Shark Diving Tragedy in the Bahamas

I would like to weigh in on the criticism being directed at Jim Abernathy.
Before I became a shark photographer I went mountaineering quite a bit. It is a very different discipline but it makes an interesting analogy for the types of shark encounters that one can have. Whether you’re climbing solo or on a guided expedition you can make mountaineering as safe or dangerous as you wish. Of course, the pinnacle of personal achievement is to summit Everest and if you are not a professional (or an extremely accomplished) mountaineer there are a number of guiding companies that will help you get to the top.
Not everyone makes it to the summit and sadly of those that do, not all of them make it back to base camp. In fact, tragedies on big mountains are so commonplace that unless the body count really racks up, they are no longer front page news.
At 8000 meters the lack of oxygen severely impedes brain function. Consequently, guides working at extremely high altitudes can barely tie up their boots let alone ensure the safety of their clients. There has been much criticism in the industry from those who believe that high altitude guiding should be banned completely but money continues to change hands and wealthy adventurers continue to put their fate in the hands of professional guides who may or may not bring them back alive.
In the climbing world, the right to risk ones life in the pursuit of the extraordinary remains firmly with the individual, as I believe it should.
Considering how few divers have been killed while diving with big sharks I think that it is fair to say that it is much safer than climbing Everest or K2. But statistics aside, should shark diving operators who have little or no ability to intervene if the sharks become aggressive, be allowed to put their clients in harms way? In my opinion, we all have the right to make our own informed decisions regarding the personal risks we wish to take. There is no question whether diving with tigers in the Bahamas is dangerous. It is the K2 of shark encounters. Is it a smart thing to do; maybe not. But that does not mean that once an individual has been informed of the risks they should not be allowed to do it.
Jim Abernathy has pioneered some amazing dives and his trips have attracted thousands of divers from around the world. His clients include hundreds of professional and amateur photographers, numerous documentary crews, as well as marine biologists and many others who simply wish to experience one of natures masterpieces at close quarters. If Jim is convicted as a result of this witch hunt it will be a travesty.
Likewise, if the Bahamian government decide to ban companies from facilitating this type of shark encounter it will be a huge blow to those of us who freely choose to swim with sharks. And although it will be tougher, we will eventually find other ways to get to the sites that Jim and others presently run organized trips to.
Like everyone else, I feel very sorry for the family of the diver who lost his life but he was informed of the risks and chose to take them. This was his decision to make.

Andy Murch

Staff Photographer at Shark Diver Magazine.
Creator of the Elasmodiver Shark and Ray Picture Database http://elasmodiver.com

More Sharks in Peril…

If I add 9 new sharks to the list of species on Elasmodiver it means that I have had some great opportunities to shoot new shark pictures in the wild. It is a cause for celebration.

When the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) add 9 new sharks to their list it is a bad day for sharks. The red list is a compilation of all of the world’s animals that are endangered. The list represents the indisputable findings of the international scientific community and does not rely on speculation or probability. On top of the IUCN listings there are probably even more species that are also critically endangered but there is not enough data to prove it.

Sadly today the IUCN announced that 9 more sharks will soon be added to the red list including the scalloped hammerhead shark which was once commonly seen in enormous schools close to many offshore seamounts. These new species will bring the total number of sharks on the list to 135.

Hammerheads are particularly vulnerable because of their predictable seasonal congregations and because their fins contain a very high concentration of fibers that are used in the production of shark fin soup. Consequently, they are heavily targeted. Researchers now believe that scalloped hammerhead populations have plummeted by a staggering 99%.

As an individual I often feel ineffectual in the fight to save endangered shark species. My images have been used by the Shark Alliance, the World Wildlife Fund, Sea Shepherd and many others to publicize the plight of these majestic and incredibly important creatures but while the heavyweights go to war to force through protective legislation, millions of sharks continue to die at the hands fishermen on the high seas.

It appears that after 400 million years of shaping our environment, sharks have finally found an insurmountable obstacle laying in the way of their continued survival.

As the last sharks swim into history some people will no doubt rejoice believing that the world will be a safer place but this attitude stems from ignorance. Removing sharks from the oceans will allow vastly more dangerous animals to rule our seas. Voracious Humboldt Squid have already begun to extend their range and can now be found in record numbers along the coast of Baja and California. And some bony fishes (also usually over fished) will soon have no natural predators to keep their populations healthy and in check.

