Day 330 5/21/14: Empty the Tanks: Worldwide Protests for Captive Orcas (& Others)

empty-the-tanksSorry for the late sharing, but I just found out about the Empty the Tanks protests happening all over the world this weekend!

I’ll be going returning to SeaWorld San Diego. Click here to find an event at at marine park or zoo near you. Please share with fellow activists, Blackfish fans, and kids who instinctively sense that SeaWorld is a bunch of crap.

Oh, and Taco Bell has severed their relationship with Seaworld. All hail the power of Blackfish!

Day 319 5/10/14: 4th Grader to Obama: Save the Sharks!

(Re-blogged from White Shark Interest Group–Please sign and share! )

I am Anusha- a 4th grader from Texas. I am doing a project on raising awareness of shark protection among school children and working to stop the shark finning trade. Finally, after a lot of research, I started this petition to save sharks.

Please take time to sign this petition and please circulate it in your circles.

Thank you.

Here is the petition:

Hello friends, I, am doing a project on awareness and education on endangered sharks and wants to really take this big step to bring this change in all the schools. Please sign this petition and help me reach my goal to help the sharks worldwide. I believe that EVERY KID CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Thank you!  Anusha

Day 318 5/9/14: Sign To Help Australia’s Sharks!

silent-shark-protest_729-620x349Over 100 sharks have been caught on drumlines or shot and killed in Australia’s misguided and reactionary response to recent attacks.

Now West Australia’s Premier Colin Barnet is considering extending the wasteful shark cull for another three years.

PLEASE sign Greenpeace Australia’s petition asking Environment Minister Hunt to stop the senseless killing.

Day 302 4/24/14 Australia: Don’t Extend the Cull!

Western Australia’s premier Colin Barnett wants to extend the shark cull that has already killed 100 sharks including protected species for another three years.

 

Please join Greenpeace in speaking out against this extremely ill-advised and environmentally devastating proposition.
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Day 301 4/23/14: Hope for Australia’s Sharks?

This glimmer of hope comes from shark divers blog. Western Australia has decided to open up the shark cull policy to a Public Environmental Review. This means that for a four week period, the public can send in their thoughts about the shark kill plan.

I will post more information about where the public can send in their comments as soon as it’s available. In the meantime, check out these tips about how to compose an effective, rational letter & for a handy shark fact sheet.  While I am more than tired of the “Keep Calm” sentiment in all its myriad forms, I have to admit in this case it’s handy as it reminds me of the necessity not to get too fired up and freaked out before I write a letter about an issue that I hope to change someone’s mind about. images-1

Day 299 4/21/14: Run for the Sharks!

To raise money for a Bay Area shark sanctuary, Shark Stewards is sponsoring Run for the Sharks, in the San Francisco Bay to the Breakers race this May 18 ! Dust off your full-length shark costume and join the well-organized madness! To  register to run, click here.

If you’re really bananas, you can also join The Shark Centipede--a group of 14 costumed runners who run the race attached to one another.ay_108346262-e1366561007690-1

Here are some other ways to help out:

Buy a handmade  Pura Vida bracelet for $5 to support shark conservation, or sponsor a runner.  

If designing inventive yet maneuverable shark costumes is your bag, or you’d like to donate $ or be a corporate sponsor, click here and scroll to the bottom.

Day 292: 4/14/14: Chinese Billionaire Named “Shark Guardian”

images-3After so much sad stuff about the shark cull and drum lines in Australia, it’s nice to read this inspiring story about four  Chinese businessmen who fought to get shark fin soup off the menu at government banquets.

Day 291 4/13/14: 2 Minutes to Save Australia’s Sharks!

While the shark cull continues in Western Australia, sharks and other fish are also victims of drum lines (traps with baited hooks that kill sharks and other marine life indiscriminately). Neither the “culling” of sharks nor the presence of drum lines is likely to prevent future attacks by great white sharks in Western Australia, but only weaken an already stressed eco-system by removing its apex predators and other marine life. Please take just a few minutes and send an e-mail to the Australian government to ask them not to extend the use of drum lines! After the e-mail information, you can also check out the list of suggested resources to include in your letter. (Thanks Melissa Michaelson for posting this on FB).

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HOW TO SEND AN E-MAIL: 

Urgent Time Sensitive Message from ‪#‎noWAsharkcull‬
In March, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) chose NOT to assess WA’s drum line policy because they deemed it to be of ‘very limited duration’ and so they said that it ‘will not have a significant impact on the environment’. This was when the policy was due to end on April 30th 2014, which has now changed with the Government asking for approval until 2017.
We only have 5 days to take action. You can help Stop The Cull by spending just 2 minutes of your time to submit a comment to the EPBC opposing the policy:
1. Email your comments opposing the WA drum lines to – epbc.referrals@environment.gov.au (Before Thu 17 April).
2. In the subject bar include the following “Comment on WA drum line referral – reference no. 2014/7174”
3. In the email include the full title and reference no, which are as follows:

Title: WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet/Natural resources management/off metropolitan & SW coastal regions of Western Australia/WA/Shark Hazard Mitigation Drum Line Program
Reference no: 2014/7174
4. Suggested comments and links to relevant information are listed below.
6. Now SHARE, SHARE, SHARE – we only have until Thursday 17th April to get as many people to comment as possible.

 

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SUGGESTED COMMENTS/LINKS TO INFO. TO ADD TO YOUR SUBMISSION:
1. WHITE SHARKS ARE PROTECTED under WA and Australian environmental laws and several international agreements including CITES and CMS.
2. WHITE SHARKS ARE APEX PREDATORS, their roles are vital to keep the health of the ocean in balance. Removing a migratory apex predator from our marine ecosystem is likely to have significant impacts on the species composition and abundance of other marine life.
3. WHITE SHARKS ARE NOT PRESENT IN WA WHEN DRUM LINES ARE OPERATIONAL.
White sharks are the main target of the policy yet their population’s peak during June-August each year in WA, which is outside the proposed drum line operational period of November to April (see page 13 of DoF report –http://goo.gl/FbLBXm).
4. DRUM LINES ARE INDISCRIMINATE and will catch and kill other species including dolphins, turtles and non-target sharks. Almost all of the sharks caught so far have been non-target, undersized, tiger sharks.

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