| Speaking Up for Sharks: Cartoonist Urges Kids to Win Protections for a Feared but At-Risk Fish |
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Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Jim Toomey, the cartoonist who draws "Sherman's Lagoon," wants kids to get active on behalf of sharks. This might seem like an unlikely cause, since plenty of kids -- and adults, too -- fear sharks. But Toomey, who came up with the idea for a cartoon about a shark's lagoon while vacationing in the Bahamas when he was 9 or 10, is convinced that he can help people realize why sharks matter. Scientists are just beginning to understand how important sharks are to the ocean and how overfishing has wiped out most of the sharks that have dominated marine ecosystems for millions of years. As the top predators in the sea, sharks both eliminate sick and dying fish and ensure that mid-level predators such as rays don't multiply to such massive numbers that they crowd out smaller fish. |