Let me lay it out in a simplified way…

The sharks physiology limits the amount of offspring that it can produce. Blue sharks are one of the most prolific species but even they can only give birth to one hundred or so pups. On the other hand, apex bony fishes can lay eggs in the tens of thousands. Imagine the havoc that an explosion of barracuda could have on a population of reef fish. Anything large enough to become a meal would be wiped out within a very short time leaving only the smallest fishes to enjoy their own population explosion.

In the same way that the barracuda would decimate their food supply, so would their tiny cousins and there lies the really enormous problem. Very small fish eat plankton.

There are two types of plankton: zoo plankton which is composed of all the microscopic animals that drift around at the mercy of the currents and phytoplankton which consists of microscopic plants. If the population of tiny fish gets out of control they will begin to deplete our plankton supplies.

So what. Maybe a few whales will go hungry right? Wrong! Not only is plankton the building block of the entire marine ecosystem, phytoplankton is responsible for the production of most of the oxygen that we breathe. No plankton; no breathable air. Now tell me that we are better off without sharks.

I will continue to write letters to politicians, loudly boycott restaurants that sell shark fin soup or salad, sign anti-finning petitions, and try to capture memorable images of the worlds endangered sharks whenever my finances permit it. What will you do for sharks (and yourselves) today?

 

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

Dodging Death with Silvain Sirois and the Greenland Sharks of Baie Comeau

I am sitting in a coffee shop in Moncton, New Brunswick, waiting for Eli (the editor of Shark Diver Magazine) to arrive from Texas. At 3am we are slated to board a fishing boat and head out into the middle of the Bay of Fundy. Our objective is to be the first to get good images and footage of a live Porbeagle shark in the wild. I have no idea if it will be possible but it definitely wont be possible if we dont try.

On the long drive here from British Columbia, I stopped in San Diego (a bit of a detour but well worth it for the shark pictures that I got), and then in Ontario (again well worth it to see my boys Aron and Luke), and finally in Baie Comeau, Quebec to look for Greenland Sharks with my old friend Maris Kazmers (actually he’s not that old). Kaz introduced me to Silvain Sirois who pioneered the Greenland Shark encounter at Baie Comeau which is on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence river estuary. I only had time for two days of diving but as it happened that was enough. Silvain is a Greenland Shark magnet and on the first dive we encountered 4 enormous Greenland Sharks ranging from 8 to 11 feet long.

The encounters were brief (lasting from a few seconds to a minute of two) but it was enough to get a sense of this enigmatic creature.

The sharks were very slow moving, docile animals that reminded me of the sixgills which I have spent so many dives chasing near my home town of Victoria in British Columbia. However, the similarities are superficial because Greenland Sharks are members of the Sleeper Shark family which is more closely related to dogfish than cow sharks.

The water on that first day was only a degree or two above freezing. The initial shock of jumping into ice water was a rude awakening but it cleared my head quite effectively. I followed Silvain down the line and we were soon approached by the first shark. The encounter was brief and afterwards I kicked off on my own, reasoning that if I was alone I would have a better chance of a long encounter before the next shark got spooked. After drifting through the fog for a few minutes a pair of Greenland Sharks materialized in front of me. I tried to compose a shot of both sharks but they quickly separated and I followed the closer of the two down into the depths. Frustratingly, my camera auto-focus had difficulty locking onto the dark shark as it sank deeper and deeper into the twilit, frigid water.

I followed it as far down as I dared, breathing hard and adding air to my suit as I descended. I was getting low on gas and at 100ft I was about ready to break off the encounter when catastrophe struck. My regulator began to belch air uncontrollably. The combination of icy conditions, overexertion, and rapid descent had caused my first stage to freeze open. As the air puffed out my cheeks like a chipmunks, I tried to staunch the flow with my tongue but it was no use. Within a minute or so the tank was empty and I was left with very few options.

Because I knew that I had slipped into decompression I was reluctant to kick for the surface and risk getting bent or worse. From the first second of the free flow I had begun swimming back towards the area where I believed the group to be. Navigation was tricky over the featureless sand but I was convinced that I was making progress. I forced myself to stay calm and settled into a slow but steady frog kick. I have an advantage over most people in these situations because my adrenalin gland doesnt work very well. It makes me a bit slow sometimes but the upside is that I practically never panic.

After about 70ft of airless travel I could feel the carbon dioxide building in my lungs. The mist cleared in front of me and 30ft ahead I spotted the second group of divers heading into the darkness. Off to my left Kaz was following the fourth Greenland Shark and I had the momentary urge to change direction and try for a quick shot. Putting this irrational idea out of my mind, I headed onward. I let out a few squeaks along the way to attract some attention but the divers could not locate the direction of the noises and continued moving away.

