Shark Savers - Stop the demand for shark fin soup. Stop the slaughter of sharks.

Stop the demand for shark fin soup. Stop the slaughter of sharks.

Shark Savers China campaign.

"Right now the oceans are being emptied of sharks", said Dr. Julia Baum of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) last week.

More shark species will be added to the IUCN's 2008 Red List of endangered species, Dr. Baum announced. The Scalloped Hammerhead shark will be declared globally endangered.

Research indicates Scalloped Hammerheads, Tiger sharks, Bull sharks, Dusky sharks and Smooth Hammerhead populations have declined as much as 99% in areas.

Sharks: driven to extinction for shark fin soup.

The primary reason for the alarming rate that sharks are being driven towards extinction is the increased demand for shark fin soup. China's growing prosperity and its large population have combined to create an intense demand for the soup, a symbol of health and prosperity. It is common for shark fin soup to be served at wedding and business banquets among those who can now afford it. This has increased the value of shark fin to many times that of average fish meat. Sharks have thus become an irresistible target for fishermen and distributors worldwide.

Most Chinese are unlikely to know the impact their soup is having on the oceans or on shark species. Nor might they know that its high mercury content is dangerous to one's health. They may not even know shark is in the soup as the word 'shark' is not in its Chinese name.

With your help, Shark Savers is going tell them!

We need to raise $50,000 for our initial Internet campaign in China to encourage people to stop eating shark fin soup.

Our plan to decrease demand for shark fins

China is a huge market, but the Internet is a great way to target those who eat shark fin soup. There are now about 210 million Chinese, or 20% of the population, who have Internet access. It is safe to assume that those who can afford shark fin soup or attend the banquets who serve it are more likely to be Internet users.

We will:

Launch a Chinese web site, working with Chinese partners to ensure proper translation and culturally sensitivity.

Develop and implement Chinese Internet advertising to draw likely consumers to our site to learn about the negative environmental and health effects of eating shark fin soup.

Provide easy tools to enable visitors of the web site to spread the word to friends, family, and restaurant owners

Test messages and media placement to maximize results

Utilize results of the campaign to raise funds for a sustained effort in China to reduce shark fin consumption

Please donate now to the Shark Savers China campaign. Your contribution will help us reduce demand for shark fin soup, the best way to save our sharks!

Finned shark, Komodo Island, Indonesia. Photo (c) Wolcott Henry 2005/Marine Photobank

Shark fin soup

At Gansbaai, South Africa, tons of sharks are caught for their fins. Photo (c) Fiona Ayerst Underwater Photography

Dried fins, ready for market. Photo: Jessica King, Marine Photobank

Bags of dried fins in warehouse. Photo: Jessica King, Marine Photobank

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Amanda Rositch said:

How people don't understand not only what we are doing to sharks, but also the harm we are doing to ourselves is beyond me. The media has put sharks in a negative light and so many people are so fearful of sharks they don't even bother to listen to the facts... sharks have been around way longer than humans, yet we come in here and think that we can take anything...it's a selfish and uneducated attitude, and people will look back at us and be ashamed of the mess we left the world in, and the worst part, we know what is going on, and yet still no governments will step up! what a shame!

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June 25, 2008
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Gabor Katzirz said:

	This type of human action makes me sick to my stomach. I think the future wars that man will fight will be against this type of action and I cannot think of a more worthwile reason to go to war.
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May 20, 2008
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Devin Harvey said:

The plight of sharks and other large predatory species is deplorable. Our best way to engage and convince others of the importance of sharks and other top of the food chain species like tuna, swordfish, whales and countless other species is through compelling visuals. In fact, most of the images published with this story come from our free collection of ocean conservation imagery - the Marine Photobank (www.marinephotobank.org). Images are a VERY POWERFUL tool and it is critical now more than ever that we all do what we can. For example, Penny Michel who submitted a posting here describes the discovery of illegal longline fishing gear tangled on a reef within the no-fishing zone that surrounds Cocos Island. We can make use of those kinds of photos. Please send us your compelling ocean conservation photos so that we can provide them to great organizations like Shark Savers. The Marine Photobank is a program of SeaWeb, a communications based ocean conservation non-profit (www.seaweb.org). Thanks to the excellent work of Shark Savers! Visit our Web site to submit your photos or to download for non-commercial, conservation uses. - Devin Harvey, The Marine Photobank

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May 19, 2008 | url
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Michael Auger said:

	What a truly disgusting practice,China should be ashamed of them selves.exterminating an animal,AND WORST OF ALL, for soup .WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU,WAKE UP FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!!! But then again a country with no respect for human life,WHY SHOULD I BE SURPRISED!
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May 10, 2008
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Annette said:

Recently I had the opportunity to view Rob Stewarts movie Sharkwater, what an eye opener. It has made me more aware of the senseless slaughter of these magnificent creatures of our oceans & it deeply disturbs me to think that governments around the world are doing nothing to protect sharks from extinction . I live very close to the Great Barrier Reef and find it even more disturbing to hear that sharks are going to be fished here also for the prize of their fin all in the name of money, wealth, status. Wouldn't it be far better for governmants to foster tourism in their area help save our sharks and other precious marine life so that future generations can also experience their beauty. Tourism is a far bigger spinner of money than sharkfin soup! if our precious sharks become extint we too will become extint and no amount of money can save us from that.

