Canadian environmentalist and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Captain Paul Watson was arrested at the Frankfurt Airport over the weekend on a 10-year-old warrant. The Costa Rican warrant relates to an April 2002 run-in with an illegal Costa Rican shark finning vessel.The report also states Watson faces attempted murder char
ges involving the same event. The incidents, captured in the 2007 award-winning documentarySharkwater, involved the Sea Shepherd ship the Ocean Warriorand the Costa Rican vessel theVaradero. The Sea Shepherd’s crew apprehended the Varadero for illegal shark finning under orders from Guatemalan authorities. While escorting the Varadero back to port, the Sea Shepherd vessel was confronted by a Guatemalan gunboat, dispatched to intercept the Ocean Warrior’s crew.The crew of the Varadero had falselyaccused the Sea Shepherds of trying to kill them. Watson is currently in temporary
custody and a judge will decide later whether to formally place in detention pending extradition. Watson is being assisted in jail by European Parliament Vice President Daniel Cohn Bendit and the European deputy Jose Bove.
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April 24th, 2012
The shark population at Chumphon Pinnacle has dwindled over the years and is now practically non-existent. Sadly this is the same thing that is happening the world over. Sharks are caught for their fins and killed ‘accidentally’ by other fishing practices too but when you see the effect in your own back garden it really brings it home. Just 6 years ago, sharks were plentiful at Chumphon, seen in large numbers on every dive. Its been three years since I have seen one now!
We feel quite strongly about this – as you can imagine – and want to play our part in getting the message out there so that people do understand the barbaric practice of shark-finning. So to coincide with Project Awares Shout Out for Shark Month and the Koh Tao Environmental Film Festival (26th April’12) we made a video about it. Its hoped that this will help spread the word and educate so that more people will get involved and help protect the sharks.
If you know us – you’ll know that we don’t make the ‘usual’ when it comes to dive or underwater movies….for this one we give the Master Divers treatment to Blurs – Park Life – yes – you guessed it….Shark Life !
Posted by: Ayesha Cantrell on April 24, 2012
Tickets: $4, SIFF Cinema passes and vouchers are valid at the box office.
This remarkable documentary captures the beauty of sharks with stunning underwater photography, and chronicles the harrowing above-water adventures of the renegade activists who are attempting to slow their extinction.Sharkwater celebrates these magnificent and misunderstood creatures, and warns that they could soon be wiped out due to human ignorance and greed.
Special introduction and discussion with shark experts! For more information on the film, a school study guide, and information on what can do to shop shark finning, visit the Sharkwater web site.
FilmsByFamilies Thematic Challenge: What would you do if you saw a shark? Make a film with your family about meeting a shark, real or not. We cannot wait to learn about your fantastical shark adventure! Films due by April 19. Find more information about FilmsByFamilies on the Films4Families Homepage
Science on Screen is an initiative of The Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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March 13th, 2012
Richard Branson thanked the City of Toronto yesterday for the recent ban on shark fin products and urged the federal government to ban any imports of shark fins to Canada. Branson became interested in protecting sharks after watching Rob Stewart‘s movie Sharkwater. In an article in the New York Times Sunday Review on January 15, 2012, Branson said: “The films I really enjoy are films with a meaning or purpose like Sharkwater, which explores the misunderstood world of sharks, and while beautify and thrilling, also exposes corruption and exploitation surrounding the world’s shark populations. It was such a powerful film that now I’m trying to stop shark finning around the globe.”
Rob Stewart was voted the top living person who made Toronto better this year for his work on the Toronto shark fin ban by The Grid, which dubbed him “David Suzuki with a Six Pack.”
Besides Toronto, in the past few months the Canadian cities of Oakville, Pickering, London, Newmarket, Brantford and Mississauga have passed bans on the sale and ownership of shark fin products. Sharkwater inspired Oregon and Hawaii to pass bans on shark fins and Leonardo DiCaprio helped get a ban installed in California. School children in Saipan and Guam successfully petitioned the government for a ban after viewing Sharkwater at their schools.
