This Monday, October 15, LUSH Handmade Cosmetics will launch the limited edition Anti-Shark Fin Soap for the benefit of Save Philippine Seas (SPS), an independent movement that aims to establish a shark sanctuary in the Visayan Seas, among other Philippine marine conservation efforts.
The Anti-Shark Fin Soap is made of seaweed and sea salt. It is marked with a paper fin on top to highlight the animal’s most distinct feature.
Approximately 70-100 million sharks are killed each year for their meat, oil, cartilage, and fins. Shark fishing is a lucrative industry, fueled by the high demand for shark’s fin soup in many countries. Populations of many shark species have fallen by over 90%. It is unknown to many that sharks, as the apex of the marine ecosystem, have among the highest levels of toxic mercury found in fish. This can cause male sterility and extensive damage to the nervous system and fetuses.
In addition to its potential health hazards, the high consumption of shark’s fin soup and shark meat has alarming implications to the environment. As the top predators of the sea, sharks play an important role in regulating all the species in the marine ecosystem. The loss of sharks can cause the entire marine ecosystem and biodiversity to collapse.
Shark fishing is being done in coastal areas in the Philippines. The only shark species protected by national law is the whale shark, or butanding.
SPS and LUSH are gathering an ideal set of champions to make a stand for marine conservation and against the shark finning and fishing industry. SPS invites public participation in this campaign by holding a photo shoot on the day of the launch, October 15, 2012 from 10AM-7PM at the Shangri-La branch of LUSH.
The pictorial will be conducted by SPS. All photos will be digitally edited to have a unifying design. The tagline for this campaign is, “Sharks are friends, not food.”
Supporters are also encouraged to write letters to leaders using the “Sharks are friends, not food” postcards.
The Philippines is in the center of the center of marine biodiversity in the World! As such, it should be one of the main focus of not only the government, but also of the people, us Filipinos. We should be proud and thankful, at the same time, we should protect, preserve and be examples to the rest. Right now, activists, I mean eco warriors, and advocates are doing everything in their power to help save our environment.
In Palawan, the Philippines' last ecological frontier, for example, several groups have been campaigning to stop mining and illegal logging in the area. They have set petitions to advance this cause (see petition 1 here, petition 2 here). President Aquino, in his recent trip to the area to campaign for the Puerto Princesa Underground River to be included as one of the New7Wonders of Nature, has announced a moratorium for new mining applications in Palawan.
Tourism Assistant Secretary Enerio and my colleagues in the DOT went to CARAGA recently, and they have noticed and encountered massive logging in the area. They said that it seems to be that it has been the normal day-to-day activity of some people, or an orchestrated group in the region. Rommel Natanauan explains more in his blog post. He overheard that the truckloads of logs operate with confidence because they can easily pass through check-points due to "bribery," or "pag-aareglo." Sad as it might seem, it's happening right here and right now!
But going back to my main point, it's not only this we are facing, the environment's facing several blows everywhere. The Whale Sharks of Donsol Bicol, Tarsiers of Bohol, and a lot more flora and fauna have to be well taken cared of. This goes true with Sharks, which is the subject of this blog post.
We were strolling in the public market of Puerto Princesa City in search for seafood we can cook, when we spotted this reef shark being sold there. My best friend secretly took a shot of it (see photo below). I was surprised, and angered to see this. We weren't able to ask the market man where he got it or how much he was selling the shark, but I vowed that I have to do something about this...and so this blog is that product. I will have to write Mayor Hagedorn about this incident also.
Sharks have been on this earth for around 400 million years. They are often portrayed as evil and dangerous in most if not all of Hollywood's films - a wrong portrayal if you ask me. In fact, we are not the prey of the sharks. We are just mistaken to be seals or we provoke them through shark-feeding expeditions, Anna Oposa explains. She adds that there are "5-10 fatal shark attacks every year," while on the other hand, we "kill 100 million sharks annually."
"How can you help? First, learn more about sharks and shark finning by watching Sharkwater, the award-winning documentary on sharks." Here's the trailer of the documentary, and it is also uploaded in YouTube. I hope to watch it soon (when Anna finally lends me her copy or burns me one as she promised) :P
I am excited that my friends, Anna Oposa, Chris Ng, Kester Yu, and I are coming up with a project to make Filipinos aware of this serious condition. We will definitely update you guys about this the soonest. If you are in any way interested to help this cause, do not hesitate to contact anyone of us. Promise we don't bite! :))))
For me, it is as simple as not buying and eating Shark's Fin Soup or any related product. It would really help a lot and go a long way.
Also, we must talk and convince our representatives in Congress for this bill (below) to be passed into a law. These are two ways we can help directly. :)
Thanks to Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Atty. Antonio Oposa, Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, now Pampanga Representative, filed House Bill No. 174, AN ACT BANNING THE CATCHING, SALE, PURCHASE, POSSESSION, TRANSPORTATION AND EXPORTATION OF ALL SHARKS AND RAYS IN THE COUNTRY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, or the Sharks And Rays Conservation Act of 2010 (see the Scribd file below). She received the commendation of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia, and the support of this blogger on the specific issue.
In the Senate, Senator Loren Legarda filed Senate Bill No. 2616 entitled BANNING THE CATCHING, SALE, PURCHASE, IMPORTATION AND EXPORTATION OF ALL SHARKS AND RAYS on November 26, 2010.
The bills' status? Pending with the Committee on Natural Resources since July 27, 2010 in the House, and since December 06, 2010 in the Senate.
It was reported recently in The New York Times that there is a bill recently in California banning the sale and possession of shark fins, including the sale of shark's fin soup. This is not new, as Hawaii, Oregon and Washington State, have the same bills curtailing "shark finning, a brutal, bloody practice of the global trade in which the fins are typically hacked off a live shark, leaving it to die slowly as it sinks to the bottom of the sea," stated in the NYT.
I hope the Philippine government follow, and LEAD as an example. Let's help save the sharks in the Philippine seas! :)
Credits: 2nd Photo (Logging in CARAGA) by Rommel Natanauan and 3rd Photo (Shark in PP Market) by Yuri of Lost Tsinelas.