By this time I had been kicking along for about a minute on a single breath with a bulky drysuit and a 44 pound weight belt. My lungs were beginning to scream and the surface beckoned with the promise of oxygen and warmth but I resisted the urge to bolt knowing that it would be a short reprieve.

Switching to a flutter kick I crossed the 20ft in a short burst of hypoxic speed and gently reached down behind the closest diver and plucked their octopus off of its clip. One long deep breath followed by another and another. Predictably the surprised open water diver spun around and tried to pull the regulator away. Comfortable now, I stayed at arms reach and waited for them to think the situation through. I took a few more breaths and swam away towards another diver who had been watching. Prepared, he offered me his octopus and I motioned for the three of us to ascend towards Silvain. I then thanked them with a wave, handed back the donated regulator, and kicked the last few feet holding my breath so that Silvain could clearly see that I had no reg.

He looked utterly shocked but found his spare reg and we headed for the ascent line. Fortunately he had enough air for me to complete my deco stops without any violations so I arrived on the surface a little embarrassed but unscathed.

The next day we tried again but the viz had dropped significantly and I was the only diver to fleetingly see a shark in the soupy water. Looking back on the whole experience I am left with these thoughts and words of advice:

Firstly, thank you to all three divers who donated air.

Secondly, if you don’t want to dive with a buddy that is up to you but its your funeral if all hell breaks loose.

Thirdly, don’t over breathe your reg in icy water especially if it has not been environmentally serviced for those conditions.

Lastly, (as usual) it isn’t the sharks that are dangerous.

 

 

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

 

Host of Elasmodiver.com the web’s leading source of new shark pictures and information.

 

Manhandling Sharks

 

A while ago I posted an article called The Ethics of Shark Photography. I stand by everything I wrote in that post but there is sometimes more to photographing a timid shark than meets the eye and the publishable images do not necessarily tell the whole tale.

For the first time on Elasmodiver I have loaded some pictures of a diver purposefully manhandling a shark. The animal is a Blind Shark that is barely two feet long and the diver is my girlfriend Claire. In Claire’s defense I should immediately point out that it was me who reached into a crevice and picked up the resting shark. After it stopped thrashing I handed it to Claire who floated nearby looking rather bewildered by my actions.

Neither Claire nor the shark were in much danger from this encounter but there are reports of disgruntled Blind Sharks turning tail and latching onto divers that have disturbed them in a similar fashion. As long as the shark is held gently but firmly on its torso, avoiding the gill openings or fins, it should be ok. Blind sharks are hardy creatures that are known to have good survival rates even when thrown back by fishermen and when you consider the abuse and indignity that shark researchers and fishermen put these animals through in the course of their catch and release activities, removing a shark from a crevice pales by comparison.

If you’re wondering why a photographer would manhandle a Blind Shark in the first place, the answer is simply that you cant get publishable shots of a shark that you can barely see tucked into a thin crack. This is especially true if your camera housing is so big that the dome port wont fit into the crevice anywhere near the animal. The answer is to either leave it alone (not a bad course of action) or to relocate the shark onto a surface where shooting is possible and that is exactly what I did (with Claire’s help) on this occasion.

Releasing the brown hued Blind Shark close to the beautifully contrasting green algae on the reef resulted in a series of images in which the shark was well defined yet still in its natural environment (although normally it would only hunt in this area at night). Within a few minutes the exhausted Blind Shark was back in its crevice, unscathed but no doubt happy that its ordeal was over.

This kind of encounter is not unusual in marine photography. I asked a prominent professional photographer how he had managed to photograph an elusive species of reef shark because repeating the method that I had used on the Blind Shark would be almost impossible with a fast swimming carcharinid. He told me that he had first caught the shark on rod and reel. He had then removed the hook from it’s jaw, tail looped the animal with monofilament fishing line, and jumped in with his camera. He was then able to get the shots he wanted while the shark (that would normally not approach a diver) swum in circles under his boat.

As I have never done this I am not sure how much stress it puts on the shark. Probably a great deal. Stress induced lactic acid build up inside the sharks body can quickly turn fatal even if the animal appears to be fine upon release. I have no desire to hurt any creature (let alone a shark) and I am not a fan of fishing but I can see how this is probably the only method that some species can be photographed. If it is your mission to catalog rare shark species, my only advice would be to make the encounters as short as possible.

