According to WildAid demand for shark-fin soup has fallen by as much as 70%. About time. This of course is fantastic news, if these statistics are even vaguely true, it seems that sharks are finally getting a break. If shark finning had continued at previous rates, or forbid even higher, there would have been an inevitable collapse. Finally, they have a chance.

A chance to recuperate. We've waged war on a community that never asked for it. It's about time we act like the civilized creatures we like to call ourselves. Otherwise we better start asking ourselves what exactly civilization means.

Flickr (labeled for reuse)

And we wonder why sharks attack humans. I saw this article in the news today: "Watch dramatic moment daredevil swimmer jumps onto shark after being dared by pals". Jumped on top of a shark. Really? And we give them all this bad rap because they attack us. Of course. And we believe in justice. I truly weep for humanity.
A dare. That is all that is needed. You dare someone, and because they were dared they'll do it. Seriously? How can we do this and in the same breath say we are intelligent beings.

Why'd you jump on to a shark?
Well... I was dared.

How does this go unpunished? If someone tackled a human and their excuse was, "I was dared." They would, at the very least, be fined.

Reports like this, just emphasize the lack of respect many people have for animals. If you believe yourself to be more intelligent/evolved than another creature, alright that's you're choice, however, you also take up the responsibility for that creature.

Think of it like a monarchy. The monarchs of old believed themselves to be more powerful than their subjects (true), thus they were able to demand certain things, however, it was also their responsibility to protect their subjects. It is about time that humanity takes on the responsibilities of sovereignty.

Flickr (labeled for reuse)

The article I've just read, has informed me that Western Australia has changed their shark culling regulations. The word "imminent" threat has been changed to "serious" threat. Essentially, changing the laws to allow shark culling if a shark is seen near an occupied shoreline. If the shark exceeds three meters, and is presumed to be a white, bull, or nurse shark, "preventive" measures are allowed to be taken, in the form of killing. With shark populations already declining world-wide, invoking a policy allowing sharks to be killed, merely from being spotted, is outrageous.

Wikipedia Tiger Shark "Labeled for reuse"

Footage was caught of a ghost shark. Little is known about these oddities, however, they are probably a completely different species: although, related to sharks.

Also known as deep sea chimaeras, they are definitely not "lookers". The ghost shark researchers were able to film, was covered in parasites, and they claim it didn't look healthy. It makes me wonder, and dread, what other species may be facing. Is this shark's condition an anomaly, or are other sharks facing similar conditions? More importantly, is this a consequence of our callous actions, or is the cause natural? Regardless, I believe, more research should be done, to determine why this animal looks the way it does, and what is the cause for its parasitism.

Wikipedia "labeled for reuse"

Another shark attack... This one claimed the life of an 18 year old boy on a fishing trip. He was reportedly bitten on the upper thigh, and subsequently succumbed to blood loss soon after. I don't wish to seem callous, with my reports, my heart goes out to all those who are lost and who've lost at the jaws of sharks. However, it must still be kept in mind, that these animals are not man-eating machines. The don't set out maliciously to attack humans. When compared to other death-traps sharks are relatively unlikely to harm you, you are more likely to die at the hand of a vending machine.

Nonetheless, shark attacks do seem to be happening more frequently. Although, I could be mistaken, unfortunately I don't have access to any exact values. If the media is anything to go on, they seem to be reporting ever more on shark attacks, which begs the question, why? What is the cause for these increased attacks? I doubt they've suddenly developed a grudge; could it be a lack of food? Although, this issue is, most sharks don't eat their human victims, so this is somewhat unlikely. If sharks are indeed, attacking more, I pray we find the reason as soon as possible.

Wikipedia "labeled for reuse"

Well, this article appeared in my inbox today. So let me get this straight: millions of sharks are killed every year for a soup, and now they are being used as a supplement, by this joyous company. Seriously? So this species is threatening collapse, so that people can show off to their friends and now digest food quicker. Really? Are you joking me? If you want to lose weight, for goodness sake exercise! It saddens me that humanity is so chronically lazy, that instead of laying off the fast food, and actually moving around a little, they now grind up the cartilage of sharks and shove it into a pill. Are you serious?!?!

