Paradigm Shift?

I could barely believe what I was reading when I visited CNN.com today. It seems we're finally seeing a paradigm shift in the media away from terror-inciting reporting a la "Summer of the Shark" to myth-busting stories like this one, published in the wake of Roy Scheider's ("Jaws") death:

"All of the sharks in all the world's oceans barely kept pace with Mr. Scheider's movie accomplishments. They killed one of us last year. One." [Full story]

Aussies Also Concerned

Aussies are concerned about how the practice of shark finning is decimating shark populations in New South Wales. Click for story.

It's 'Time' People Knew the Truth

'Time' magazine added its voice to the growing chorus about sharks by publishing a good (and long) feature article about sharks and the threats they face.

Business Week Shines Spotlight on Alibaba.com

The issue of shark finning continues to gain visibility, this time in the high-profile publication Business Week (view article). Alibaba.com (40-percent-owned by Yahoo) again defends its business practices of selling shark fin over the Internet, hiding behind the notion of "cultural traditions." They claim to allow only the sale of legal shark fin, but this is impossible by definition over the Internet, because it is impossible to inspect the shark fin to see what type of shark it came from.

The State of Sharks

Here's an article in SF Gate, the San Francisco Chronicle's online edition, that does a great job of summing up the current state of shark populations and the many threats they face.

Kids and Sharks

KOL, AOL's service for kids, published a shark picture gallery with some photo captions that help spread the word about shark conservation to kids. Check it out here.

Yahoo Kills Sharks

The Rob Stewart/Sharkwater PR machine appears to finally be bringing this issue to the forefront of the mainstream media. The same day Stewart appeared on the TODAY show, KABC -- the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles -- ran a long story about the plight of sharks, mentioning, among other things, Yahoo's stake in shark finning. For those of you who don't know, Yahoo has a 40-percent stake in Alibaba.com, the largest broker of the sale of shark fins on the Internet. In other words, Yahoo has a direct stake in the slaughter of millions of sharks. So, if you use Yahoo Mail or some other Yahoo product, you have an indirect connection to shark finning. If this bothers you, stop using Yahoo, and/or send a message to Yahoo's management telling them how you feel. A Yahoo spokesperson minimized the issue, saying that the controversy surrounding the issue of shark finning amounted to "cultural differences." Which makes it clear they have no concept (or don't care) how truly threatened sharks are.

[Read full KABC story here]