Friday, 14 November 2008

After a bad start it gets worse:




The Sharksboard killed four sharks in the Aliwal Shoal Marine Protected Area today. This absolute travesty continues unabated. Blue Wilderness staff member Steve Benjamin cut one of the animals out of the net but she was already dead. He then took her back to the beach and on reporting this incident to Sharksboard was duly told that because he had cut the animal out of their net he should sort out its disposal. This attitude combined with Sharksbaords attempts this morning to conceal the first two dead tigers is further evidence of the despicable levels that this organisation will go to to conceal their dastardly deeds.

Julie Andersen of http://www.sharksavers.org/ was on hand to help Steve and made some powerful statements - I am sure you will agree!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

No we do not agree. Writing a message on the backside of a Pizza Box in crayon is just plain stupid.

Look guys,this is what? 3-5-6-7-8 dead Tigers this year alone?

If you cannot figure it out let me suggest the following things that can be done by YOU today to get some traction on this as neither you nor Julie-let's saver some sharks-really have a clue.

1. Start a damn website, go after the sharks board by highlighting who's on the damn board and why they are there in the first place. Any dirt on those folks? Find out!

2. Get some help from a qualified NGO like say, PEW Trusts, not Shark Savers as that whole message on a pizza box thing plus blog posts equals shark hopelessness 101.

3. Start making some real noise. You guys have hosted some of the top UW photographers over the past 5 years, leverage those guys to make some damn noise. Are they just in it for the image and money? If so shame on them, get them to start some action.

4. No shark petitions, they are as useless as third teats.

5. Local media, hit them up for action. Surely, in all of the media you have, there has to be a friendly shark voice. Find it!

6.Create and post at least 10-2 min PSA's on You Tube, yes 10, and get your dive buddies to spread the word and that means all those photographers you know as well.

If you cannot get some action from your own home waters then stop posting this crap. DO something better than this. These are YOUR damn animals and YOU have to make changes not the rest of the planet.

Good luck.

Anonymous said...

i fully agree with the previous comment!

Anonymous said...

And it could get worse, perhaps carte blanche can get involved to highlight the plight of the tiger sharks. I do agree go after the sharks board

Anonymous said...

Very easy to post anonymously, suggest all these actions to take but not once offer assistance yourself. Placing a message on a pizza box, your ass or anything handy is better than nothing at such a spur of the moment event. Not much time to make up fancy signs etc when you are on the beach. And your first suggestion - start a website - what do you think this is?? Before you slate these guys for the wonderful work they are doing in bringing this stuff to light - pull your finger out of your own ass, get up off the couch and volunteer your help to phone people etc. - do something yourself. Before you do any of this you need to make the very people sharks board says they are protecting, aware of this stuff through what Blue Wilderness is doing right now... they need to be made aware that shark nets are not protecting them and that they need to be removed. Then you can strat lobbying the people in power to get it done.

Andy - a tuckshop fan through and through!!!

Andy Bentley
Ichthyologist
Biodiversity Institute
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS USA

Anonymous said...

Obviously Mr anonymous is jealous of the sharks reproductive area size and therefore had to make these nasty comments, yes Fiona must have had a van parked with the capabilitys of producing a sign that can be seen from space, get a life and let these people try do what they can to help protect these sharks from being wiped out. They receive no funding and the general public would much rather see all sharks destroyed than protected. I live on the South coast and am a keen freediver and just had my 1st baited shark dive which was amazing. Why dont you Mr anonymous instead of bitching about how pathetic a sign is offer some help, instead of criticising how about helping.

Lesley Rochat AOCA said...

What really irks me are people like the first 'anonymous' who have a lot to say but do little to help - why don't you start the website, donate your time and money or put effort into one of your many suggestions? Saving our seas and its animals is not about location - wherever one is in the world one can help.

I come across this all the time, people with loads of talk, but little action. And I'll have you know running petitions does help, everything helps that raises awareness that ultimately aims for change. I believe one of the only ways those nets will be something of the past is by raising awareness about the facts, dispelling the fear that SharksBoard use to justify the existence of nets - win the support of the people and lobby hard and for as long as it takes. AOCA, Shark Savers and other small NPOs and individuals like Andy Cobb, Mark Addison etc. are doing our best, but we need help, not only suggestions from people too scared to leave their names.

