Worlds Largest Oil Spill - On Fire

We have been covering what is now the world's largest oil spill. Ten weeks into the disaster a "blazing middle finger" erupted in the Timor Sea this week as the actual drilling platform caught on fire. No crews were on board at the time and no one from PTTEP the company responsible for the platform knows how it started.

The ongoing disaster is being curiously under reported by main stream media. Estimates of 400 barrels of oil being spilled each day are coming from the oil company and not independent agencies who estimate many more barrels are gushing from this once productive well head many kilometers under the sea bed.

Oil Disaster Week Ten Numbers

70 - Number of days the Montera Oil Platform spill has been sending oil into the Timor Sea.

74,000 - Number of kilometers the spill now covers (the size of Liberia).

11, 760,000 - Estimated number of gallons of crude oil spilled off the coast of Australia.

NBC's Today Show D- on Sharks

If there was some kind of award for shoddy, hyper inflated, negative shark coverage, NBC's The Today Show would get it.

Over the past several years they have been the media leaders in 1970's style "horror shark" media hits.

If there was an award for honestly in shark media, new Blue Blogger Dorsal Fin would get it.

This week DF earned an extra tall shark statue for calling out The Today Shows ongoing and dare we say it, "moronically half fabricated shark based clap trap."

Actually, we liked that so much we'll say it again, "moronically half fabricated shark based clap trap."

The media's responsibility for balanced shark reporting is paramount and the only way they will be made to come to their senses is if we all take the time to point out when they stray completely off the media reservation.

In The Today's Show case that is several times a year, with few if any media hits highlighting research, science, and the ongoing decimation of worldwide shark populations.

Balance. In the world we live in it is needed now more than ever.

Kudos to Dorsal Fin for providing some.

Busting Shark Propaganda

If you ever see or read the following statement beware of unhelpful shark propaganda:

"The ocean produces 70% of our oxygen we breath on Earth. Sharks are a critical part of the marine ecosystem that produces that oxygen and without them we could be in big trouble. "

Sadly sharks are in enough trouble as it is without wild hair, unsubstantiated claims like this one. Unfortunately this particular "claim" has caught the imagination of many, and has been repeated more than we care to see.

The end result, those that utter this statement look uninformed and foolish in the eyes of anyone who has got their pulse on shark conservation issues worldwide. Worse they can quickly become discounted as fringe elements by both advocates for shark fining and the NGO community at large. Making up facts that have no basis in any study or even reality hurts everyone.

The shark conservation movement needs to stick to the facts. Those facts are horrific and compelling enough without the added and misguided shark propaganda.

So, next time you post a response, send in a protest email, or write your Member of Congress be sure not to express the thought that if we do not save sharks there will be no more oxygen to breathe...the shark conservation movement needs credibility not propaganda.