Shark Fishers Try to Reel in Cash, Turn to Conservation

We have been beating this drum here at U.T for the past year. We are also huge supporters of Iemanya Oceanica whose local initiatives are changing the face and politics of shark fisheries in Mexico and Latin America.

So, here we are, at the starting gate with commercial shark diving vs shark fisheries. What's the next step?

We have a few ideas:

Tolon has been forced to think of ways to make his craft—and career—more sustainable, increasingly relying on organizations such as Iemanya Oceanica, a U.S.-Mexican nonprofit that is working with 12 Mexican fishing communities to help them find long-term economic security.

Iemanya Oceanica is advising Tolon and other fishers to partially transform their fish-based economies and to start thinking of shark-based ecotourism as a way to make money and preserve stocks for limited fishing.