Nikole Ordway » A Diver’s Journal

I found an article that was posted on the wild aid website…please check this out. [Click here for article] Asia’s appetite for animal parts may lead to animal extinctions. In this article you’ll find that Asian cultures are obsessed with all types of animal parts…some for medicines but others for profit (furs, skins, teeth, and tusks). The statistics in this article are alarming…” In 1900, there was an estimate of 100,000 tigers worldwide…the Bali tiger went extinct in 1940s, the Caspian tiger went extinct in 1970s, the Javan tiger went extinct in the 1980s, and the most famous Bengal tiger is down to low population numbers of 3,000.”

What can you do to help??? Please be aware of the products you buy. Check the labels and see if animal products are used. Also info others to check their labels.

Something that wasn’t mentioned in the article was Asia’s obsession with shark fin soup. It is estimated that 100 million sharks are killed each year for shark fin soup consumption. Whats even more interesting is only about 5 people a year die from shark attacks. Sad that people fear the shark when we are killing so much more of their species. Why you ask that the Asian culture eats shark fin soup? The soup is served to elite or during weddings as a sign of royalty. And fisherman that inhumanly kill the sharks know that one pound of dried shark fin can retail for $300 or more. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. If you would like to learn more about the shark-finning industry pick up the documentary Sharkwater (you can rent this at Blockbuster).

What can you do??? Please do not buy shark products…example, people like to wear shark teeth necklaces or have shark jaws mounted to their walls…this just encourages  people to kill sharks for profit.

On Dec. 27, 2008,
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship Steve Irwin has driven the Japanese whaling fleet out of the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone.

“We have chased the whalers for over 800 miles since last Saturday through bad weather and heavy ice conditions,” said Captain Paul Watson. “They have fled eastward and they are continuing eastward and we are on their tail and we will keep on their tail.”

Since finding the Japanese whaling fleet on December 20th, the Steve Irwin has had close encounters with the harpoon vessel Yushin Maru #2 and the spotting vessel Kaiko Maru and has observed and tracked the Nisshin Maru from the air.

The Steve Irwin has not been able to close with the main body of the fleet because they keep moving eastward. They have not been whaling since Sea Shepherd located them and they are not whaling now. They continue to flee.

The good news is that they are no longer whaling in Australian waters and they only managed to hunt in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory for about a week before being forced to flee the Australian EEZ.

They are now in the waters of the Ross Dependency and the Steve Irwin is in pursuit.

For more on this story visit www.seashepherd.org

Hey everyone…Animal Planet has a new show on called Whale Wars which tracks the voyage and conservation efforts of the organization Sea Shepherd. Check www.animalplanet.com for local listings.