Live every week like it's shark week

For those of you who don't already live every week like it's shark week, I've got good news for you...

It actually is shark week!

And I haven't blogged about sharks in almost two months!

Fun fact: this is perhaps the only television event that will see my entire family sitting in front of the tube.

Did you know that sharks like to sunbathe and can even get a tan? Sharks: they're just like us!

Happy Shark Week, y'all!

this blog supports a ban on shark finning

Today is one of those days when I become Lindsey the shark-blogger. I am also being incredibly lazy and must admit that my inspiration to talk about sharks again came from a post on Matador. Actually, I'm incredibly lazy squared because I'm just going to share the entire article with you sans any kind of originally on my part.

7 reasons to ban shark finning 

by Mary Pfaffko 

Diver finds dead sharks that died a slow, painful death after being discarded off a finning boat. 

Fins are sliced off of sharks while their live bodies are tossed back into the ocean like trash. Here are 7 reasons why this practice should be banned.

1. Our most ancient species are endangered.

Sharks have existed since before the dinosaurs and pre-date humans by hundreds of millions of years. Once kings of natural selection, sharks are now facing extinction due to finning. Shark populations are extremely vulnerable because they take up to 20 years to reach sexual maturity and produce few young. The current demand for fins makes it impossible to restore populations to previous levels.

Since 1972, the number of Blacktip, Tiger, Bull, Dusky, and Smooth Hammerhead sharks has fallen by over 90%. Already, 18-20 species of sharks are listed as endangered by theInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

2. The soup isn’t that good anyway.

No one is asking people to stop eating delicious soups, and shark fin soup is certainly not one of them. Shark fins are tasteless – fins are full of cartilage, which simply serves as a thickening agent.

The soup has been served for centuries by Chinese at special occasions such as weddings so the hosts can impress their friends with excess wealth, since it can cost up to $100 per bowl. For the most part, the limited number of wealthy Chinese meant that the practice was sustainable, but the rapid growth in the Chinese economy since 1985 is directly correlated with the recent sharp decrease in shark populations.

3. Changing shark populations destabilizes marine ecosystems.

Changes in shark populations alter the ecological dynamics within the entire ocean because sharks are apex predators and play a major role as ecological stabilizers.

The domino effect: decimated Blacktip and Tiger Shark populations along the east coast of the US led to decreased shellfish populations, which led to decreased water quality since shellfish filter water. Another domino effect: fewer sharks increase octopus populations, which decrease lobster populations. At this rate, the oceanic ecosystem that has evolved over millions and millions of years would collapse.

A recent study by the Monterey Bay Aquarium found that more than 75% of people surveyed support a shark finning ban.

4. This isn’t just in Asia.

Outside of Asia, California is the largest market for fins. The Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 prohibits the possession of fins without the corresponding carcass in U.S. waters but does not prohibit the importing or distribution of fins, so some of the fins that are legally imported through Los Angeles and San Diego are actually illegally obtained in U.S. waters.

California Assembly Members Fong and Huffman have introduced Assembly Bill 376, a bill to ban the possession, sale, trade, and distribution of shark fins in California. Washington, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands have already passed a similar law and Oregon and Guam are considering it.

5. Finning cashes in on cruelty.

Now that we’ve overfished the Bluefin Tuna, industry has turned to the sharks to cash in. Fins are worth up to $600 per pound. What happens when we overfish all of the sharks?

6. It’s a wasteful practice.

Usually, only the fin is saved while the rest of the shark’s body is chucked overboard. Shark meat isn’t popular because of the high ammonia content, meaning that the carcass must move quickly from sea to table with the utmost care to prevent health hazards to the consumer. Shark meat isn’t valuable enough for fishermen to carefully store the huge carcasses on their ships.

7. Longlining is killing more than sharks.

A “curtain of death” sweeps through the ocean, catching anything that goes for the bait. These “longlines” are meant to catch tuna and swordfish, but they actually catch anything that takes its bait, including endangered sharks, leatherback and loggerhead turtles, and seabirds (such as albatross). Over 25% of the longline catch is chucked back into the sea, usually left for dead.

In most areas, longlining is perfectly legal and practiced routinely.