Incidentally, sharks are not the only creatures that are sometimes manhandled in the name of photography. I remember marveling at those award winning images of octopuses in mid water, perfectly composed in front of a dramatic sun-splash, with their arms splayed out all around them. As I learned more about the ocean and the habits of its occupants, I started to wonder why any self respecting octopus would be floating around in the water column. Sure enough, most of these shots are achieved by someone swimming up to the surface with the octo and unceremoniously dropping back towards the reef.

The mollusks (like the sharks) are probably not harmed by these activities so there is no real cause for alarm. You may disagree with these photography tactics but if you simply want to protect sharks there are far bigger and more worthy battles to fight.

 

Follow this link: Blind Shark Pictures to see the images.

 

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

 

Host of Elasmodiver.com the webs leading source of new shark pictures and information.

Three New Shark and Ray species catalogued on Elasmodiver

Summer is speeding by in a blur of shark photography shoots. I am sitting in a friend’s house in Ontario desperately trying to clean and prepare my images from the last two trips before starting the next one. Next week I am leaving for Baie Comeau in Quebec to hunt for Greenland Sharks. Following that adventure I plan to continue to the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswich to join Eli from Shark Diver Magazine on an attempt to find and photograph the Porbeagle Shark. Porbeagles (to my knowledge) have never been photographed by divers in the wild so it will be a historic achievement (in our small shark diving world) if we are successful.

Last week I was down in San Diego with Eli on a trip to find Mako Sharks for our readers. Over a five day period we brought in 14 Makos and although I spent a lot of time on deck I was able to get a number of new angles that can be found here: Mako Shark Pictures.

As I already had plenty of Mako shark pictures it was hard to justify the trip. Therefore, I needed to head off on my own in search of new sharks and rays after everyone left. I went north to Ventura and searched the kelp forests for  Angel Sharks and Swell Sharks. The sea was unusually calm so I had no problem locating these sharks and a new ray. The Thornback Ray is a unique animal that looks like it is part guitarfish and part skate. It is quite common in California but it was the first time I had seen one.

The west coast of North America has a very diverse array of elasmobranch species and there are still many that I have yet to photograph. Sadly, for personal reasons I am now relocating to Ontario which means that I will have less access to Pacific species but there are also a number of sharks and skates that I can now hunt for in the north east. The adventures will be more challenging but in some ways that just makes success that much sweeter when it finally comes.

Time to get back to the images. Keep an eye out for more shark pictures over the next few days.

 

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

Host of Elasmodiver.com - The online shark picture database

 

Chasing Ghosts

A few years ago Rosangela Lessa wrote a paper on the occurrence of the Daggernose Shark in northern Brazil. In the paper she describes that the crazy looking daggernose makes up about a quarter of the local catch. To my knowledge there are no images of Daggernose Sharks in the wild so I emailed Rosangela to get more information. I was hoping that she could help me get on a boat that was fishing for sharks.

Sadly she responded with bad news. In the few years since she wrote the paper, the local population of Daggernose Sharks had been wiped out. She suggested that I try Trinidad but offered little hope of success. The story is beginning to sound like a broken record. ‘You should have been here ten years ago’ is becoming all too familiar.

Where next to look for unusual sharks? I am not convinced that there is any future for inshore species like the Daggernose. Unless a shark species inhabits depths that are not yet being exploited, it is vulnerable to over fishing. But, vulnerable is too subtle a word. There has never been a commercially sustainable fishery in recent history. Shark fisheries only last a decade or so until a catastrophic collapse takes place and the fishermen move on to richer pastures. To say that sharks are vulnerable is like saying that nuclear war could be a bit dangerous. It has to stop.

There is no longer any rational quota system that makes sense for sharks. A complete ban on shark fishing worldwide is the only answer.

In the mean time I will do my best to document the species that are still accessible. I will start contacting fisheries experts in Trinidad to see if any Daggernose Sharks remain there. The IUCN WWF, and many NGOs recently used my images to publicize the plight of the Spiny Dogfish. I wholeheartedly believe that in order to promote change we need compelling images to better understand what we are trying to save.

I’ll keep doing my bit. Make sure you are doing yours: Increase public awareness, boycott restaurants that sell shark fins. Encourage a new global attitude towards sharks.

 

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

 

Andy Murch is the staff photographer at Shark Diver Magazine and the creator of the Elasmodiver Shark and Ray Field Guide which contains Shark Pictures from around the world.

