Just when we were thinking it was becoming safe for sharks to be in
Australian waters, the Queensland government in an incredible display of
ecological insensitivity has proposed a shark fin fishery in the Great
Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and in marine parks in Queensland
waters.
The practice of shark finning is the most nonsensical, ecologically
destructive, and unethical fishery in the world.
Australia is supposed to be one of the most ecologically aware and
proactive nations in the world. What are Queensland politicians
thinking?
Over 90% of the world's sharks have already been eradicated from our
oceans and this bodes ill for the ecological integrity of marine
eco-systems.
Queensland wants to issue licenses to take an unlimited number of
sharks in what amounts to an extermination policy against these
essential and magnificent creatures.
This announcement has come just as Rob Stewart's award winning film
Sharkwater opens in Australia. This film which features the Sea Shepherd
efforts to stop shark finning is raising awareness of the plight of
sharks worldwide.
Recently Rob Stewart met and spoke with Andrew McNamara, the
Queensland Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change. It was a
promising sign that Mr. McNamara attended the Brisbane premiere of
Sharkwater.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been defending sharks in
the Galapagos, Ecuador, Cocos Island, Costa Rica and Malpelo Island off
Colombia. The last place we thought we would need to intervene to
protect sharks would be Australia.
Recently the media has been sensationalizing shark attacks despite
the fact that on average only 5 people a year are killed by sharks
whereas ostrichs are responsible for killing an average of one hundred
people a year making the ostrich twenty times more dangerous than the
shark.
Yet as our media cries that humans are victims, we slaughter between
70 and 100 million sharks each year and we are presently waging a war of
extermination on an apex marine predator that has existed on this planet
for 450 million years.
Is a bowel of sharkfin soup worth the irreparable ecological damage
we are doing to the world's oceans?
I would urge all Australians to go see the movie Sharkwater. It is
the first film to tell the truth about sharks and it is a film that is
going along way towards protecting these wondrous and unique family of
animals
When I first glanced at the title of the article below, I thought
Paul meant something else. When I found out that it was shark-finning, I
had a hard time believing it, though I'm sure it's true. I'm having
trouble reconstructing the pathway by which such an unbelievably
assinine decision could have been made.
To the Australian and Queensland governments:
"As a Chinese Canadian activist, I would like to advise the
Australian and Queensland governments that their policy to open and
promote shark finning in Australian waters is in direct contradiction to
our campaign to educate the Chinese people to end shark fin consumption,
as well as the people of the world to be very sensitive to marine
ecosystems under global warming. There will be a worldwide campaign
against your insensitive move. Action by the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society to contravene or intervene will receive the support of the
compassionate and enlightened sectors of the Chinese Canadian community,
as well as the Chinese communites in the United States. I ask these
governments to prevent such conflict by reversing the decision. Thank
you."
Anthony Marr, founder and president
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.ARConference.org
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