Protecting Sharks

Oceana.org and WildAid.org have release a report on the factors affecting shark survival. The report can be found here. Some of the background information includes solutions;

"Five Things You Can Do to Help Save Sharks
Sharks are being caught at unsustainable levels due to the high demand for their fins, liver oil, and meat. Shark populations globally are in trouble but there are things you can do to help.

1. Do not eat shark fin soup.
2. Only eat sustainably caught seafood.
3. Do not purchase cosmetic products if they have the ingredient squalene or squalane from sharks.
4. Write to your congressman to ask them to help protect sharks.
5. Help correct people's misconceptions about sharks-sharks don't hunt humans!

" - from http://www.oceana.org/sharks/shark-report/end-of-the-line-overview/

Some may ask, what is sustainably caught seafood and how do I know what I am getting. First download the Seafood Watch Pocket Guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. While you are at it join the aquarium, if for no other reason than to help fund the work the marine biologists are doing to better understand sharks. For instance did you know that most larger shark species do not become sexually mature until they 25 years old? We need to know more.

Join the Fight
If you can not make it the Monterey Bay Aquarium, join an aquarium in your area, or join an environmental awareness organization, or do all of the above!

Write Letters
You can also write your politicians. Vote for only environmentally aware politicians. Decisions made today may not affect you. But if you have kids, those decisions will affect them.

Hug a "Tree-Hugger"
This reminds me of a line in the movie "The American President", where the President finally fights back and defends his girl-friend's membership in the ACLU. The line is something along the line of "... this is an organization that defends our civil liberties. The question is not why is she a member? But rather why aren't you!" Why are ALL not Tree-Huggers?

"Tree-huggers" get a lot of flack. But the question is why are we all not tree huggers. Is the planet really not that important to you? Do you know your carbon footprint is? Mine is 22,308. The average person in the US is 19,000 obviously I have some work to do. World wide this number is 4,000. But this is a topic for another post.