Ban Shark Finning Worldwide

A recent study by the Monterey Bay Aquarium found that more than 75% of people surveyed support a shark finning ban. On the other side of the world, China’s most powerful television station, CCTV, has donated $70 million in time to air informative commercials about finning. The NBA’s most famous Chinese basketball player, Yao Ming, is plastered on San Francisco’s MUNI buses as part of WildAid’s campaign to end shark finning.

What you can do

On June 10, 2011, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) will be holding its annual Splash Ball in San Francisco, CA. The theme of this year’s ball is Shindig for Sharks to raise awareness about the devastating impact finning on shark populations and the planet. For more information or to buy tickets to the Splash Ball ($95 per ticket), visit theSplash Ball Eventbrite site.

In addition to supporting state bans, visit Stop Shark Finning for ideas about other actions you can take. 

gotta get my shark on

requisite biweekly shark post with a side of dog meat and ethical dilemmas

Kind of joking.  I never intended to post this frequently (now 3 times in 6 weeks?) about the cartilaged creatures, but here I am again (sort of... this post actually evolved to have almost nothing to do with sharks).

Galding posted an article yesterday using California's proposed ban on shark finning (a practice I previously mentioned here) as a launching point for a discussion of the global politics of culinary delicacies, which made me think a bit about my own experiences with food and culture abroad and at home.  The author raises the question of how to strike a balance between wildlife conservation/ethical food production and the preservation of culture.  While shark finning is a gruesome practice that for me is hard to justify with the argument that shark fin soup is integral to Chinese culture, there are other dishes that might not seem "ethical" to many "Westerners" that I have no problem with.  The author writes, "The Philippines has long been under fire for its mistreatment of dogs destined for the dinner table. I don't condone animal cruelty in any form (which is why I want to see gavage [sic]), yet we must also realize that pets are not a traditional part of that culture."  Just to clarify, the Philippines outlawed the eating of dog meat in 1998.  Though there is an underground market for it, most younger Filipinos did not grow up eating dog meat and think of dogs only as pets.  I'm really curious though as to what extent the doggie legislation came about through Western influences-- something that reminds me of a very similar issue in South Korea.

In Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, the sale of dog meat has been illegal since 1984, though the law is barely enforced and one doesn't have to look too hard to find dog meat in the city's traditional markets or in restaurants specializing in 개고기 (Gaegogi aka dog meat).  Hell, it took me less than a week of living in Korea to see my first frozen Fido.  Lindsey, my co-worker leaned in to warn me, you know some people here eat dog, right?  Moments later we passed a large dog in its entirety on ice-- and nowhere special, this was just the market closest to my home and workplace.  Many older Koreans continue to consume dog meat from time to time (especially men-- for stamina, of course!), but far fewer of the younger sect eat it with any regularity and many refuse to eat it at all on the same grounds as most Americans-- dogs are pets, not food.  But where did this shift in perception come from?  I'm willing to bet that most of the men that passed the law back in the mid-80's are part of the crowd that still visits their favorite gaegogi joint from time to time for "stamina soup."  If you remember correctly, Seoul played host to the Summer Olympic Games in 1988.  In talking to older Koreans (one of the distinct advantages of teaching English to adults), I learned a bit more about the historical state of dog meat affairs.  Apparently, in the years leading up to the Olympics, the government tried to phase out the selling of dog meat-- or at least run it underground-- in an attempt to appease the international (read: Western) community and shed the label of "backwards society that eats dogs."  At this point in time, South Korea was beginning to show significant signs of recovery from decades of poverty following the Korean War and was naturally eager to showcase its progress to the world during the upcoming Olympic Games.  They didn't need to be torn apart in the Western media for their culinary practices when their opportunity to become a bigger global player was on the line.  And so the visibility of dog meat quickly faded, and the practice has since steadily declined.

 Side note: I am Olympic Fanatic.