Richard Branson and actress Bo Derek were in Toronto to call for greater protection of Canada’s polar bears. Branson’s foundation Virgin Unite is leading the development of a Polar Bear Protection Act for Ontario.
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February 7th, 2012
Gordon Ramsay loves sharks, and this passion leads him on his most personal mission yet - to investigate the controversial dish, shark fin soup.
To understand more about the kings of the ocean, Gordon plunges in to swim with the deadly bull shark, in his scariest challenge to date.
It’s estimated that each year 100 million sharks are killed worldwide, and Gordon wants to find out if the slaughter is really necessary. Sharks are both terrifying and beautiful, but experts believe overfishing is threatening to drive a third of the world’s open ocean shark species to extinction.
Incredibly, some of the most threatened species remain untouched by international fishing regulations. What Gordon discovers on his journey leads him to campaign against the brutal and destructive shark fishing industry.
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January 31st, 2012
Help me save the sharks. Shark finning is a real problem throughout the world and it’s becoming worse with more and more people becoming afraid of them for something they are not.
Fin Free supporter Maja Zonjic had a vision; to create a video about shark finning without any images of finning. The result? An inspiring short film celebrating the people who helped make six Ontario cities Fin Free.
The Fin Free film focuses on the positivity of the movement and the passion of the individuals supporting it, whilst raising awareness about the global issues facing sharks. Instead of focusing on bloody images of dead sharks, the film takes an alternative approach to the issue by focusing on the people who love sharks and have taken steps to protect them through personal projects, legislative action or campaign support.
Voiced by shark lovers of all ages, backgrounds, religions and races, the short film encourages other cities throughout the world to become Fin Free as well, to save our sharks, our oceans, and our planet.
Maja would like to thank producer and editor Roop Gill and score composer and audio editor Dave Ljubanovich for sharing her vision. Special thanks go out the the film’s stars - the Fin Free supporters from Brantford, Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto, Pickering, and London have banned the possession and sale of shark fins in their jurisdictions.
The Fin Free movement is spreading and it starts with all of us. Please share the film with your friends, family and teachers. Talk to people about finning and help CELEBRATE SHARKS everywhere! You can be a hero to a shark, today!
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January 12th, 2012
A grade 5 class at Thousand Islands Elementary School in Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada, has taken it upon themselves to speak out to save the sharks. During a Biodiversity unit studied in science the students watched the movie Shark Water. They were so devastated by what they learned, they wanted to do something about the needless killing of the ocean’s top predator in an effort to protect the ocean’s ecosystem before it is too late. They decided to write letters to persuade readers to save the sharks. This website gives these 10 year old students an opportunity to make a difference, because their voices will be heard by people all over the world.
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January 11th, 2012
Dear Sharkwater Team
I am writing to you on behalf of the proposed shark project called the “Semporna Shark Sanctuary”. This is a project based in Sabah, Malaysia, whereby more than 8000 square KM of the worlds most bio diverse marine habitats and also one of Asia’s last strongholds for sharks could, with your help, become South East Asia’s first and largest Shark Sanctuary!
The project has already been approved by the Local government and the Department of Fisheries and in early 2012 the proposal will be submitted to the Sabah State Government for approval. The proposal will be submitted by representatives of the Sabah NGO Borneo Conservancyand also the local Semporna Council.
Together with the submission of the proposal we hope to pass to the Sabah State government a petitionwith more than 10’000 names of marine enthusiasts around the world who are in favor of such a Shark Sanctuary.
This is where we need your help: We need you to please mention this proposal on either your Facebook site or your website as we need as many marine/shark enthusiasts as possible to put there name on this petition.
We basically need your help to spread the word and hopefully get the support we need to make this Shark Sanctuary succeed
If you can help in any way the Sharks in Sabah would be forever grateful!
Canadian environmentalist and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Captain Paul Watson was arrested at the Frankfurt Airport over the weekend on a 10-year-old warrant. The Costa Rican warrant relates to an April 2002 run-in with an illegal Costa Rican shark finning vessel.The report also states Watson faces attempted murder char