Another Year in Shark Photography

Where did last year go? It’s a common thought in many people’s minds. Fortunately, I remember exactly where 2006 went. I spent a great deal of time chasing sharks around North America. Between shooting a TV show with Eli from Shark Diver Magazine, hunting down sharks to illustrate new articles, and expanding this never ending shark website, I barely had time to think. Before I knew it I was looking for Xmas presents for my boys and planning 2007.

It looks like this year is going to be just as exciting and just as manic. I have so many ideas that I couldn’t possibly achieve all of them in a mere 365 days. My first trip is just one week away and I am nowhere near ready. That’s a sure sign that life is moving fast because if you haven’t already noticed by browsing through Elasmodiver, I like to be very organized.

Initially I am heading down to Texas to check in at Shark Diver Mag HQ. Eli and our good friend Paul Spielvogel have organized a boat to go out into the Gulf of Mexico for 5 days. There are many sharks on our hit list including silkies, blacktips, sharpnose, scalloped hammerheads, and what I call ‘exotics’ i.e. sharks that we know live in the gulf but we do not expect to encounter because they are generally too deep, too shy, or too rare to make an appearance. We are expecting rough seas this time of year and life in our little shark boat will not be glamorous. If all goes well I will be able to upload some new shark pictures onto Elasmodiver before I leave Texas on the 22nd.

Next stop El Salvador. The last time that I was there I was dragged off a bus and held at gun point for two hours. That was in 1989 when the country was entrenched in a bloody civil war. Times have changed and I am looking forward to a warmer welcome this time. My plan is to document the El Salvadorian shark fishery and to find out what they are catching. El Salvador is a hazy spot on most researcher’s maps so the inshore sharks that live there may be quite interesting. Being a camera toting gringo in a remote village full of nervous shark fishermen is asking for trouble but I have some contacts that should be able to make some introductions for me. Its been a while since I walked on the wild side and I am filled with a trepidation that I have not enjoyed for many years.

Stage three involves flying home and driving straight down to California. It’s not written in stone yet but with luck I’ll be hunting for Angel Sharks north of LA and kicking back with many old and new shark diving friends until I get the shot. Then it gets fuzzy; San Diego? Baja? We’ll see.

Amazingly, that’s just trip #1! Later in the year I am looking at Brazil, Mexico, back to Cali, and possibly Fiji and Australia. I have also just nailed down a summer expedition to the west coast of Vancouver Island with Ogden Point Dive Centre to search for the northern population of Blue Sharks - possibly the only decent sized gathering of blues left in the eastern Pacific.

Other plans include developing a shark photography course, becoming an Inspiration Rebreather Instructor, and expanding Elasmodiver to include an ambitious section on extinct sharks including a database of shark fossil pictures that I will slowly expand as I get permission to shoot at various natural history museums around North America.

If I work at this speed, between sharks and my kids, 2007 will be over in a flash, but life is so short that I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

For the Sharks,

Andy Murch

Another tough year for sharks and rays

 

2006 has been another tough year for elasmobranches (sharks and rays). The legal long-lining of sharks continued to chip away at the already stressed populations throughout the year and although the impact of illegal finning is hard to estimate, it undoubtedly added significantly to the death toll.

Stingrays also came under attack in 06 after the much publicized death of Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter). Beach goers and fishermen were left angry and scared and took out their frustration on any stingrays that they could find. It may take some time for stingrays to shake their new, largely undeserved, deadly reputation.

Not all the news was negative. New strides were made to protect sharks in different areas. One considerable victory was achieved when the Taiwanese agreed to stop harvesting Whale Sharks. This year’s formation of the Shark Alliance also bodes well for the future. The combined efforts of its member organizations will hopefully give shark conservationists a much more powerful voice with which to fight for more realistic shark fishing quotas and a complete ban on finning.

 

Personally, I have had a great year taking shark pictures. Mostly traveling with Eli from Shark Diver Magazine, I have been able to photograph many new species to add to the Elasmodiver Shark Picture Field Guide.

As well as shark images, we have managed to film an entire season for our upcoming TV show. The first episode of which is finally edited to everyone’s liking and ready to be pitched to the networks. So with luck, you will be able to catch the action some time next summer. As soon as we sign a deal, we’ll post all the information here on Elasmodiver and on Eli’s site.

In 2007 I will be hunting for shark pictures whenever time permits. I am already finalizing my plans for the first adventure which I hope to be leaving on by the middle of January. I am going after some rarely seen sharks that I believe have never been photographed alive before, but I’m keeping tight lipped about the details until I come home with the shots.

