photos courtesy of Stingray’s Aquarium Services

Thursday, April 15, 7 - 9 pm

Join filmmaker Rob Stewart for a special screening and exclusive discussion of his award-winning film, Sharkwater (2007, 89 minutes), winner of 34 international awards. This beautiful underwater film turns into a real life drama when Stewart uncovers the corruption and danger behind shark finning. His remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world’s sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind.  Click here for details.

Our champions are living proof that protecting sharks is something each and every one of us can do. To help you along, we created slide presentations in English and Chinese.

View them online, print them out and use them to help your local sellers of shark understand the problem.
Want proof that amazing results can happen with less than a week’s effort? Visit here to read how Stephen stopped over 15,000 bowls of shark fin soup from being served!

Courtesy of Shark Rescue

Shark fin soup is most popular at wedding banquets. Watch out for Shark Truth’s wedding contest to reward couples who Stop the Soup.

http://www.sharktruth.com/

Thank you to Kestrel Collison who wrote us back in June 2009.  Kestrel lives in Banff, Alberta and told us about her experiences in Exumas, Bahamas with her family, surrounded by ocean, fish, and sharks. Kestrel told us about a charity established by her family in 1968. Through this charity Kestrel was given the opportunity to make a presentation to the Board supporting a cause she believed in.  Kestrel chose Sharkwater and came in third in her competition. Congratulations Kestrel! To see Kestrel’s speech:

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Just prior to a United Nations endangered species conference that begins this week, a government official has announced that Maldives, an island country in the Indian ocean, is banning shark fishing in its waters. “We’ve decided to go ahead with a shark fishing ban,” Ibrahim Didi, the fisheries and agriculture minister, told The New York Times. “Beginning July 1 there will be a total ban on exports.” Maldives is one of the world’s top scuba-diving destinations. Researchers from James Cook University in Australia last year estimated that a single gray reef shark was worth $3,300 a year to the Maldivian tourism industry, compared with the one-time value of $32 that a fisherman would get from the same shark. Didi said his government began planning the ban last year, but was delayed due to objections from fishermen, who were catching the sharks and killing them for their fins. Now, he says, “They understand that it isn’t a sustainable fishery.” The government is planning to provide the fishermen with financial support and retraining. The Maldivian waters are home to over 26 types of sharks, including the whale shark, tiger shark and hammerhead shark.

Thank you to Noah Doughty, Biology teacher at Mission College Preparatory who sent us the following letter and comments:

To Rob Stewart and all the others involved with the SHARKWATER film, website and related projects
I recently showed the movie Sharkwater in my biology classes and my students were greatly impressed with the movie and wanted to find out more. As a follow up assignment I asked the students to email me with their comments and questions after watching the movie. I’ve left spelling and grammar unchanged. I realize that you are busy and probably do not have time to reply to all, but we did want to send you the message that the movie was watched, awareness was raised, and many of the students want to know how they can help.
Thank you for such an amazing film,
Noah Doughty
Biology Teacher
Mission College Preparatory

Mad Men actress January Jones went to Washington, D.C. this week to lobby for the Shark Conservation Act of 2009, saying, “We should be scared FOR sharks, not of them. The survival of sharks and the health of our oceans depend on it.” Jones became a spokesman for Oceana’s Save Sharks campaign earlier this year. The Shark Conservation Act would outlaw shark “finning,” a cruel practice in which sharks’ fins are cut off, only to be dumped back into the sea to suffer a slow death. The law would require that sharks be brought in to land in one piece and would stop the massacre of hundreds of thousands of sharks each year by fishermen who make enormous profit by just getting the fins. Jones recently swam in the ocean with sharks while in the Bahamas with Oceana, an environmental group that works to protect the oceans of the world. “It’s exhilarating,” Jones said at the Variety Power of Women luncheon last Friday, where she was honored for her work with the environmental group. “They’re beautiful creatures and to be in that close proximity with them was a dream come true.”

Sharkwater will be featured in August as part of the Toronto Zoo’s Conservation Awareness Weekends!

On Saturday August 8th - Sunday August 9th and Saturday August 22nd- Sunday August 23rd, there will be 3 screenings each day at 11:30am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm FREE with your admission to the zoo.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to see this award winning film, learn about shark conservation and visit the new Sharks at Stingray Bay exhibit!