Lesley Rochat
Founder AfriOceans Conservation Alliance (AOCA)
'The train of human destruction is steaming ahead, but if there are enough of us pulling in the opposite direction we can slow it down. The time for living unconsciously is over.' Lesley Rochat

Lesley Rochat AOCA said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Why all the bickering? So what if someone writes on a pizza box? Better than doing on a stamp! Better than nothing!

We all have big mouths and deep pockets, the only thing we do not mind useing is our voices, so if shouting will help, lets do it! The louder we get the more people will hear, become aware of the sharks beauty and roll in our waters.

Add me to the list! I’ll keep shouting loud as I can.

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should all stop arguing about who's right & who's wrong & start focusing on the real issue at hand.

Obviously every little bit that we do helps to some extent. I do agree, though, that our voices need to be heard, they need to be louder. We need to be making a lot more noise. The number of sharks are deteriorating at an alarming rate & we need to react now before it's too late!

I have friends who's only interraction with anything ocean-related is having a big jol on Margate's beaches or the like. All they know about sharks are that they're man-eating monsters as portrayed in the Jaws movies. We need to get the media involved in a big way. Even if that means protesting & marching outside of Natal Sharks Board toyi-toying with posters. We need to tell the rest of the ignorant world of this very real issue & get them on our side!

Anonymous said...

A couple of things.

1. Stop chumming for shark experiances. You are not allowed to chum for cats at Kruger so why chum for sharks in a marine park. If you dive and see the big one's then you are lucky. If you dont see them, well better luck next time.
2. The Sharks board is placing nets around the area of a declared marine park. This could be interpreted as a form of fishing which is illegal.Need a pretty sharp attorney here.
3. If we ALL left our animals and or fish alone we would not have to revert to this form of protection.
4. Maybe we need to start up something similar to, or involve Greenpeace?Sea Shepherd and start cutting nets.Capt Morgan rum could sponsor this as they used this in a TV Advert.

Anonymous said...

Well guys... coming from a student who is keen to see the protection and conservation of Sharks, it's quite absurd and shocking to see the amount of bitching, moaning and oh ya... usless sledging that going on here!! This is def not the way we should be behaving!!

Obviously there is a problem and a need here(with regards to the tiger by-catch), but fighting about it, is silly and not helping the situation.

I have no real founded advice or way of contributing effectively-Im just a student, but hey guys we all on the same team here, lets start working like one.

Regards
simo( Student @ UJ, Environmental Management)

Anonymous said...

Shows the ignorance of the so called "experts" at the Sharks Board. Their methods are archaic.

Anonymous said...

We can all learn a lot from Simo, the student at UJ. We need to stop the finger pointing and unite, or we will not achieve anything.
I have been working to protect sharks for 5 years now and I found that the biggest obstacle I am facing is human EGO. Everybody wants to do his thing and forgets what he or she is really working for. I sometimes have the feeling that they do it more for themselves than for the sharks. If we don't overcome this obstacle, we will never achieve our goal. So let us stop being prima donnas and start saving the sharks. Felix Leander (felix@oceanicdreams.com) is trying to convince some people of exactly the same thing and I applaud him for doing so. This EGO disease goes from Germany to England to the US, the Bahamas, South Africa and God knows where else. Think about that for while, maybe we'll get something done.
Jupp Kerckerinck
www.sharkprotect.com
Board of Trustees
www.sharks.org

Unknown said...

To Andy and the rest of the people commenting on this post...look beyond the sarcasm and tone.

Whoever wrote this has experience with this and have a feeling that it has been implemented elsewhere to protect a different species of sharks - and it has been effective. I am surprised that no one asked anonymous for additional suggestions...

Jupp - I will sit together with my old man in a couple of days - in the meantime, feedback is welcome.

@Simo - you definitely have the right attitude.

Anonymous said...

What idiot decided to net the sharks in, it always boils down to 1 person to make the final decision... now can that, for a lack of a better word, person make another decision and SAVE life, instead of ending it.

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