This should be their slogan: Killing sharks since 1945, to battle human laziness.

Wikipeda (labeled for reuse)

Wikimedia commons (labeled for reuse)

Yesterday, I wrote about sustainable fish, and briefly alluded to this post. This is going to be about mercury. You all know about mercury? I hope. If you don't, here's all that you should know: it ISN'T good for you. That would be an ISN'T. I'm excited, because now I have a reason for people that don't care about fish to stop eating them.

Did you know that fish contain mercury? Do you know how mercury is carried along through the food chain? Mercury levels start off innocuously, then it travels up the food chain. To the bigger animals (in this case fish). What are some of the most threatened fish species? Bluefin tuna, swordfish, and sharks. Guess what? They all have the highest levels of mercury! So, STOP eating them! Is that sushi really worth getting mercury poisoning? And don't think that canned tuna is safe, just because it's skipjack tuna, according to this article (hyperlinked above), "Tuna accounts for 40% of our mercury exposure. Most of that is from canned tuna." So yeah.

I'm hoping if you don't care about fish, at least you care about yourself. So I'd advise, avoiding mercury poisoning. Not really a pleasant thing. Not really advised for your health.

I couldn't see any sharks, other than the Black Tips, when I went to check up on them. They all seemed to congregating at the far end of the pool. Not sure what they were doing, but kind of interesting, so here's the screenshots.

And the tank is still demurkified, so that's good.

Shark Webcam, courtesy of Shark Lagoon
 All the greyish blimps towards the far end are blacktips.


Where did Solomon go?

Alrighty. I've covered the topic of shark attacks a number of times on this blog- perhaps, you're tired about hearing it, but I'm angry, so you'll have to deal with it.

It seems everyday (I actually check the news on this topic every day) a new article about a shark attack, or a beach evacuated because of sharks, hits the news. Most of the time the shark bit a surf board and swam off, increasingly it's that someone saw a shark. SAW a shark. Apparently, SEEING a shark now warrants a featured article. You'd think nothing was going on in the world *cough* Ebola *cough*. Okay, so we report every minor incident that involves a shark.

Do you know what happens to millions of sharks every year? They are slaughtered. Actually, that's a bad word to use- it's misleading. They are not slaughtered. They are hacked up- alive. And subsequently thrown into the ocean to drown to death, or get scavenged by other fish. WHY doesn't this make the news? Imagine if a shark bit off all four limbs of a person and then swam off. This would without a doubt make headline news all around the world. And what will people think? "They're man eating machines! Stay away from the ocean! Kill them all." Yeah. That's great. This is what happens to sharks every minute of every day. Do they get headline news? No. Of course not. It's deemed somewhat acceptable. I ask you, how is this just? How can we call ourselves civilized, whilst turning a blind eye to this unequivocal barbarity? If another person did this to a human being, they'd be sentenced for life. As a matter of fact, they'd probably be locked up if they did this to a panda, or a dog, or a horse. But a shark? Well that's fine. WHY??!?!?! Why do people hold sharks on a different level? I've already mentioned (in a previous post) that dogs kill more people than sharks every year, why do we treat them better than sharks? What have they done to deserve this discrimination? If anything we're the ones that are at fault. We saw the oceans we conquered, we depleted their food supply, when they make a mistake they are segregated, called a monster, beast, and driven towards extinction.

Efforts are being made to reverse this trend. Now. It should've been done YEARS AGO! This industry is barbaric.

Sharks deserve our respect. They deserve our compassion. They don't owe us anything.

