Shark Week 2010: A big step in the right direction!

Posted on By David Shiffman 26 Comments on Shark Week 2010: A big step in the right direction!
Popular Culture, Science

Disclaimer: Both the Southern Fried Scientist and I received a media care package from the Discovery Channel containing a t-shirt, an adopt-a-shark packet, and DVDs of two of the premieres. While I still have some criticisms, I wanted to start this review by saying that this year’s Shark Week was a lot better than any from the past few years. Before I review each premiere I need to acknowledge that I watched all of them at their later air times, not when they originally aired. The content of each premiere is the same, but I did not see the same commercials as everyone else, I never saw the Oceana PSA, I saw very few Craig Ferguson interludes, and I don’t know if there were any pop-up ads during the shows. This was an unavoidable inconvenience and hopefully doesn’t bias my review too much.

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WhySharksMatter interviews Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: Should scientists be advocates?

Posted on By David Shiffman 3 Comments on WhySharksMatter interviews Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: Should scientists be advocates?
Uncategorized

Earlier this year, Andrew, Amy and I wrote a series of posts called “get to know your fry-entist” which expressed our views on science and advocacy. I was happy to see that last week’s Ecological Society of America meeting had an entire symposium dedicated to this important topic. It was entitled “above the din but … Read More “WhySharksMatter interviews Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: Should scientists be advocates?” »

Shark Conservation: The problem, the goal, and how to get there

Posted on By David Shiffman 12 Comments on Shark Conservation: The problem, the goal, and how to get there
Conservation, Science

ResearchBlogging.org

The problem

Sharks consistently rank near the top of lists of American’s greatest fears. In reality, they have much more to fear from us than we do from them. Because of our actions, many species of sharks are on the verge of extinction. A recent International Union for the Conservation of Nature Shark Specialist Group report shows that fully 1/3 of open-ocean species of sharks are in danger of extinction in the next few decades. Many shark species have had population declines of over 90% in the last few decades.

 

Fins from a blacktip shark. Photo credit: David Shiffman

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