My friend Jenny at Reef & Rainforest is donating a scuba diving trip to the Galapagos aboard the Peter Hughes Sky Dancer. Trip dates are October 9-23, 2005, and minimum bid is $1,000 for this $5,390 trip! They’re taking bids until Friday. Hint: there have been no bids so far, so you could end up getting this trip for really cheap. [more info @ wetpixel]

Disney has decided to remove shark fin soup from its menu! I wrote about the problem earlier this month.

The press release states, “After careful consideration and a thorough review process, we were not able to identify an environmental sustainable fishing source, leaving us no alternative except to remove shark’s fin soup from our wedding banquet menu.”

Great job, everyone. (protesters, media, and everyone who sent letters)

dead blue sharks

I assumed that most people would know about this by now, but I forgot that most people don’t care.

Disney is planning to serve shark fin soup at Disneyland Hong Kong when it opens on September 12, 2005. Virtually every environmental group on the planet has urged them not to do so, because it’s stupid — and hypocritical. (read more »)

I had heard that the white shark at Monterey Bay Aquarium wasn’t doing well, but <a href=”http://www.underwatertimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=266″”>these photos show that she has basically rubbed her nose off against the sides of her cell. It’s very sad.

UPDATE Aquarium’s shark stirs heated debate

I’m so proud of my friends. Vienna picked me up from the airport today and on the drive back to Oakland, she told me a story about eating out in Ann Arbor and passing up a restaurant that serves mako shark. More than a few of my friends have sworn off eating shark (especially shark fin soup) after learning about how horrible fishing practices are (see some photos of what it’s like to overfish sharks — and these are the guys who are properly using the entire animal. most shark finning operations fin live sharks and leave them to die in the ocean).

I went to a friend’s wedding rehearsal dinner last year where they served shark fin soup. If she wasn’t such a good friend, I might have walked out.

Anyway, go download the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Wallet Card and start eating seafood responsibly!

Hmmm. I’m sort of hesitant to post this sort of thing because people obviously can go further and start boycotting just about everything we humans do. So those of you who are extremists can go ahead and label me a hypocrite — but you have to pick your fights, and this is one that I’ve chosen.

Here are two extremely depressing articles on fish and sharks. Sharks are on their way out. Good bye! Please stop eating shark fin soup, people.

1. Sharks suffer population crash (nature)

   “Oceanic whitetip sharks, once the most common shark in the world, are almost completely extinct, according to a new census in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the past 50 years, their numbers have crashed by more than 99% in the Gulf. Researchers think the same drop has happened around the world…”

2. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities (nature)

I was feeling a little hypocritical because I ate kangaroo tonight at Eight Mile Creek (which I do not recommend. the food was not good.). I worried, “what if their numbers are in tremendous decline?” Then, I did some web research and discovered that they are “harvested” in such a way that population levels are not adversely affected. AND, they breed like rabbits. ;)

Those of you who know me know that I’m always harping about the media-caused misconceptions of sharks. National Geographic has a down-to-earth article on their site about great whites, which is worth a read if you’re absolutely terrified that you’ll be attacked by one while in the water.

However, I’m not sure if knowing most attacks are simply investigatory probes will make things less scary. :)