UPDATED: It Can Be Done

"Where there's a will, there's a way," my mother always said. The question is,"Does that will exist?"

These two videos offer a glimmer of hope:





UPDATE: If you crave even more good news about a ban that, if enacted, will improve the health of coral reefs, click here.

The Ugly Truth About Shark Fin Soup

I was pleased to read in today's Star that two Toronto city councillors, Glenn De Baeremaeker and Kristyn Wong-Tam, are making a motion this week to ban the sale and consumption of shark fin soup, long regarded by the Chinese community as a status symbol. Perhaps not everyone knows the barbaric cruelty involved in bringing such a dish to the table, but essentially it involves cutting off the fins of living sharks and then dumping them back into the ocean to either drown or bleed to death. Amazing how indifferent we can be to the earth's other creatures, isn't it?

An excellent documentary on the industry, especially strong in Costa Rica despite its illegality, is Sharkwater, which is availble for viewing on You Tube. To watch the first part, click on the image below and also learn the vital role sharks play in ocean ecology, upon which we are dependent for our survival: