Monthly Archives for February 2011

Sharktoberfest 2010 in San Francisco

From the kids in Grass Valley who helped us build our extraordinary longline exhibit for the California Academy of Science to the fishermen who helped us hang it, Sharktoberfest 2010 was a fantastic success for our healthy ocean and our sharks.

A special thanks to ‘Sherman’s Lagoon’ creator Jim Toomey who flew in for the weekend to help us get our creative juices flowing at the Farallones Marine Sanctuary at Crissy Field in San Francisco. And a very special thanks also goes to Ryan Thomas whose artistic talent went far to thrill the kids and adults alike with his face paintings of sharks. And now, our hard work is starting to pay off, with State Bill AB376 in the works, California may become the first state to ban sharkfin products!

Remember the Deepwater Horizon?

The rest of the country may have moved on to other things, but for the people in the Gulf, the Deepwater Horizon Disaster is still something that affects their lives every single day. Watch our friends Al Walker & Terry Palmisano as they tour the still oiled bays of the Mississippi Delta.

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Shark Protection Bill Introduced at the Cal Academy of Sciences

Showing lots of SHARK LOVE on Valentine’s Day, Assemblymen Jared Huffman and Paul Fong announce California Bill 276 to take measures to close the loopholes in our laws, hopefully ending California’s contribution to the shark fin trade. But the debate is heating up. Shall we preserve our traditions or preserve our ocean, and thus our planet?

Epic Herring Spawn on San Francisco Bay !

The epic herring spawn on the Bay this weekend was hard to miss. Sea lions, birds and even ladybugs were out in force to feed on the herring and their highly sought after eggs. The fishing season is now closed, as the quotas were filled early. This will allow even more time for the herring to regain a healthy footing in the Bay. It’s a living sign of hope that even with an oil spill such as the Costco Busan, an ecosystem can rebound if protected and given a chance. Whether or not recovery is possible with mega-gushers such as the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, remains to be seen. We can only hope that this epic spawning event in San Francisco is not an anomaly and that is the beginning of the rebounding of a healthy herring population here in the Bay.

Video by Deb Castellana