Eli is also putting the itinerary of the next season of the show together so between Chasing Sharks, SDM’s shark photography trips, and my own adventures it is going to be a very busy year!

 

Merry Xmas and a shark filled new year.

For the Sharks,

Andy Murch

 

Andy Murch is the staff photographer at Shark Diver Magazine and the creator of the Elasmodiver Shark and Ray Field Guide which contains Shark Pictures from around the world.

Shark Pictures

I am back from the last official SDM shark photography trip of 2006. Last week in the Bahamas we were surrounded by big Tiger Sharks and hungry Lemon Sharks. On one day we actually had five different species of sharks show up including a Great Hammerhead. They were attracted by the scent of blood in our chum slick that had drifted many kilometers down current. Now, back in BC with no concrete plans to go after more sharks, I have a major case of SDW (shark diving withdrawal).

Eli (the editor of Shark Diver Magazine) is busy cherry picking through all the shark pictures from this year’s adventures to decide which shark images will be used for feature stories in upcoming issues of SDM, which will be stored as stock images to illustrate unforeseen future articles, and which pictures will be filed away on CD until the writing becomes illegible and Eli’s kids use them as Frisbees.

With no more shark dives to look forward to until next year, I am faced with the laborious task of formatting all of this year’s shark pictures ready for submission to the various agencies that want them. It’s a slow and arduous process. Firstly, I have to be ruthlessly honest about which images to delete completely and which to keep and submit. Then its time to fire up Photoshop and remove any blemishes or offensive backscatter from the shark pictures that I like. It’s easy to get carried away in Photoshop. Remove a few grains of particulate here and there, maybe get rid of that diver’s arm that is messing up the composition, change the tone to make the colors a bit warmer, delete those overexposed fish, bring out the contrast a little, remove that bait crate, and before you know it, an action filled shark picture becomes a sterile composition. I’d like to be able to say that I don’t Photoshop my images but I’m as guilty as most other digital photographers.

Next comes the digital labeling, copyrighting, and reformatting to pander to each agency’s specifications. I find this job really grueling and it takes forever.

Finally the files get burned to disc and mailed away.

Then, critical eyes at the various agencies go through the same process of selecting, storing, and deleting pictures, depending on their preferences and needs until my year’s adventures and memories are reduced to a manila envelope of shark images stored on each agency’s super computer. It’s a funny job.

Then, if I’m lucky, sometime next year I’ll be leafing through a fish book and I’ll see one of my forgotten shark pictures staring back at me and I’ll get a big smile on my face. It’s pretty cool getting published but also, when I see a shark that I photographed, swimming across the page, I’m transported back to the adventure and reliving the moment helps me survive my shark diving withdrawal until the next chance I have to get back in the water with the sharks.

For the sharks

Andy Murch

Andy Murch is the staff photographer at Shark Diver Magazine and the creator of the Elasmodiver Shark and Ray Field Guide which contains Shark Pictures from around the world.

Help me put pressure on shark fin traders

  

Most of my blogs are either about shark diving or taking pictures of sharks but today I want to help with a campaign that is putting pressure on a very big player in the shark fin trade. Alibaba.com provides a service that helps connect shark fishermen with shark fin wholesalers and dealers. Discouraging Alibaba from continuing this aspect of their business would impact the availability of shark products and disrupt the entire industry. Please follow the links to learn more about what Alibaba does and then lodge a complaint with their company. Many voices have joined the appeal already but we need to create an extremely negative atmosphere before anyone in this large company will pay attention and reconsider their position on the shark fin trade.

Recent anti shark fin letter writing campaigns have worked to change the attitudes of companies as large as Visa and Disney. Please don’t waste this opportunity to make a difference.

 

To see the scope of global shark buying visit

http://importer.alibaba.com/buyeroffers/Shark.html.

To see Alibaba.com management visit

http://www.alibaba.com/aboutalibaba/management.html.

To locate the Alibaba.com office nearest you visit

http://www.alibaba.com/aboutalibaba/contact.html.

To voice your concerns about Alibaba.com shark trade postings visit http://www.alibaba.com/trade/servlet/page/static/help/contact_us_answer.

 

On a different note, I am back from the Bahamas with some great new shark pictures and my next post will contain a report on the entire trip.

 

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

 

Andy Murch is the staff photographer at Shark Diver Magazine and the creator of the Elasmodiver Shark and Ray Field Guide which contains Shark Pictures from around the world.