Is it fair?  What surprised me most upon seeing a full dog on ice in the market was its size and build  This clearly was not someone's pet; it was an animal bred specifically for one purpose: human consumption.  In Korean, these dogs are known as 누렁이 (Nureongi) and 황구 (Hwangu), clearly distinguishing them from the type of "dogs" that are considered pets.  For many, that still doesn't make it right, but I don't think you can point the finger at Asian communities for centuries of domesticating dogs as livestock while innocently consuming beef or chicken that comes from American slaughterhouses.  Cows are sacred to the Hindu community, and it is illegal to kill a cow in Nepal and most Indian states, yet Americans consume an average of 67 lbs of beef per year.  If the 1.4 billion people of India and Nepal got together and decided to vilify Americans for their consumption of cows, what would the response be?  Many people would probably laugh at the audacity of the two South Asian countries for suggesting such a thing.  So why does the West get to decide what is globally acceptable at the dinner table? (and I ask that with regard to food production only and issues of conservation aside-- as I do think it is important that global measures are being taken to protect threatened and endangered species)

So what is my personal philosophy on food, culture, and ethics?

I absolutely draw the line at threatened or endangered species, especially when many of them are killed not for survival, but for sale as delicacies, often wasting most of the edible parts of the animal and leaving them to die a cruel death, the way sharks are definned and then thrown back in the ocean to perish.  As a somewhat recent fish consumer, I'm working to become more knowledgeable about sustainable fishing, as I would like to get the occasional super dose of omega-3's without contributing to the destruction of our fragile ocean ecosystems. 

After that, the lines are hazy.  I have been trying to become a more conscious consumer.  For both health and ethical reasons, I eat significantly less meat than I did in the past, and when possible make more responsible decisions when it comes to the source of my food.  My personal decision not to become vegetarian or vegan has a lot to do with culture as well as the belief that one doesn't have to go to extremes to be more responsible or make a statement.  

First off, culture.  Anyone who tries to convince me that food is not an integral part of culture will ultimately fail.  We experience the world through our perception of sensory details, and what, other than the experience of eating and drinking truly uses all of our senses?  If you think back upon your childhood, how many memories feature food to some degree?  If you've traveled, can you honestly say that the experience yielded no culinary memories?  Travel has become a huge part of who I am and I would be remiss to claim that food is of no importance to my appreciation of different cultures.  Whether this means enjoying a buttery fresh baked croissant early in the morning while ambling through the streets of Paris or eating raw octopus on the Yeongmeori coastline of Jeju-do straight from the haenyeo (traditional female free-diver) who caught it, I don't want to limit my experience through a narrow definition of what constitutes acceptable food.  But there is also another, more direct cultural experience that concerns me.  At many times over the past year, I have been a guest at the dinner table, experiences that I am overwhelmingly grateful for and that rank as some of my fondest memories of time spent abroad.  Aside from wanting to be polite and try everything offered, there have been times when the meal I have been served as a guest is considerably more expensive than what the host would normally cook-- how can I possibly eschew the relatively expensive chicken that I am being served on ethical grounds knowing that my gracious host will go back to a diet of rice and lentils for weeks to compensate?  I just can't.  When my host has her husband go miles out of the way to pick up special curd from another town for dessert, how do I refuse it and explain that I do not eat any products that have in any way derived from animals?  I don't.  I can't.  Not only does it not translate to the majority of humans around the globe, but getting on my ethical high horse in that sort of situation just doesn't seem right.  

 eating octopus by the sea, straight from the woman who caught it, right next to where it was caught- doesn't get much more local than that, right?

I know it is not every day that I'm in a situation that demands those decisions of me, but I am not really keen on undertaking a lifestyle of extremes such as veganism knowing full well that time and again I will make exceptions in the pursuit of understanding and respecting other cultures.  Nor do I think that eating healthy and ethically has to come in the form of extremes, as it only serves to further alienate the majority of the population who cannot afford such a lifestyle.  Millions of Americans struggle to get enough fruits and vegetables in their diets-- not because they are ignorant or lazy, but often because the things that are heavily subsidized by the government (corn, meat, processed dairy) are more affordable and more filling, despite how nutritionally poor and lowbrow on the foodie scale they may be.  Healthy and responsible eating should not have to be expensive, divisive, or elitist.  But if the poor keep eating poorly based on the few affordable choices they have (and looking at the factors for beef consumption in America, geography, income, and race have a significant impact on who relies most on meat in their diets) and the rich who can afford to make food choices that reflect how "socially conscious" they are continue to buy into their exclusive diet and lifestyle clubs, what will change?  What incentive (other than it being the responsible thing to do) does the government have to correct the subsidies that encourage these unhealthy behaviors?  What incentive do companies have to target health foods at a wider population and offer them at more affordable prices when they already have a faithful elite that keep them in business by paying top dollar for organic-local-vegan-status-symbol products?  There really isn't much.  In this way, I think the small changes have the potential to be most effective.  If enough people start to be a little more discriminating about what they put into their bodies, I believe it can have a much stronger impact than if a teeny tiny fraction of the the population decides to cut out entire groups all together.