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May 10, 2008 | url
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Bianca Jones said:

	Im doing a shark project in school! I never eat shark fin soup... It looks groose anyway SAVE THE SHARKS BEFORE THEY DIE! Keep the sharks in the ocean and out of the soup!!!!!
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May 08, 2008 | url
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Penny michel said:

I just returned from a scuba diving trip on Cocos Island. Our group (14 divers from Washington State) had the opportunity to view the Sharkwater video while we were aboard the Undersea Hunter. The cruise director Edwar Herreno had shared this video one evening with us after we had witnessed 14 fishing boats only a little more than a mile away from Cocos Island. Cocos Island is supposed to have a 12 mile protected radius around it. On one of our dives (Dirty Rock) we found a long line tangled on the rocks with very sharp and sturdy stainless steel hooks dangling on the line. We asked one of the crew members (Manuel) who has worked on this boat for the past 15 years, if the shark population has declined since he started. He shared a story about when he first started coming to Cocos Island they would anchor in the bays around the island and there would be at least 10 silver tip sharks swimming underneath the boat. While we were there our group only saw 3 silver tip sharks and that was at a dive spot (Silverado) where there is a cleaning station the silver tips visited.
During the 7 days of diving around Cocos we would always cross our fingers in hope to have the chance to encounter a whale shark. After watching the video and seeing all the fishing boats so close to Cocos Island I could only think that the whale shark that was meant for us to see was being snagged by one of those boats where its fin was being detached from this magnificent docile being. The "Pelagic travelers" of Cocos Island that Cousteau talked about are becoming less. It's time we put out an SOS (Save our Sharks) message to the world and end the obtuseness of such ludicrous actions.

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April 21, 2008 | url
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Sabina Johansson said:

	Things like this just drains me. That some people even dare and even have the stomach to continue, even after knowing what they are doing.
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April 20, 2008
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Kathy Cullum said:

This inhumane way of slaughtering the sharks must end! All these poor sharks are loosing their lives in a grissly, sick manner all for what....? ...Soup?! Give me a break. It really is downright disgusting to think that there are people out there that don't care about other life. It doesn't matter that they are not human, they are still living, breathing creatures. And beautiful ones at that! It's very unsettling to know that there are that many cold-hearted people out there!!!!!!!! smilies/angry.gif

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April 14, 2008 | url
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Nicola Witte said:

	Dear asian bridal couples, dear asian hosts, buy your honoured guests Gucci and Prada bags to show your wealth, that's something they not only keep in mind but keep wearing!! I am a passionate diver and would like to see sharks in their natural environment not only today but in 10 years as well. What about the next generation? Let's keep life on earth and stop this senseless eradication!
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April 09, 2008
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Karen V Brown said:

I lived/worked in China as part of my job and while there I tried to educated as many people possible about the horrors of how they obtain sharks' fin. A lot of people are deceived into thinking the shark continues living, but when I shone the light informing them the shark(s) died, slowly bleeding to death and in pain, it was quite an eye opener to many. But then of course many didn't care, they were concerned of gaining that protein, or thinking it increased their libido, which is utter nonsense. Pure exercise and keeping in shape is the best for that....but see many people are lazy and there are those who believe animals were put here for our 'use' which they weren't. But really it is a matter of education, we, the shark savers, must unite and educate, educate, educate. Send letters, emails, whatever we can do to stop the madness. Plus we have to pressure legislation to change so sharks are protected and so their products become illegal anywhere they are sold. Believe me, this is how elephants, whales and many other species became protected, strength in numbers....those of us who care and work hard at changing this. I hope it happens soon. Keep up the good fight to those who are.

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March 20, 2008
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Alberto Rojas Rueda said:

Right now, thousands of sharks has been died from marine reserves in Mexico, as Revillagigedo Islands Biosphere Reserve or at Bahía of La Paz, in Baja California Sur, where long liners don´t stop theirs killer practices. Last week when i was at La PAz, i saw how do local fisheries catch a lot of young hammerhead sharks infront the mexican fisheries athoruty, thats talk about the big corruption at the mexican government between longline fishermens. In Mexico, shak fisheries and longlines are regulated by the mexican law (NOM 029), but ther aren´t any authority to promouve it observance. We are fighting to protect them and to stop the ilegaly fisheries...Mexican Greens

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March 18, 2008
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David Cuoio said:

	Anyone who eats shark fin soup is contributing to the rapid extinction of various shark species all around the world. As the top predator in the ocean food chain continues its man-caused decline, the ocean ecosystem will suffer greater and greater degradation. Those who eat shark fin soup or buy so-called aphrodesiacs made from shark fins must stop this wasteful practice.
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March 09, 2008 | url
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michael neuhaus said:

	This massacre has to be stopped!! Nearly all sharks are close to eradication and they are very important for the ecological balance. Without them the oceans will collapse and it is long ago time!!
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