Sunday, November 11, 2012

FINished


My moment of epiphany was when I met a shark lover 3 months back. Probably like most of you, my perception of sharks are those Hollywood impregnate us with. Jaws. Blood. Razor Sharp Man-Eating Beasts. Since, they aren't cute cuddly creatures like the Pandas or the exotic Tigers,  I never actually felt terribly bad for eating sharks fin during those chi chi dinners. Though I was not a huge fan of sharks fin or sharks for that matter, I didn't see a burning desire to completely abstain or be dead against sharks fin. It was until my mom casually asked if I wanted to meet Sharksavers. (Lest did she know I'll be the one converting her in the end)



I admit I was a complete 'un-savvy' and uneducated consumer. Although I knew about this ongoing campaign, but never knew the importance and seriousness of the situation. What really struck me was that sharks are one of the few ancient of all ancient creatures still living on earth (unless of course we wipe them all out). They have survived through 5 mass destructions, those that even the mighty strong dinosaurs couldn't survive. Since dinos were around about 170 million years ago, make a guess how long sharks have been around???
.
.
.
.
.
.
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450 MILLIONS YEARS!!!! 
BUT,
at the rate of our consumption (about 26-73 million sharks each year), we would be the very MURDERERS of these ancient creatures. And it won't be long that we would have to go to the museums to see what a shark looks like. Like how we go to the museums to awe at the historical T-Rex, our future generations would probably awe about sharks at the Met Museum. (Even so, they might not be exhibited in original condition, thanks to us.)



This could be how future generations perceive sharks. (photo credits:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/malcolmbowden/plsfin13.htm from google images)

Ever since my heartfelt conversion, I've been trying hard to encourage people to do so, but it hasn't been easy. And I'm hoping you guys would help me along with this post (keeping fingers crossed ><)  and spread the love. I'm sure if you like sharks fin, you are probably a seafood lover too. But did you know that sharks are at the apex of the food chain under the sea, and if all of the sharks were to disappear one day, the ecosystem would be upset, and our other hot favourites like chilli crabs, lobsters, scallops, sambal sting ray would eventually collapse!! Meaning almost no more seafood for us!! We would only have chilli crab sauce with no crabs!! 

I’m doing my part, I’m never going to eat sharks fin soup again for the sake of our collective future, the health of marine ecosystems, the fate of mankind … let’s all say “I’m FINished” with Fins.  
"under the sea where
where we off the hooks
we got no troubles
life is a bubble
under the sea"



I hope you'll join me as a shark saver on Sharksavers
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