Welcome to Facebook the place for sharks

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the raw networking power of Facebook to effect lasting conservation change for sharks.

And you don't have to travel far on Facebook to discover a plethora of shark groups, petitions, posts and pro shark media that have reached millions of potential activists.

Without a doubt one of the main drivers to broad based shark conservation efforts around the globe over the past three years has been Facebook, a revolution for sharks.

Here's a "small sampling" of the Facebook Shark Revolution from groups and sites as small as 1500 members to groups as large as 300,000 plus.

Without Facebook sharks do not have a voice, and the oceans do not have the army of voices, creativity, and focus to effect lasting change for the environment. Kudos.

Stop Shark Finning 

Divers For Sharks

Bite Back Shark Conservation

Shark Fin Free Auckland

The Australian Anti Shark Fin Alliance

Stop Eating Sharks Now

Save the Sharks of the Maldives

Save the Sharks

Save our sharks from a bowl of soup

Shark Tsunami U.K


Stop Shark Abuse


Ban Shark Finning USA

PangeaSeed 

Oceanic Defense

Stop Serving Shark Fins in Vegas

Stop Shark Fishing

Support Our Sharks Europe

Shark Alliance

Shark Rescue

Shark Defenders

Shark Truth

Protect the Sharks of the Bahamas

And the list goes on, and on, and on...

Are These the Killer Seychelle White Sharks?

The answer is no. These are Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) fish eaters.

But that has not stopped the Seychelles gov from engaging in a wide spread Jaws style shark hunt in an attempt to prove to their tourism base that they do not have a "shark problem."

To the Seychelles credit and a country that depends of 50% of it's GDP to tourism dollars they had to do something, but an old school shark hunt targeting every shark species within 20 miles of an attack site?

That's not in keeping with modern tourism values, nor does it fully recognize the intelligence of today's tourist who understands more about sharks now than 20 years ago when a full court shark hunt was de rigueur.

The Seychelles even went to the extreme lengths to hire several South African Shark Mercenaries to hunt down their Killer Sharks.

What has transpired over the past several weeks in the Seychelles has been a farce.

At first this was not a shark attack, then it was deemed a shark attack, then the animal without any scientific proof was identified as "not a local animal." From there various sources within the Seychelles gov said this was a white shark, again no proof was offered but it worked nicely with the desperate storyline that the Seychelles did not have sharks in its waters.

Along with this weeks Lemon shark haul, Seychelles shark hunters also came back into port with two large Tigers, so much for the Seychelles storyline that they don't have sharks in their waters.

It's evident that the Seychelles have no clue how to deal with their sharks, even though these animals have been living in a peaceful coexistence with swimmers for the past 30 tourism filled decades.

At this point all that can be done is to watch the unfolding disaster and plan for the next gov reaction to a shark attack. We can learn from the Seychelles media disaster as a case study on how not to react and deal with the aftermath of a shark attack.

While shark attacks are unfortunate, and deaths from shark attacks tragic, they remain rare events and we can do a lot better than South African Shark Mercenaries, and media reports that attribute attacks to species that most likely no where in the region at the time of the event.

Media 101 - How "not to" promote a reality show

Hands up, who did not watch the "Balloon Boy" media sensation last week either live, or on hand held devices like a Blackberry or iPhone?

One...two...three...o.k, four of you. Thanks.

For the rest of us, a few hours spent following what seemed like the gripping story of a flying saucer balloon with a wayward six year old child inside had at least 200 million Americans and a handful of Dutch enthralled.

Sadly it was a hoax. Remember the Bigfoot scandal, yes we covered that too.

There's a point to this post. There are good and bad ways to promote a show concept to the major media and without the proper media guidance, stunts like these set very bad examples with serious consequences.

The family is facing $500,000 in fines and a minimum of 6 months jail time. Our guess after the dust settles will be a quick documentary, bankruptcy from legal bills, and a divorce.

From Fiji - Pro Industry/Conservation Media

Imagine if the commercial shark diving world replicated this unique effort...globally. The media landscape for sharks would look a lot different one year from now.

Industry leadership begins by leading. The guys over a Beqa Adventure Divers understand this:



Kudos!