Very Cool Shark Diving Video - Isla Guadalupe
The question of why people go shark diving has answers that, if typed out and put end to end, would undoubtedly circle the earth many times.
For Shark Diver Chris Johnson his answer and very special video surprised even us:
Jessica Perry-Targaryen, Gobbly Gook from a Biologist?
Congratulations to Facebook phenom Jessica Perry-Targaryen, de facto champion of the discredited Oxy Shark Myth.You know the one. It can be found being recited by Facebook hysteria brokers who have little else to do with their time but quote half-witted conservation gobbly gook wherever they can.
Usually with a "like" button attached to some sort of petition.
"If we kill all the worlds sharks we will run out of oxygen to breathe".
According to Jessica Perry-Targaryen her entire justification for embracing the Oxy Shark Myth, much like those who fervently embrace Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monsters, comes from her made up science premise, and we quote with our own questions attached:
"One need merely apply syllogism to solve this argument:
Major premise: Phytoplankton supply Oxygen to Earth.
Minor premise: Sharks keep Phytoplankton in check. (cite source(s) here)
Conclusion: All Sharks supply Oxygen to Earth. (bunk conclusion)
The model:
Major premise: All P affect O.
Minor premise: All S affect P. (except freshwater bodies where sharks are not present?)
Conclusion: All S affect O."
We'll let actual scientists ponder the finding of Jessica Perry-Targaryen, who is fostering her own unreasonable line of reasoning with the same passion that Flat Earth People try and explain their two dimensional world to the rest of us.
In the meantime, for the rest of us, facts do matter in conservation.
Our world becomes a better place when you can bring others to understand why conservation matters without resorting to bent shark prophecies that have no basis in facts.
To Jessica and the last few hold outs of the Oxy Shark Myth, look around you.
Even the myths first speakers, the few websites that once touted the myth, and the myths old champions are all walking back from it. It's a sea change. One based in the realization that some myths are better off dying on the vine from whence they came.
Oh, and Da Shark just waded in, yikes!
Pro Shark Finning Talking Points - Got Counters?
If there's one thing that a recent media bomb in Singapore exposed it was pro shark finning talking points. The ones being proposed last week were, by any standards, pretty good.The person uttering them was Dr Choo-hoo Giam at a recent conservation round table that pitted Dr Giam against anti shark fin groups seeking shark fishing/finning bans in the region.
We're not going into the side show of last weeks misquotes, or media responsibility here, that's been covered by Da Shark and David quite aptly.
We want to talk about the fundamental currency of mainstream and social media - Talking Points.
TP's are the short media friendly quips that move media sources to write stories and create content. They also help on social media sites.
Talking points are the main arsenal for groups seeking to sway public opinion.
In this world, unfortunately, readers don't care for bulky PDF's filled with researched facts, they want a sound byte, they want instant raison d'etre.
It's a media currency traded by Sea Shepherd and PETA to great effect...in the short term. If talking points are currency then these two orgs represent the Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac of the talking point world. Dispensing a treasure trove of toxic media to unsuspecting masses, bundled and sold without any thought to the future, just the media meme of "the now".
The problem with talking points is that they have to be factual. Your media opposition will take your talking points and, like a grenade thrown too soon on the field of battle, pick up and lob back into your position.
For the many grassroots shark conservation groups who have been growing, morphing, and relying on Facebook and other social media platforms to save sharks over the past two years the media staple of the talking point became horribly skewed along the way.
We have all seen talking points that have reverberated in social media eco chambers around the world to create free standing monsters made of whole cloth factoids that make no sense and provided the opposition like Dr Giam a treasure trove of his own talking points that actually resonate.
Does anyone remember the following media samples?
1. 100+ million sharks killed
2. Sharks = Oxygen
3. Asians are evil
4.90% of all shark species are now completely extinct
5. Japan kills all the worlds sharks
The list goes on and on with some unfortunate racist undertones to boot. Many in the shark conservation world disavow any responsibility for these talking points, "what happens in chat rooms or how people comment is up to them, we operate to a higher calling, just read our bulky PDF's on the issues and you'll know".
It's not good enough.
