Shark Finning Petitions

[shark_safari_rob]

Dear friends,

I am not usually given to requesting others to sign petitions, but this is something I believe in so deeply that I am compelled to ask you all to spend a couple of minutes of your time to sign the petition located
at:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/400108473

We are doing this to help protect sharks from the massacre trade of SHARK FINNING. This is a barbaric and illegal practice which is killing 100 million sharks per year, year on year, at a rate that has brought many species to the point of extinction in just the last 10 years.

Please sign,

Thank you for your time - together we can make a difference.

All the best
Rob

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rob Allen
Shark Safaris
Shark Safaris: for the dive adventure of a lifetime to Africa, Caribbean, Pacific
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[wilbo]

Sorry Rob - but have you seen who the petition targets are?

"Kofi Annan,, The United Nations Secretary-General" - erm.. not any more..

and

"Alibaba" - Alibaba.com ???

So. I don't think at the moment I will.. however good your intention..

(I've signed multiple Shark finning ones in the past)


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hope you are well..

[Scubee]

Sadly, there are only a few places which have made shark finning illegal, this includes the US, but not european waters (including the UK), and not international waters.

Spain are responsible for a rather large quantity of sharkfinning, somewhere between 7-15million sharks.

The Shark Trust (see my sig for a link to the website) have a petition to the UK government to stop this practice.

Sadly, the 'general public' don't realise it happens, or in what numbers. I have some pretty gruesome pictures and a short video which kind of brings it home.

[shark_safari_rob]

Mark

I welcome your comment, mate, but I think you should look again at the petition - and maybe do some of your own research.

It was initiated out of, and supported by the members of, the Shark-List which contains many (most?) of the great and the good in global shark science, research and broadcasting.

Alibaba.com is based in Hong Kong and one of the largest online traders of seafood and other products, especially shark fin. The lucrative market for shark fin is creating huge incentives for poor nations - as represented by scores of businesses on Alibaba.com. Without any control, endangered and threatened shark species are traded in great volume at great profit. As a web based business gateway, Alibaba.com is collusive and partner to this criminal and wasteful practice. This petition seeks to raise awareness of the lucrative trade which fuels and perpetuates the finning, taking a different approach to the ones which target governments and seeks to undermine the distributions and supply of shark fins to their market.

ALSO I know full well how much the Shark Trust do in this arena (I have been actively involved with them for many years), BUT that shouldn't mean that we can't do a little more - 'do-good fatigue' is never an excuse and merely an abdication of responsibility.

I appreciate that you may have signed petitions before but what harm would it do to sign another. But in the end, of course, it's your decision whether or not you want to do it!

hope you are keeping well
cheers
Rob