Shark Webcam, courtesy of Shark Lagoon
The tank is demurkified! Not a word... really not a word...
Anyway, just to clarify, the tank was actually 'demurkified' within 24 hours, I just spread my posts out. So don't worry, the aquarium solved the issue in much less than 3-4 days. It was probably less than 24 hours... Also the sharks didn't seem disturbed by the murk. Maybe, the murk was an intentional murk. To be honest, I have no idea what it was or why it happened. I just wanted to report that I can now see the screen again! Which is good news.
Vision has returned!

Shark Webcam, courtesy of Shark Lagoon

The divers have returned. Yielding this weird tool (see screen shots below). I can only assume that this is some sort of training exercise, that may train sharks not to harm the divers: although, I can't be certain.
I think there's a white tip near the bottom of the tank, next to the diver.
See the end of the stick like object, its shape leads me to believe that this is a training tool.

Well, the mysterious vacuum staff from a few days ago, may not be so mysterious after all... And I think they need to come back... Actually they may be back. I'm probably not making much sense. Bring on the screenshots!

This is what greeted me today....
Not sure what happened.
The water has gotten a little murky to put it lightly...
The sharks don't seem to mind it though. I guess the ocean isn't always clear either.

 If you look out into the murk, I think I see the blue tube again. So I'm assuming the aquarium is trying to do something about this murk.


 I don't believe I've seen this shark before. I'm not even sure if it's a shark...


The black tips come speeding around the corner. I've got to say, these are most certainly my favorite shark.

Black tip shark congregation! The best kind of congregation.

 Is it actually getting murkier?
 Yup, most certainly murkier.


 Why is the water so murky?!?!?

 Solomon is creeping up.

 Hello Solomon. How's life?


 I'll try to check up later, to see if this murky water has cleared up. Solomon is slightly in the back, if you're interested.

I first started this blog, June of this year. It was originally going to be a temporary thing, but it's no longer so. Anyway, throughout this time I've been observing a number of animals. For the newcomers, I've decided to make a post detailing the animals that I observe more frequently, and their names, and how to recognize them.

I do observe some other animals, especially in the shark tank, but I'm afraid, for now, I can't tell them apart. Bear with me, whilst I figure it out- you might be waiting for a while...

I cannot not start with Captain Nemo. I first watched him in June, and I haven't stopped. The first time I saw Nemo, I noticed this odd circuiting behavior, which I am still monitoring.
Anyway, this is him (who is actually a her).
From just this picture, it may be hard to identify him. But here is what you should look out for, to distinguish between Nemo and Wake (the other beluga in the tank).
Do you notice these very defined ridges near the beginning of his tail? Wake doesn't have these ridges, so if you see them you are looking at Nemo.






Here's what these 'ridges' look like when he's showing his belly. I call it his "figure eight". So if you hear me mention it, that's what I'm talking about.









I've already mentioned Wake, but here's him. There are two whales in Vancouver Aquarium's Beluga tank. Check out my other posts to get details that Vancouver provided me with. Realize, that both of these whales are actually female, one of which is the mother. I started off calling them Wake and Nemo, and when I found out their actual names, I couldn't say goodbye to Wake and Nemo, so there you have it.



















Hi Wakey. Basically, the only way I know that it's Wake, and not Nemo, is the absence of said ridges. But, keep in mind, he does have ridges, just nowhere near as extreme, and noticeable as Nemo's.








So that' Vancouver Aquarium's Belugas. Next are the sharks. As I side before, there are dozens more sharks than I've been able to identify. But for now these are the two that I can tell apart.




















So this is Bruce. As you can probably tell, I've watched Nemo far too many times. I can tell him apart, because, as far as I can tell, he's the only Sandtiger shark in the exhibit. And I think it goes without saying he has a pretty memorable appearance- cough, teeth.

And the other shark I've been able to identify is Solomon the Saw shark. Again, because it seems as if he's the only sawshark in the tank. So meet Solomon the Sawshark- again for those who've read my other posts.

Shark Webcam, courtesy of Shark Lagoon

Just in case you want to see what I mean (check out my last post).

The water really is murkier now! I'm not crazy.