Monthly Archives for June 2011

Shark Fin Bill AB 376 Passes One More Hurdle in California

It was a rare rainy June day in San Francisco as I crossed the San Rafael Bridge to meet The Shark Bus headed for Sacramento. Supporters of AB 376 were on our way on the Capitol to stand up for sharks and against the sale of shark fins in California.  But ours was a small group compared to the well financed opposition bussed up from Chinatown.

The fight has pitted influential Chinese American politicians against one another and Chinese traders and restaurant owners have spent large sums of money to hire lobbyists to oppose a ban.  Busloads of Chinatown residents descended on the Capitol, saying that a ban would violate cultural custom. In fact, the folks we spoke with didn’t seem to care much, it seemed that most were just along for the ride.

Last April, Assembly members Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) and Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) introduced AB 376 at the California Academy of Science – proposing to make it illegal to sell, trade or distribute shark fins in California, which is one of the largest markets for fins outside of Asia.

Houston Rockets basketball star Yao Ming has joined other celebrities, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Scarlett Johansson, in public support of a ban. “Remember, when the buying stops, the killing can too,” says Ming in this riveting video.

Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Sunnyvale), a sponsor of the bill, said he “grew up on shark fin soup,” only lately to realize that “Anything that is unhealthy, that the culture is practicing, we should stop doing it. We used to bind women’s feet, and that was unhealthy for the woman.”

Sidewalk with Shark Fins in Hong Kong

Shark Fins on Hong Kong Sidewalk

Scientists say the fin trade has contributed to the catastrophic declines of shark populations worldwide, threatening to disrupt ocean ecosystems and encouraging the proliferation of other predators, which diminishes stocks of fish for human consumption.  Experts from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and The California Academy of Science are in strong support of the bill, and increased protection for sharks worldwide.

Shark finning has taken a horrifying toll on sharks, many species of which are now facing extinction. As much as 90% of the world’s sharks are already gone, and overfishing is the main culprit, with up to 100 million shark deaths each year. The practice is inherently cruel. Sharks are usually finned and thrown overboard alive. Unable to swim, they sink to the bottom to die a slow agonizing death.

Shark fin soup is strictly a luxury taste. Costing as much as $80 a serving in restaurants, it has been a Chinese delicacy for hundreds of years and often is served at weddings and banquets. It is a status symbol, considered to have medicinal properties, and its defenders see its consumption as a cultural right. Listen to what ‘Her Deepness’ Sylvia Earle has to say about what ‘luxury tastes’ are doing to our entire ocean planet, Click Here for her full BBC Interview.

But a growing number of Asian-Americans support AB 376. The Asian Pacific American Ocean Harmony Alliance, for example, is a coalition of Asian Americans artists, scholars, environmentalists, elected officials, and community leaders who support a ban on the sale of shark fins. According to this group, thousands of years of eastern philosophy emphasize living in harmony with nature — not destroying it to make soup.

And a group of young Asian activists have started a ‘Sharkfin Photomob.’ ‘It’s not racist to love sharks’ is their motto, and their quickly growing website of supporters has been impossible for legislators to ignore.

Shark Fin Photomob

Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) have proposed amendments to allow the sale of fins from sharks that are legally fished in California waters and the importation of fins that can be certified as having been sustainably harvested.

A compromise may be difficult to defend and enforce. To ban the sale of imported fins while allowing the sale of California fins would violate international trade rules. In addition, when you allow some but not all fins, it becomes impossible to enforce.

The bill passed the Assembly last month, 65-8, but is having more difficulty in the Senate. Tuesday, in a packed hearing room, the bill passed the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee 7-0, but only after Fong agreed to work with opponents to amend the bill before it goes before the Senate Appropriations Committee. It is not expected to reach the full Senate before August.

Hawaii and Washington state have already passed shark fin bans, and President Obama earlier this year signed federal legislation tightening a ban on shark finning in U.S. waters.

Its important that we not lose momentum now in California. Its going to take a continued push to get AB 376 through the Senate, so please keep the pressure up by writing and calling your Senators – it really does make a difference!

The most important calls to make for now are to the Appropriations Committee. The hearing date is 7/11/11.

Urge these Senators to vote YES on AB 376!

Senator Christine Kehoe (Chair): (916) 651-4039

Senator Mimi Walters (Vice Chair): (916) 651-4033

Senator Elaine Alquist: (916) 651-4013

Senator Bill Emmerson: (916) 651-4037

Senator Ted W. Lieu: (916) 651-4028

Senator Fran Pavley: (916) 651-4023

Senator Curren Price: (916) 651-4026

Senator Sharon Runner: (916) 651-4017

Senator Darrell Steinberg:  (916) 651-4006

‘Washed Ashore’ ~ Plastics, Marine Life and the Sea

Artist Angela Hazletine Pozzi

The Marine Mammal Center hosted the Grand Opening of their exciting new exhibit featuring work by Oregon artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi.  Along with her team of community volunteers, she collected approximately 7,000 pounds of trash from 20 miles of beaches along the southern Oregon coast last year and fashioned it into sculptures, all related to the sea: fish, turtles, jellyfish, coral and more.

Folks at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California know better than anyone about the catastrophic effects of marine debris on sea life. Every year, they are faced with attempting rescues on animals who are entangled in nets or have ingested plastic waste, often with lethal effects.  And it gets worse. When plastic degrades and breaks down into powder-sized bits, even plankton will ingest it, causing plastic to be almost omnipresent in the marine food chain.

In every square mile of ocean, there are 46,000 bits of plastic.  Bits and pieces of plastic caps, bottles, netting, flip flops, bottles and other trash — mostly plastic — were organized by color and then assembled into large sculptures.  The show can be viewed any day through Oct. 15. It is free to the public.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Says Pozzi, “We welcome people to come and play,” she said. “It’s a terribly depressing topic and if you just dwell on the negative people walk away. But if people take their picture in front of it then they remember it. We have to engage people in new ways.”

This is the first time the art has been in California. When it was displayed in Oregon last year, Jeff Boehm, executive director at the Marine Mammal Center, saw it and wanted to bring it to Marin.

“We think this exhibit will engage our visitors with the pretty ugly truth about ocean trash and help them make the connection between their health, the health of our oceans and how their actions have an impact on both,” Boehm said. “On average, 8 to 10 percent our patient admissions are due to human interactions including those related to entanglements in trash.”

Solstice Benefit for ‘The Cove’

June 21, 2011 ~ San Rafael, California

It was a perfect solstice evening as a crowd gathered outside the sold out Smith Rafael Theater  for a benefit centered around the plight of Japanese dolphins brought to worldwide attention by the 2010 Oscar winning movie, The Cove. Clearly most of the guests already knew the details of the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, and were moved to support the ongoing cause of ‘Save Japan Dolphins.’

They also came to meet the filmmakers, Ric O’Barry, Louie Psihoyos & special ops guru, Charles Hambleton.  Ardent dolphin activist and carbon-free Nascar driver Leilani Munter and her brother-in-law Bob Weir, longtime Marin activist and member of the legendary Grateful Dead came up with the idea for the event. Teaming up with Earth Island Institute, the Oceanic Preservation Society, Steep Productions, Hamilton Ink PR, and the Rafael Film Center, they organized a truly meaningful evening that none of us will soon forget.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Photographs Courtesy of Krystin Leonhardt and Stacy Reyes

Ric O’Barry is the very definition of a reluctant hero. He finds himself in the unfortunate position of having been the original trainer and captor of the some of the five dolphins who played television’s Flipper in the 1960′s.  The series was a worldwide hit and was largely responsible for causing an explosion of dolphinariums and Sea World type ‘abusement parks’ worldwide.  But in the process of working on Flipper, O’Barry learned that dolphins are truly ‘non-human persons’ with a consciousness and intelligence different, and perhaps superior to our own.  He became aware that these sentient creatures deserve their freedom and are undeserving of spending their lives as captive circus animals swimming circles  in concrete pools. ric and dolphinA little known fact is that most park vets prescribe drugs such as Tagamet and other drugs to calm the dolphins’ permanent state of anxiety. Little could be more cruel than such a prison – other than perhaps the cruelty of the wholesale slaughter that goes on every year in one particular cove in Taiji, Japan.

Cetacean slaughter is more common than one would think.  But when the IWC (International Whaling Commission) gets together every year to negotiate annual kill quotas, dolphins and many other small cetaceans are not legally considered to be part of the picture.  O’Barry has been banned from attending IWC meetings, as well as other marine mammal symposiums due to his passionate and in the past sometimes illegal measures on behalf of dolphins.

While the film was shown, a few of us joined The Cove family at a nearby eatery.  Local activists and friends had the opportunity to share some quality time with some of our ocean heroes. It was an honor to be able to sit down with Ric to discuss a current project and to get his thoughtful, in depth advice. It wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear, but I knew it was the truth.  Stay tuned for more about this in a few days.

Back inside the theater as the credits rolled, the group took the stage for a Q & A session which was surprisingly intimate, with a real ‘fireside chat’ feel to it.  Ric’s tone was soft as he talked compassionately about the nuclear catastrophe facing the Japanese people.  And there’s also a deep concern for all marine life in the area who are now being exposed to lethal levels of radiation.  When The Cove was filmed,  high levels of Mercury in dolphin and whale meat was big news.  Fast forward to current day Japan, where radiation poisoning is a serious threat. The future of Japan itself is threatened and this possibly apocalyptic scenario is not one that anyone could have foreseen.

dolphin slaughterSo, do we back off about the dolphin slaughter and slave trade in Taiji because of this? You could feel that everyone on that team had a real affection for the  Japanese people. They reminded us that this is a very small number of people in just one town who are involved in this hunt. A very small number of hunters killing a very large number of dolphins killed annually. Although they packed up their boats early this last season, there is no indication that the dolphin fishermen in Taiji plan to change their upcoming season for 2011.