I've rambled a bit, from shark finning and dog meat to culture and American diets.  Things got out of hand.  Food is fascinating, isn't it?

I'd like to just end with something that I read awhile ago on my friend Andy's blog, which really seems to sum up the conundrum I face balancing health and social responsibility with respect and appreciation of culture when it comes to food:

Eating nutritious and local food is important to me, but I don’t want to turn my back on culture to do it.  Truly experiencing food is what I’m after, and if that calls for settling for imperfection here and there, bring it on. In a perfect world, we’d all grow turnips in our backyards and eat them like candy.  In a perfect world, our farmers would tell us what to eat, not our televisions.  In a perfect world we’d all be eating well.

Truthfully, I’m happy with eating goodly.*

*Eating Goodly is the name of Andy's blog- as a future Master of Management in Hospitality student at Cornell, I assure you he can get away with making up words to make a point.  For some thought provoking posts on food (from ethics and culture to darn good french toast and beer), I encourage you to check it out!

Monday Finspiration

Since a friend of mine recently (correctly?) stated that my blog is about pretty pictures and sharks, I thought I would do that notion justice with some more finspiration from the great white shark, with a guest appearance (well, stealing the show really) by the orca (killer) whale.

I recently came across some rather old news about killah whales killin' great whites in the Farallon Islands (that place I talked about off the coast of San Francisco where you can go whale watching and shark watching/cage diving).  While this particular incident actually happened way back in 1997 (is it weird for anyone else that the 90s are getting kind of far away?), the National Geographic Channel dug it up for somewhat recent use in their Nature Untamed series under the title "The whale that ate Jaws."  Basically, biologists have observed orcas taking down sharks and rays by placing them in a state of tonic immobility, and this one time back in 1997 a tourist boat in the Farallons witnessed this act between an orca and a great white and everyone was like "wtf?!"

What I really enjoyed from these videos is the description of the "LA Pod" of killer whales.  According to Alisa, the Killer Whale Biologist, "With the LA pod virtually every single animal has big chunks out of the dorsal fin.  Other researchers who have looked at 'em say, 'your whales look like they just got beaten up, got in a gang fight or somethin' like that.'  They can have scars on the dorsal fin, scars everywhere and chunks gone sooo I think they might have a similar history with sharks and this might indicate that."

Essentially, what we have witnessed, folks, is no more than a gang fight between the LA Pod Killah Whales and the Farallon Great Motherfuckin White Sharks.

I swear I work and study and have hobbies and don't spend all of my time making weird whale/shark crips/bloods photoshop things

oh, whatever, this is probably the greatest thing you've seen today and you know it.

dreaming of great white sharks

Maintaining neutral buoyancy, I held still as the shark swam toward me.  Wanting to trust the creature, but fearing that placing too much faith in the good intentions of a 5,000 lb predator could end disastrously, I held out an arm to bop it on the nose should it come at me too aggressively (as if a simple bop would be my saving grace).  Just when I was starting to get nervous, the great white turned around and swam off, and a man hopped out of the tank and walked away.  Oh, the man was the shark.  That's why he left me alone.  That makes perfect sense.  Later, I sat on the edge of the tank watching a mass of people swimming in the water.  An eruption of screams caught my attention as swimmer was thrown across the tank, landing near me.  Blood seeped from where a toe once stood.  Expecting outrage over being hurled by a shark and losing an appendage, I was astonished that he was unimpressed by the damage.  In fact, the only thing unnerving this man was that his injury was not severe enough.  How can I expect anyone to even notice this little thing?  I guess I'll be healing for a little while, and then what? It's not alright, ma- I'm only bleeding.  Yes, sir, those were my exact thoughts when the lizard attached to my face failed to remove my entire nose.  Oh, wait, just kidding-- I was hysterical over the fact that I would be disfigured.

 nom nom nom.  photo credit: Stephen Frink for National Geographic

I turned over and looked at the clock.  5 am.  Yes, ma, I was only dreaming.  Playing a quick game of mental calculus, I decided to take advantage of my natural waking at this ungodly hour and head down to the city to take in a 6 am Bikram yoga class.  Nothing to start the day quite like ninety minutes of dripping sweat for spinal health, right?

