Anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows that I am OBSESSED (to say the least) with sharks. I've been watching Shark Week since it first debuted when I was a little girl and I love it. But I'm really pissed off with it this year. Despite their pro-conservation web content, the actual televised programs are all "OMGSHARKGONNAGETCHA" attack fear programming. The science has thus far been totally absent, even to the point of putting the wrong tail lobes on their fake Great White in 'Blood on the Water' and, in the same program, stating dogs swimming with you up your chance for attack which Mythbusters disproved last year.

Kind of a run on sentence but whatever.

Anyway, sharks are actually far more in danger from us than we are from them. One-Third of sharks now face extinction according to the the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Some 100 million sharks are caught in commercial and sports fishing every year, and several species have declined by more than 90 percent in the past decade alone. It is mostly do to the overfishing to satisfy the delight for shark fin soup. If you don't know, fishermen catch sharks, cut off their fins, then toss the animal back into the ocean to bleed out and drown. Its barbaric and cruel and is decimating shark populations. Since 1972 the number of blacktip sharks has fallen by 93%, tiger sharks by 97% and bull sharks, dusky sharks and smooth hammerheads by 99%. If we don't act NOW, we will lose these species and more which will devastate our oceans.

"I don't care," you say (although you better not, because I will come to your house and hit you repeatedly with a crowbar). "I live on land. I hate going to the beach. Why the fuck should I care about sharks?" Well, soon-to-be-crowbarred-hypothetical-douchebag, because this planet is a cooperative biosphere. In plain english, the more we ruin one bit of the planet, the more it ruins the rest of it. Sharks are the apex predator so fucking with them throws the whole system way out of whack. For example, on the east coast where tigers and black tips are virtually extinct, there was a boom in the population of skates, rays, and small sharks. They all consumed so many shellfish, which are nature's water purifiers, that the water is now filthier than ever. The decreasing water quality has been killing off good algae blooms, which create between 70%-80% of the oxygen we breathe, and leading to more bad algal blooms that create sickness in many people when the debris blows ashore. Oh and these bad algae blooms also kill pretty much everything in the vicinity, be it sharks, fish, whales, plants, or whathaveyou. So unless you have figured out how not to breathe, hypothetical douchebag, you should care about the ocean and its top predator.

For those of you that aren't hypothetical douchebags and understand the importance of helping, you are probably asking "Miss E, where is a handy dandy list of websites and organizations that will help me take an active roll in solving this problem?" Well, wonderful reader and ready activist, it is right after this paragraph! Please get involved in as many of these organizations as you can and spread the word to others to help. Remember, getting involved isn't just sending money so don't fret if you're broke. Almost every organization now a days has action alerts where you can sign petitions, watch videos, spread the word, and more without ever spending a dime of your own money. Of course, I would GREATLY encourage you to donate just a little to whatever organization you really believe in. Even $5 or $10 dollars helps out a ton so, if you can spare it, please consider donating when and if you can. And, of course, you can always help the cause by volunteering at local chapters and spreading the word on the internet and among your friends!!

My FAVORITE ocean organization is probably the Ocean Conservancy. They don't just work with just one species or focus on just an animal. They focus on the entire ecosystem and try to preserve, protect, and restore the entire ocean. It is this kind of approach that we really need because sharks are just one piece in a giant puzzle and if we don't restore and preserve the habitat, where are we going to put the sharks? On the same token, the Nature Conservancy takes the same approach but works in every habitat on Planet Earth. So if you want to help conserve nature from the wetlands to the grasslands, the oceans to the mountains, then they are the organization for you.

I also REALLY love Oceana. They are the largest international ocean conservation organization. They fight every single day in over 100 countries to kick ass and take names for the ocean. They do incredible work plus they have this funny little picture that I love:

This blog, however, is focused on my love of sharks so I want to highlight some organizations that do a WONDERFUL job of fighting for them. The first is the Shark Alliance. They fight for a change in European fishing policies to help stop the overfishing of sharks worldwide. Similarly, Bite-Back is the UK's fastest growing marine conservation organization and Protect the Sharks is a Dutch organization. So, for all of you foreigners who read these blogs and feel left out because I usually post American organizations, this is for you. But remember, no matter where you live, you can and should get involved in battles abroad because every voice counts for something.

