believe, better for the Sharks.
And that's what ultimately counts.

Or not?