The shark conservation movement has often been described as a "thousand ants taking down an elephant".In the past two years some long lasting and precedent setting victories from Alibaba.com to the recent decision by the Maldives to ban all shark fishing has been attributed to this army of shark conservationists.
It all starts with "One". One idea, one blog, one website, one initiative.
"One".
Recently this army trained their sights on the "Are You Man Enough?" shark tournament in Ft Myers Beach, Fl. The resulting media, websites, blog posts, and phone calls stirred local politicians to effect rapid and precedent setting change.
The tournament will no longer feature dead trophy sharks which is a win. Instead catch and release will allow sharks to be fished sustainably.
Tracking this shark conservation army back here are some of the posts that made for this change alerting media and others to pick up phones and start making calls.
Kudos to all who made this change. Here's a short list and by no means complete:
Shark Safe Rally - The "One"
Oceanic Dreams
Neil Hammerschlag
Chum Slick
Loves Sharks
Underwater Times
Care2 Networks
Southern Fried Science
Dive Photo Guide
Scuba Board
Charity News
Beqa Adventure Divers
Florida Blog
The list of news outlets who followed this story lent a lot credibility to this effort. The final summation came from Gary and Brenda Adkison who wrapped up this change nicely.
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