There are some seriously flawed media talking points out there and they are the current shark conservation meme. And yes, any group involved in shark conservation has the direct responsibility to disavow these gross misrepresentations and start, today, by doing the following:
1. Full review of the most egregious talking points out there.
2. Broad bi-partisan reworking of all media talking points. Let's all get on the same table.
3. A separate media educational track to the shark conservation base to redirect and refocus.
4. A disavowing of all racist talking points, "Hate the Policy - Not the People".
5. Create and promote talking points that are compelling and make sense.
You can still have talking points that have an impact. But we have to get savvy quickly on this issue.
Thankfully Dr Giam has educated all of us to our glaring media Achilles Heel.
It's not too late to clean house and reverse two years of fundamental media mismanagement. The fact is we got a lot of mileage out of , "100 Million Sharks Killed" but that sound byte has just landed back in our foxhole and we don't see anyone out there in a leadership position throwing themselves on that particular media grenade.
Which is too bad, because when it goes off, everyone will take a piece of it - like it or not.
And "The" Data Shall Set You Free
Cyanobacterial Neurotoxin β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine is undoubtedly evil stuff. Thought to cause all manner of horrible problems in the human brain, think loss of memory and basic bladder functions, and is commonly found in...Florida shark fin?Or so says a recent study coming out of the University of Miami this week.
What caught our attention was the unprecedented speed at which this study made it to the worlds media outlets. As of this post over 9000 results on Google for this studies title alone. A trademark of one Dr Neil Hammerschlag who, along with a merry band of Fl researchers, has consistently tied shark research data into the global media machine to effectively lead the way when it comes to media messaging, conservation, and really good data.
The study is an important milestone making shark fin less appealing to the masses and giving those on the front lines of the anti shark fin push some additional stone cold facts.
"A potential link between this neurotoxic nonprotein amino acid and neurodegenerative diseases was originally discovered on the island of Guam in the Western Pacific Ocean. Here an exceptionally high incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), of somewhat late onset with added extrapyramidal features and dementia (ALS/PDC), was recorded in the late 1940s to early 1950s. ALS/PDC is a progressive neurological disorder with clinical and neuropathological features resembling those of ALS, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease"
Study quote here.
Is The Shark Fin Ban Culturally Biased?
RTSea Blog covered Juliet Eilperin's response in the Washington Post this week to the pro-shark fin lobby, and we have to agree, this is great stuff.Juliet knows what she is talking about and delivers her response with calm cool facts.
Cultural bias in the shark fin debate?
We think not, but racist comments that frame perceptions to this debate, absolutely so, with nasty examples all over the Internet that go unchallenged on a daily basis.
For example the Huff Post this week featured a blog on increased protections for sharks in Florida.
This was the third comment on that posts thread. It has since been removed at our request, but requests like ours are few and far between when it comes to monitoring the oppositions perception of the anti-shark fin lobby:
"There are people who catch sharks, cut off their fins and throw them back in the ocean to die on the bottom, unable to move. They sell the fins for soup and souvenirs. These people are barbarians. They are the same kind of people who run dog fights, cock fights, and are basically sociopaths. If we shot them on sight it would be a better world."
We are tired of the response we are getting from shark conservation leadership groups who do nothing to disavow these dark, racist, comments on the net. Each and every one should be accompanied by a leadership group response disavowing ignorance, hatred, and redefining what the shark fin movement is all about.
The idea that these comments have "nothing to do" with the groups who are pushing for shark fin bans is working to the pro-shark fin lobbies benefit. Like it or not it is these folks who also sign petitions, they post on Facebook, they are the movements base.
These comments became so toxic in the recent Toronto effort to go fin free that a mysterious group appeared and threatened to poison Chinese and Asian communities all over the city.
A golden opportunity was wasted by leadership groups to get out ahead of this issue who instead stood by and said nothing. Lack of action on that issue and others have provided the opposition with talking points that will resonate on for years.
As RTSea has aptly pointed out:
"we should not expect the opposition to simply throw in the towel. On the contrary, they will put up one heck of a fight and it will be based on half truths, blatant misrepresentations, and diversions"
Including three years of unchallenged comment threads and dark groups with agendas that have nothing to do with saving sharks.
The thing about racism, if you are unwilling to take a stand at the start, those who fill the vacuum you leave behind drag you down into their dark world by inaction.
If you still do not think there's a problem out there take a good look around, perhaps the problem starts with you because as far as those who are being paid to promote shark fin and counter our efforts - you don't appear to be any different.
Food for thought.
shark diving, shark conservation and things we find "amusing." 