SRI or the Shark Research Institute is pretty much like Playboy to me. As some of you may know, I was planning on becoming a paleo-marine biologist before I decided to pursue music but I've kept up with the SRI. Not only do they work incredibly hard to educate the public on shark-related issues but they actually lead expeditions where you can help scientists (if you meet the dive requirements). I love them. A lot.

StopSharkFinning.net is just that - a site that aims to stop shark finning around the world. I can't tell you how much we need to end this practice and how badly the cause needs support from everyone around the world. It is possibly the biggest threat to sharks today. The pressure organizations like GreenPeace and the Humane Society were able to bring to bear to save the whales and dolphins needs to be repeated for the sharks. WildAid is another organization that seeks to end any and all illegal trading of animal products, such as elephant tusks, rhino horns, shark fins, conch shells, and tiger hides (and penises). They have numerous celebrity campaigns and do a lot to promote awareness about these trades as well as stop them. COARE is behind the Shark-Safe seal, similar to the dolphin-safe seal on tuna which is the only type of tuna I will eat. And speaking of sustainable fishing, SeaChoice is an organization that helps encourage people to make better choices about seafood while working with the industry to alter its practices while still keeping its profits and everyone's jobs. Overfishing isn't just killing our marine life, its actually hurting the fishermen who make their living from the sea as it has less and less to give and restrictions become harder and harder. Making a change to sustainable practices will ultimately save the struggling fishing industry.

SavingSharks is a website for the new documentary SharkWater that I'd encourage everyone to see. If you have seen Whale Wars on Animal Planet, you are probably familiar with the organization Sea Shepard. They are basically complete lunatics that are ready to do everything they can legally - and some things that may or may not be legal - in order to stop people killing animals at sea. If you seriously want to volunteer and possibly get killed while saving animals, this is the organization you need to join. This is what PETA pretends to be. (And in case you are wondering - FUCK PETA. They are liars, they spend less than 1% of their budget on saving animals, and they kill more animals than they save.)

That soapbox down, lets get back to my favorite activity of shark cuddling. Okay, so you can't actually cuddle a shark. They are dangerous predators and should be respected. However, you CAN adopt a shark and give him or her some much more vital love. SharkTrust lets you adopt a Basking Shark or Great White Shark to love and care for. Be aware, this site is based in England so conversion rates apply. You can also go to AdoptAShark.com and you get a certificate of adoption and everything. This site has package that range from $50 to $100 so it may be a little expensive but its always a really sweet gift to give to someone - like me, for example. My friends adopted Croix for me for my birthday and I love her so very much. She is a baby Great White and hopefully my birthday gift will translate into a better life for her and more knowledge bout her whole species for everyone!

I also really love the Surfrider Foundation that tries to clean up our beaches and oceans so we can all enjoy and appreciate the waves. Not only do you feel like a cool surfer when you help them, even if you have never touched a board in your life, but they really do some good work. To that end, it was actually my need to help the ocean I love so much that got me to suck it up and join SocialVibe. Now, you may remember the blog in which I bitched about people who joined Social Vibe and called them a bunch sanctimonious hypocrites. (And if you don't, here is the blog.) I still stand by everything I said in this blog. You shouldn't try to fight for change and justice just to get applauded. The whole SocialVibe "what have you done lately" really pissed me off as a tag line. To quote myself: "Doing just a little bit to help, such as social vibe, is commendable but it DOES NOT make you a fucking saint. So stop asking people what they have done lately and ask yourselves what more you can and are willing to do."

But I also realize that every little bit counts. My moral opposition to what I view as a pathway to lazy faux-activism and self-aggrandizement as opposed to doing any real change means that I am shutting myself out from making just a few more strides towards a cause that I believe in. So I have set aside my qualms in order to try and do just that much more for a cause I believe in. Below is all of my Social Vibe banners so please click on them and help me raise some money for the Surfrider foundation. Its completely free and its an easy way to use all the time I spend social networking to give back. I encourage you to join and support your own causes - but if you post anything saying how you're so great for doing this one thing and asking "what have you done lately" (I don't care its an automatically generated bulletin, you can change the title) then I will come to your house with my crowbar.

So please go to all of these organizations, click the socialvibe links, complete some action alerts (on the sites where it says "Take Action"), spread the word to others, and donate some money if you have a few bucks to spare. But most of all, please remember that sharks are dying every day - not just during Shark Week - and they really need our help to save them. Despite looking scary, sharks are usually pretty timid creatures and they don't mean to harm us. In fact, some sharks actually like to play and have fun in between hunting. They need our support so please help save them!!!