Some really encouraging news this week out of Toronto. Based in large part on the tireless efforts of Rob Stewart and the crew at United Conservationists, Toronto has now banned shark-fin soup and related products. Seems people are really starting to get the picture that we need to save sharks, and that, frankly, it just ain’t cool to catch a shark, chop its fins off and throw it back in the ocean to die a miserable death.
To be honest, without Rob’s eye-opening documentary, Sharkwater, I doubt little would’ve changed in the past five years. But it’s happening, folks. People are standing up and telling the world that we care about our oceans and we’re willing to fight for our planet. And the sharks that support it.
Rob, you’re a class act. Keep it up. Next stop, banning shark-fin soup in British Columbia. Then Canada.
Meanwhile, please have a mosey over to United Conservationists. Check them out, and get involved. As Rob says, “Let’s fight for our future.”
A heart-warming video here of a baby great white shark, beached off Venice Beach Pier and with a hook in its mouth, saved by a lifeguard known locally as ‘the animal-whisperer’. Very cool indeed. And great to see that people are really starting to show they care about sharks.
There’s been some confusion over the years whether or not a great white shark was caught off Ucluelet in 2005. Specifically, it’s this image, of what appears to be a large great white, dead and hoisted above the wharf. Go here to see one of the many posts regarding this rumour.
Anyway, while it appears to be a great white, it’s actually a mako shark, which look similar and are closely related, but it’s not JAWS. The harbour isn’t Ucluelet either. Rather, it’s Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Tanya Dowdall, a park ranger at Pacific Rim National Park points out that the area code (902) on the boom in the background of the picture gives it away. And as she also comments, it’s a sad story how this shark died. The mako shark is a magnificent creature that can leap right out of the water. Only a privileged few have seen the mako – the world’s fastest swimmer – in its natural environment. It’s also critically endangered. So why kill it? Sheer f*#%ing stupidity.
So to answer a question that pops up from time to time. Are there great white sharks off Tofino (and Vancouver Island)? Actually, there are. But they’re very, very rare. There’s photographic evidence of juvenile great white shark bites at the BC Shark Reports blog (where Tanya Dowdall sometimes contributes). To my knowledge this is the only proof of great whites off Vancouver Island, although I’ve heard that surfers and fishermen occasionally see them far off shore. The great whites that do swim this way are usually juveniles, and the theory is they learn the art of stealth and hunting when they’re this far north.
I should emphasize though that great whites in Canadian waters are very, very rare, and if you actually saw one, you’d be in very select company, as there have been less than five confirmed sightings of great whites off Vancouver Island in 50 years. We do get the odd salmon shark, but its sexy cousin, the great white, is pretty darn elusive.
And I’ve said this a thousand times. GREAT WHITE SHARKS DON’T EAT PEOPLE. In the few occasions when they have taken a swimmer or surfer, it’s a case of mistaken identity (a surfer looks very much like an elephant seal from below), and they swim away. But when this happens, the media jumps all over it and demonizes sharks, and the authorities and “do-gooders” with an IQ below 75 slaughter the sharks (to the point that some species are down 90%).
Sorry, I’m done preaching for the day. Are there great white sharks off Tofino? On a very few special occasions, but the way they’re being killed, our generation could be the last to see one, if at all. Unless we do something to protect them.
A really inspiring video here of a diver who dives with, and hugs and kisses, Caribbean reef sharks.
I just love this video because it shows how gentle sharks are. Look into this shark’s eyes and tell me that JAWS portrayed an accurate depiction of sharks. Or the shark porn we see every August during Discovery Channel’s Shark Week for that matter.
A few more numbers to think about:
You’re 50,000 times more likely to be killed in a car accident than by a shark.
Jellyfish annually kills more people than sharks, and more people are struck by lightning each year than attacked by sharks.
And my favourite stat of all…there was a year recently when more people were killed by soda machines than by sharks.
Unfortunately there’s a much more gruesome stat that really bothers me. Every year, humans kill on average 100 million sharks. Many of them are shark-finned – their fins hacked off and thrown still living back into the ocean to die a slow and excruciating death.
Some shark species have been decimated by 90% in the past 20 years.
I encourage you to think about that when you watch this video and look into this shark’s peaceful eyes.
I knew there was a reason I liked Gordon Ramsay. The Scottish cook, reality TV guru and all-around British bad-ass recently took a stand against shark-fin soup, declaring that sharks are magnificent creatures and that the practice of shark-finning (a common practice in supplying fins for shark-fin soup) is both barbaric and unsustainable.
Gordon Ramsay, you’re a f*&king stud!
In the mean time, please boycott these restaurants, as they all practice disgusting and morally reprehensible practice of serving shark-fin soup.
Relax, they’re not great whites. Even if they were, you’d have a greater chance of witnessing the Vancouver Canucks hoist the Stanley Cup in your lifetime than be attacked by a shark (I’m a Canucks fan, albeit a jaded and disillusioned one, I guess it shows huh?). These are salmon sharks, and they’re not uncommon off the coast of British Columbia.
This video shows a juvenile salmon shark stranded on Chesterman Beach. Surfers and beachcombers have reported the little guys beach themselves in Pacific Rim National Park sometimes. While it remains unclear why this happens, this video has a happy ending. A kind-hearted couple happened upon the little shark and took her (it appears to be a female) to another side of the beach. After trying to revive her in the water for 15 minutes, the shark came to, and slowly came back to life in the bay, before (hopefully!) swimming back to sea. The video is over seven minutes long, but it’s really heart-warming to see the little shark come back to life after certain death. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m a huge shark freak. I learned of this encounter at the BC Shark and Skate Reports blog. Very cool indeed!
