How to help endangered Sharks

Give your support to conservation efforts. There are a few non profit marine life conservation groups. Thank god, there are groups like Sharklife Conservation and Conservation International always strive to protect and save endangered sharks. Every donation is essential, and no amount is too small. All you need to do, it just throw your extra change in a coffee can and watch it add up to a great donation for a worthy cause. Join organization like sharkwater. I will update more on this. I’m also reseaching on malaysian organization, so stay tuned.

Send letters to your State Representatives. It is the responsibility of Congress to help protect the Endangered Species Act, as well as any future amendments to it. Speak your mind and let them know how you feel about endangered sharks, and how crucial they are to the environment. Your representatives can make a difference in the help these sharks receive. Your voice is important. Did you guys know in malaysia, if you go to Pulau Sipadan you will see a lot of Shark hunters. This is very sad scene. Maybe someone needs to send a letter to the YM there.hmm.

Try to bring awareness to your community wherever you are. Learn all you can about endangered shark species so you can educate others. Remember that children are the conservationists of tomorrow.Jus offer to share your knowledge about endangered sharks with a day care, scout troop or an elementary class and you the cain will continue for generations. You will indeed be rewarded in this life or after.

You can try to write a letter to your local newspaper. Outline your concerns and point out how important sharks are to ocean ecology. Create and print your own “I love sharks” bumper stickers and T-shirt transfers. The more public awareness created, the better. Will need to have a trip to Sipadan to see myself then would consider writing myself. 

Avoid purchasing products made from sharks. Shark leather, trophy teeth, and seafood such as shark fin soup all create a retail demand for products from this rapidly diminishing species. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.  So if your company is planning to do a company dinner, avoid shark fin in the menu. The less demand, the less sharks are hunted.

Step 6

Dive and snorkel with sharks. The more money that goes into shark tourism the more people will realize the value of keeping sharks alive. Wow, im so looking forward to dive with the Sharks. Hope they will still be there when I start diving.

Step 7

Find out if your country is one of the 17 countries that have banned shark finning. If not, write your local government official asking them to ban shark finning. I’m not shocked if Malaysia has yet to  implimented these.  

Step 8

Spread the word on Shark finning. Blog, add banners( http://www.sharkwater.com/banners.htm). The more we reach, the better. I believe scuba divers for recreational purpose will agree(there are scuba diver for fish hunter, which I totally hate)

Regards,
Yohan Ibrahim