And if they do begin another slaughter on September 1, the world, through dedicated activists such as Ric & others will be standing watch – to keep this slaughter in the news and in front of the cameras.  In this age of Facebook & Twitter, news from Taiji reaches a worldwide audience almost instantaneously.
I’ve got to think that eventually, somehow this will turn the tide, and that public opinion will stop the slaughter. That is my hope.

Bob Weir continued the program with a six-song set, jamming and crooning his way through the immense back catalog he’s cultivated with the Dead, Ratdog and Further, among other projects and his solo career.

Psihoyos shared a quote from Margaret Mead that seemed to sum-up the message not only of the benefit that evening, but the movement it was held to strengthen. “All social change comes from the passion of individuals,” he said. “The time has come for the next Ric O’Barrys of the world to step forward and continue this fight.”

Click here to learn more about the The Cove and how you can help. One way you can start is not to patronize marine abusement parks & to encourage your family to do the same. Unfortunately this cruelty is driven by the almighty dollar. Each dolphin is worth millions of dollars of income for these parks.  If you haven’t already, see The Cove.  You’ll know what to do.

Iconic Florida Power Plant Demolished

A planned explosion brought down FP&L’s landmark power plant in Riviera Beach, Florida this morning. The red and white striped smokestacks that were  landmarks for generations of sailors returning home from the sea are now just a memory. The 60′s era oil fired generating plant will be replaced by a $1.3 billion natural gas fired power plant.  Said one witness, “Now it’s gone, but now you’ll get cleaner energy, I guess.” Apparently, this gent hasn’t seen ‘Gasland‘ yet.

Hands Across the Sand ~ June 25th


We’re looking for people across the world who would like to organize local gatherings on June 25th to speak out against offshore oil drilling and stand up for clean energy. Click HERE to learn how and where you can get involved – there may be an event planned in your area already!

Join me at Rodeo Beach, CA right next to where The Marine Mammal Center will be having the Grand Opening of “Washed Ashore:  Sea life & Art”, which will be going on from 10AM to 5PM.  ‘Washed Ashore’ is the vision of artist and educator Angela Haseltine Pozzi. This community art project from Bandon, Oregon has turned the ugly reality of ocean trash into beautiful sculptures of the marine life we strive to save, inspiring us all to re-think our use of plastics and change our habits. You’ll find 15 massive marine life sculptures at the Washed Ashore: plastics, sea life and art exhibit at The Marine Mammal Center from June 25 – October 15, 2011.  Hope to see you at both of these events – come on out to the Marin Headlands and make a day of it with the whole family. If you can do a You Tube video of your event, you can upload it to their website Hands Across the Sand and share it with the across the world!

rodeo beach

Click here - Rodeo Cove 'A'

A Message from Founder, Dave Rauschkolb

Welcome!  Thank you for joining hands with us!

On June 25 at 12:00 in your time zone people of the world will have an opportunity to join hands and draw a line in the sand against expanding offshore oil drilling and championing clean energy for a sustainable planet.  This event will happen on beaches and in cities across the world.

Hands Across The Sand is a movement made of people of all walks of life and crosses all borders and political affiliations. This movement is not about politics; it is about the protection of our coastal economies, oceans, marine wildlife and fisheries.  The accidents that continue to happen in offshore oil drilling are a threat to all of the above. Expanding offshore oil drilling is not the answer, embracing Clean Energy is.

This movement is about embracing energy sources that will sustain our planet.  Oil and Coal are the largest polluters on the Earth threatening the quality of air we breathe, the water that we drink and the food that nourishes us.

We are joining hands to say NO to offshore oil drilling and Yes to Clean Energy. We are joining hands to end our dependence on oil and coal and embrace a clean energy future for a sustainable planet.  Safe food, clean water & clean air are the essential fundamental elements of our survival as a species. Offshore oil spills, the burning of fossil fuels and coal burning power plants present a threat to all of the above.

Growing and nurturing a clean energy policy on a global scale is the path to fresh job growth, a sustainable global economic future and a more stable geo-political future.   Our dependence on fossil fuels in the long term is unsustainable and the global conflicts created acquiring these fuels will continue to have a devastating, destabilizing effect on world politics.

The environmental damage associated with acquiring, refining and continuing to burn fossil fuels virtually guarantees a planet poisoned with dirty air, dirty water and unhealthy food. Fossil fuels will continue to play a major role but clean energy must begin to replace that role and restore a future for all of us and for future generations.

Our lives are too short to comprehend our complicity in the slow death we are inflicting on the earth. We must connect with generations past, generations present and generations future and weave a thread of balance and wisdom for our planet. Forget borders, forget the elements that separate us. We have done our damage, we now have the power to undo and together, join hands and build a clean energy path that sustains us all.  There is no more important issue we must focus on as humans.

Hands Across the Sands banner