Hours later, and I still can't stop thinking about great whites.  Had I allowed myself to drift back to sleep, it would probably be buried deep within my subconscious by now, never to resurface again.  Yet, here I am googling "white shark diving" and contemplating whether I would ever partake in such a venture. 

As a species, sharks are vastly misunderstood.  Conservationists often say to look in the mirror if you want to see the most dangerous predator on our weary planet, and the statement certainly rings true when it comes to sharks.  For a prime example, look no further than the shark fin business, a horrendous practice in which sharks are hunted for their fins alone, which was a constant source of outrage for me while living in Asia where the practice is fairly visible.  Fins are hacked off at sea and the bodies dumped overboard, similar to the practice of poaching elephants for the use of their ivory only, except it is done on a much larger scale.  Shark fins are used in delicacies like Chinese shark fin soup, which used to be consumed only by the elite during special occasions, but has now made its way to the middle class as they grow increasingly wealthy.   Estimates of about 70 million sharks killed for their fins only appear to be growing by about 5% annually and underscore the importance of setting protective measures to stall the rapid decline of shark populations worldwide.  An important piece of legislature from the Obama administration that you may not have heard about:  The Shark Conservation Act was signed into law this past January.  US legislature may send a strong message to US fishermen and the Asian communities in the US that support this abominable practice, but how much of an impact does it really have globally if Asian nations (and the Europeans fishermen that supply a large percentage of their shark fins) don't follow suit?

While shark tourism does nothing to convince rich Chinese men that eating shark fin is a horrible practice that will not increase sexual potency (high mercury levels can actually cause sterility) or prevent cancer (it doesn't), it can teach local fishermen that the protection of sharks and their use as a tourist attraction is a sustainable business that in the long run will net considerably more money for a community than the per fin price of a shark.

Now that I have finished my shark finning tirade, let's look at great white tourism.  Though I typically associate great whites with South Africa and New Zealand, they are really found wherever there is a winning blend of ocean temperature, depth, and aquatic life to nom on.  Close to home, the Farallon Islands about 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco and the the Mexican Guadalupe Island 150 miles west of the Baja peninsula seem to be the best North American locales for great white shark tourism.  A day of cage diving with Great White Adventures in the Farallons will set you back $775-  beer and wine included, just in case you need to take the edge off after nearly crapping your wetsuit over your encounter with a 20 ft long predator.  If you just want to go along for the ride and observe from the boat, you can do so for $375.  (You could also take your chances and go with a whale watching company from SF during Sharktober for about $100).  Great White also offers a 5-day live-aboard trip to Isla Guadalupe from San Diego that includes 3 days of cage diving for $3,195.  At a similar price ($3,100) and a guaranteed encounter (if you don't see great whites you can return at any point within two years to give it another go), Shark Diver offers a similar package with a commendable focus on the importance of conservation.

Would I ever do this?  Well, for the price of a flight to San Diego and over $3,000, at this point in my life there are a lot of other worthy endeavors I would probably rather partake in (diving in the Galapagos for starters), but it does sound pretty awesome.  I've been diving with whale sharks before (at nearly twice the length of great whites, they are the largest fish in the sea... but they eat plankton), which was beyond phenomenal, so I can only imagine that having something as large and potentially dangerous as a great white swimming within a foot or so of you is indescribably exhilarating-- and the kind of encounter that you gush about for the rest of your life.

Issues of money notwithstanding, would you ever considering cage diving with great white sharks?

loookieemeee I'm just the happiest frolicking great white shark!  photo credit: Brandon Cole for National Geographic

If you are interested in shark or other marine conservation efforts, you should check out the Shark Diver blog,  Project AWARE, and the Ocean Conservatory.