Southern Fried Science - Shark Finning vs Tourism

Another in an excellent series by the fine folks over at SFS last week:

Continuing the discussion about shark feeding dives started last week by Aleks Maljkovic, Eric Clua discusses the economics of this practice and concludes that a living shark can be worth much more than a dead shark.

Shark Pseudoscience - Juicing Tweaked Bulls

A challenge over at Southern Fried Science has us talking Bull this week.

Bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) and testosterone to be exact.

A leisurely swim through the Internets murky back canals of sharky science reveals a plethora of quotes about testosterone and Bull sharks:

"Their aggression is fueled by testosterone. The bull shark has one of the highest testosterone levels of all animals."

"Bull sharks have the highest levels of testosterone measured in any creature, land or sea."

"No animal on earth has the testosterone levels of a bull shark, and that includes animals like the big cats of Africa, elephants, and grizzly bears."

Which has lead to a flood of online question from body builders, based on a video game (we could not make this up) about "juicing" Bull sharks for a cheap, fast, and legal(?) source of testosterone.

Read about it here, and here and here.

In fact a Google search for "Bull shark testosterone sale" returns over 3000 results.

Is it science? Or like many shark related pseudo-cures is it just plain Bull?

As the brainchild for this online discussion seems to have been generated by a video game we're calling this one pseudo-Bull, and passing it on to the good folks over at Southern Fried Science in a pathetic attempt to get in on their latest science challenge.

Kind of like those paper-mâché volcano's you see at science fairs. Yes they look cool and all, but everyone knows you made it up at 4.30am the night before, when your bigger science fair project got eaten by your pet Bull shark...all juiced up and raging on testosterone no doubt.

Dolphin-safe tuna: conservation success story or ecological disaster?

One of the hallmarks of this blog and the many blogs we link to is "provoking thought." The past 2000 posts at this blog have featured more than its share of ideas, concepts, and industry analysis.

To many this blog is unique, compelling, and daily feed. To others who prefer blogs that are simple "look-at-me-and-what-I-did-this-week" formats, what we do and say here is cause for much industry grumbling.

Grumble away.

This week a post by the ever interesting David Shiffman over at the Southern Fried Science Blog gets to the heart of conservation. What is conservation success?

He tackles one of conservations "sacred cows" Dolphin Safe Tuna. For those currently in the shark conservation world this look back at the success or failure of Dolphin Safe Tuna is a cautionary tale about conservation success and the reality of laws without overall enforcement.

For the Dolphin Safe folks Davids look into this world is perceived as a threat, for us there are no "sacred cows." We should, as conservationists, be able to look at, review and modify the efforts we put forth for better conservation.

Fine post, great reading. Provoking thought.