The Dorsal Fin

The award-winning whale shark documentary, “Shores of Silence,” is available for viewing online at TheUnderwaterChannel.tv. The film, which was directed and financed by Mike Pandey, documents the mass hunting of whale sharks off the coast of Gujarat, India. Click to watch “Shores of Silence” (Warning: this documentary chronicles the capture and butchering of whale sharks.)

When the film was shot, whale sharks were not protected in India’s waters under the Wildlife Act of 1972, allowing the slaughter of the animals to go unregulated. While the film does feature footage that might be difficult for some to watch, it had such an impact that the government of India introduced legislature protecting the whale shark in 2001. Aware that legislation protecting whale sharks would have a detrimental financial impact on the fishermen who hunted them, Pandey also explored ways that the fishermen could earn a living as guides for whale shark tourism targeted toward tourists and divers interested in seeing the animals in their natural habitat.

The big thing that jumps out at me about this documentary is that, while Pandey clearly is against the hunting of whale sharks, he does touch on the livelihood of the fishermen who hunt them and does not turn a blind eye to their need to sustain themselves and their families. Pandey points out that the fishermen, who actually expose themselves to the risky whale shark hunts, actually do not make a lot of money off of their kills, while exporters reap about 40x as much financial gain as the fishermen in the southeast Asian markets. Pandey is not so one-sided that he is only concerned about the welfare of the whale sharks while ignore the welfare of those who make a living off hunting them. His ideas of preserving the whale sharks and turning Gujarat into a whale shark tourism site is a win-win situation for the fishermen and the sharks.

For more information about the film visit Shores of Silence – Green Oscar winner at Wildscreen at UnderwaterChannel.tv.

That’s the question that the Orlando Sentinel is asking in an online poll. To cast a vote and give your opinion on the subject visit the Orlando Sentinel Back Talk poll.

The Orlando Sentinel also featured a brief opinion piece on “Getting over Jaws.” The article mentions possible tougher restrictions on killing certain shark species in Florida and also mentions the shark attack survivors lobbying for a ban on finning.

CNN’s American Morning ran a segment today around 8:30am EST about the 9 shark attack survivors who are lobbying for the U.S. Congress to support a bill aimed at ending shark finning. The segment featured two of the survivors who spoke about their attacks, and their feelings about sharks after having survived their ordeals. While surfer Mike Coots said he never had any animosity, Debbie Alamone said that it took her a while to get over her animosity. Both are now working with the Pew Environment Group to lobby for a bill that would ban finning. Both survivors stressed the importance of sharks in the marine ecosystem. Coots ended the interview portion of the segment by stating that the issue was “way bigger than the two of us. It’s absolutely incredible, just the amount of sharks being killed.”

A transcript of the interview portion of the segment can be found at CNN’s AM Fix blog. The interview portion of the segment was well done. Unfortunately, as soon as the attack survivors were off camera, CNN anchor John Roberts started in saying how it was “hard to swallow” that shark attack survivors would be lobbying for the protection of sharks. Robert’s co-anchor, whose name escapes me (Kiran Chentry was not on during the segment) then stated that she doesn’t go in the ocean due to her “unnatural” fear of being attacked by a shark. Roberts then brought up Jaws and how he was afraid to swim even in a lake after seeing the film.

If nothing else, at least another story exposing the finning industry is appearing in the main stream media.

A full press release from the Pew Environmental Group on the subject is available at Pew Brings Survivors to Congress to Seek Protections for Sharks That Attacked Them from PR Newswire.

Fox News (if you’re politically-inclined to avoid Fox News, fear not, these segments are both generally politic-free) ran a couple of fairly responsible news segments focusing the IUCN – International Union for the Conservation of Nature reporting that one-third of all sharks are threatened with extinction.

According to these segments, the deep-water open-ocean sharks are the most threatened (great white, great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, and mako are specifically mentioned in the report). The report identifies over-fishing, inadvertent netting of sharks, and illegal finning as reasons for the decline in shark numbers. Both segments make a point of informing the viewer that without sharks as a top-predator, entire marine ecosystems can die off. Both segments feature Phil Keating reporting from New Smyrna Beach, which seems a bit overplayed, considering that New Smyrna has been dubbed the “Shark Attack Capital of the World.” However, the overall theme of the segments does seem to be headed in the right direction when it comes to informing the audience about the serious threat to shark populations and the effect these losses can have on ocean life, in general.
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Justin Clarke, a blogger for the Examiner.com, shares his opinion about conservation plans aimed at protecting sharks. I’m not sure if he’s being serious or if this an attempt at humor, but either way it echoes of the Everything-I-Know-About-Sharks-Is-What-I-Learned-From-Jaws mentality. To the author’s defense, he does mention learning about sharks on The Discovery Channel, as well, so maybe he didn’t learn everything from Jaws. Mr. Clarke’s statements include:

“…I think the desirable number of great white sharks is zero.”

and

“Sharks are the ocean’s Nazis, indiscriminate murderers with black eyes and no souls.”
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