The gift shop will also be featuring Sharkwater DVDs, BluRay disc and Rob Stewarts photobook “Sharkwater: An Odyssey to save the Planet”. Own your copy TODAY!

The Toronto Zoo is located on Meadowvale Road, just North off exit #389 on Highway 401 in Toronto

http://www.sharkwater.com/
http://www.torontozoo.com/

Tokyo, Japan (July, 09) - PangeaSeed, a Japan-based nonprofit organization, is ramping up its inaugural activities in Tokyo this summer with events tailored to spotlight the organization’s dedication to increasing awareness of the plight of sharks. Of the 400 shark species, more than 100 are endangered, with many species so overexploited it may be impossible for them to recover.

The events will showcase the issues surrounding shark finning in Asia and other parts of the world, where sharks are killed to satisfy culinary and medicinal demand. In finning it is common to cut the fin from a still-living shark, then discard the rest, as the fin is worth many times over the shark as a whole.

PangeaSeed takes an inclusive approach to spreading its message by engaging its audience through music, art, photography and open discussion. First, PangeaSeed has been selected to host a booth at the 2009 Fuji Rock Festival’s NGO Village on July 24 -26, 2009. The booth will feature information and facts about the shark finning issue and aims to provide a venue for the organization to educate and discuss with its target audience such topics as the threat of shark extinction, and the need for shark protection and shark sustainability. At the event, PangeaSeed will collect signatures with the goal of securing an area of the coast of Miyagi prefecture as a sanctuary for sharks, while special guest artist and PangeaSeed member Yoh Nagao will perform “live paints” during the festival to raise awareness of the shark finning issue. During the festival, PangeaSeed also will feature a public service announcement on the festival’s Green Stage.

Later in July, PangeaSeed will host its first event, “No Fin, No Future.” The event will be held Thursday, July 30, 2009, at Super Deluxe in Nishi Azabu, and will feature never-before-seen art and photography from global artists such as Mr. Brainwash, Josh Keyes, Dave Kinsey and many more. Guests will enjoy a screening of the international award-winning documentary, “Sharkwater” followed by a discussion with leading shark expert, Ms. Kim McCoy of Shark Angels. Ms. McCoy will discuss her experience in working with sharks including research and education. She will also share with the audience underwater footage of swimming and interacting with large sharks from around the world. “We are very excited to showcase a not-for-profit fund raising art collection featuring works contributed from more than 30 internationally renowned artists, graphic designers and photographers never seen before in Japan,” said Tre’ L. Packard, managing director of PangeaSeed.

“We are thrilled with the opportunities we’ve been given both with Fuji Rock and our own No Fin, No Future event,” Packard said. “Through these events PangeaSeed aims to open the eyes, minds and hearts of our neighbors and bring to the forefront the ecological and environmental problems that continue to be overlooked both domestically and around the globe. We believe these events are an excellent place to introduce our message and gain the necessary momentum to make a difference.”

PangeaSeed
Phone: 050-1550-6358 Fax: 050-1550-6358
E-Mail: pangea.seed@yahoo.com
Web: www.pangeaseed.com

About PangeaSeed: PangeaSeed (www.pangeaseed.com) is a Tokyo-based grassroots effort to educate and raise awareness of the plight of sharks around the world. Through volunteer activism and the media of art, music and photography, PangeaSeed aims to create an open dialogue with the global community to develop an understanding of the need to preserve and protect sharks and their habitat.

On March 3rd, 2009 Rob Stewart addressed over 1,000 school students in a North America wide web conference. Over 30 schools held private screenings of Rob’s award-winning film Sharkwater and spent several days engaged in numerous educational activities surrounding the movie and the conservation of the world’s oceans.

This rare opportunity brought students together from Hawaii to Ontario and allowed them to communicate directly with Rob to ask many of the burning questions they had collected after researching sharks and watching the movie. Rob did not disappoint! Not only did Rob answer the student’s questions, he inspired a generation of kids to stand up for what they believe in and guided them in how to make positive changes in their world.

Like a true hero, Rob empowered, taught and shared and made a real difference in the lives of those who he spoke with.

To see the interview click here.