What makes this win even more imporant is that the people of Japan love watching the Oscars and with this prestigious award, the issue of dolphin slaughtering  may finally open debate in Japan.  A distributor in Japan states, “Receiving the top award in the movie industry will work as a big plus for our efforts to show this movie in Japan.”  Very few residents in Japan, especially Taiji, Japan (where the slaughtering takes place) have seen the movie and many residents outside of Taiji are not even aware of the annual slaughterings. 

However, as of this morning Taiji officals and  fisherman have already begun to criticize the win…

Reacting to the Academy Award, fishermen in Taiji voiced anger, saying they were misleadingly described as ‘‘Japanese mafia.”

Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen said, ‘‘Dolphin hunting is not an illegal activity. It is necessary to respect each culture’s diet, based on an understanding of regional traditions.’‘

Tetsuya Endo, a local councilman in Taiji, said “they should have declined the award.”  According to Endo, since most of the footage in The Cove was based on film team breaking into the area where the dolphins are killed, which included cutting barbed wires and melting down high fences in, their footage should never have been released. 

 Nevertheless, this win is a small step towards ending the annual dolphin killings.  Backstage on ABC’s Thank You Cam, Richard O’Barry final words to the camera were “I want to ask people to stop buying tickets to dolphin shows.  That’s the solution.”  We couldn’t agree more.

Technology enables scuba divers to capture instances like this on video and show it to the world, however, just for a second imagine how large the oceans are and how many other sea creatures must be affected by marine debris on a daily basis – the figure would be staggering.

Corals are so beautiful and precious, and yet we rip them out of their homes without so much as a thought.  Through overfishing, the use of dynamite or poison to capture fish, pollution, and dropping boat anchors, corals have had little chance of survival.  It actually takes coral longer to recover from human damage than a natural disaster such as an earthquake or hurricaine.  On top of these man-made damages, coral reef “hunters” are constantly out in the oceans hunting coral to turn into jewelry.  

 At Sand Shack we absolutely stay away from coral and encourage everyone else to do the same.  Let’s keep coral where they belong: in the oceans.

 Director, Louie Psihoyos is thrilled.
“The reason the Oscar® nomination is so important for me is because it’s the most watched program in Japanese television. I didn’t get into movies to win awards. I got into making this movie to start a movement to save the ocean. I’ve been trying to give the oceans a voice and an Oscar® nomination amplifies that voice.”

Congrats to Louie and The Cove team!

 At the time, little did I know the cruel practice of shark finning.   The process is short and simple.  Sharks are caught in the water and their fins are sliced off.  Then they are thrown back into the water where they are left to slowly die.  In the last two decades, some shark populations have decreased by nearly 90%.  I didn’t even think man was capable of overfishing to that capacity.  And need I remind you that you are still more likely to get hit by a deer in your car than to be attacked by a shark in the water. 

Forget the movies, sharks are actually non-agressive. And kind of cute.

With all that being said, my mom recently returned to Taiwan to visit some relatives.  Before she left and in casual conversation, I had briefly mentioned to her the issues of shark finning.  Well it turned out that my conversation made a difference!  When she came back she told me how my uncle had invited about 15 people out to a very nice dinner.  Of course, the first serving was a bowl of shark fin soup.  My mom was the only one to decline the soup. 

Now this may not make that much of an impact on the shark population – but I am so proud of my mom!  Not only did she risk the chance of defacing my uncle (if you treated someone to an expensive delicacy and they said no, you would probably take a little offense), but she also cut a cultural tie that she has been connected to her since birth.  For Asians it isn’t the taste of shark fin soup.  Its the fact that it is the food of the emperors and rulers.  It is the food of the elite.  So for her to say no was not only a small step towards ending shark finning but a huge personal step in realizing that cultures need change. 

One person can make a difference!

It has become an annual ritual between Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers, a ritual that only gets stronger, louder, and more dangerous over the years.  The Japanese claim that their whaling program is for research purposes.  However, whale meat ends up on the shelves of almost every counter in Japan, leading many activist groups to believe that it is a cover-up.  In particular, Sea Shepherd.

It is a series of cat and mouse games between the two sides, more often than not resulting in violence and even injuries.  Earlier that day before the collision occurred, Sea Shepherd activists threw stink bombs at the ships and dropped ropes in an effort to snarl their propellers. In the past, they have lobbed missiles including paint and rancid butter. The Japanese whalers have responded with water cannon, flash grenades (usually used for crowd control), and military-grade acoustic weaponry.

But how effective are Sea Shepherd’s tactics?  It is a question that has no answer.  Many media sources criticize Sea Shepherd for their violent demeanor.  Perhaps one of the most well known activist groups, Greenpeace, has openly pointed out that Sea Shepherd’s tactics are “morally wrong” and counter-productive as violent means only harden the Japanese public opinion and ensures whaling continues. 

However, after last season Sea Shepherd claimed it had prevented the Japanese ships from killing whales on 27 days, thus causing the Japanese fisherman to fall short of their quota.  But this year may be a different story, as the destruction of Sea Shepherd’s boat may lead the Japanese to take advantage during these next few weeks.

Sea Shepherd’s vessel, Ady Gil, was built for $2.5 million under the moniker Earthrace and circled the globe in a world record 60 days.  Last year, it was donated to Sea Shepherd.   Whether or not Sea Shepherd is able to save the Gil, they will be back in the water one way or another.

If you are looking for the perfect eco-friendly gift this holiday season, consider gifting Sand Shack products.  Not only will 5% of your proceeds go towards ocean conservation works, you will enable the company to continue and do more educational works and beach cleanups in 2010.

Sand Shack products can be easily purchased online and have a flat shipping rate of $2.95.  All jewelry purchases come in a classy, white mesh, drawstring bag.

If you are not sure what to give someone, but you think one of the many Sand Shack products would make them happy, consider giving one of our gift cards.  These can be purchased in any domination you like and can be mailed directly to the recipient.

Our gift cards are very easy to use, do not expire, and do not have to be used in one purchase – the value is stored and can be used over time on multiple purchases.

Choose between 3 stylish folder designs.

For a special, limited time only, we are offering all blog readers 25% off of their entire purchase of Sand Shack products.  To claim this discount, simply plug the following code into the coupon box in your shopping cart: blogspecial25

Sand Shack President, Brian Linton and Saxby's Manager, Adam Cottman.

With tasty drink specials and great promotions on jewelry, the event was a huge success.  What better way to start your holiday shopping than by helping conserve the oceans.  We can’t express how happy we were for everyone coming out to help raise awareness about all the wrongdoings our oceans face today.

At Sand Shack, 5% of all our proceeds are donated to ocean conservations, but it is the education and the action of spreading the word that will truly make a difference. Thank you to everyone who came out, to everyone who helped make this event, and to everyone who is doing what they can to keep our oceans blue!

Photos courtesy of Linda Loi

The fight has only begun.  In Central Valley California, over 80,000 farmers depend on federally delivered water to grow their crops.  But the pumping station that delivers this water was unintentionally sucking and killing a small fish called the Delta Smelt.  The smelt is protected under the endangered species act, and this past June legal action was taken to shut down the pump, forcing these 80,000 farmers out of jobs.

I found an interesting video about this topic in a Foxnews interview with actor/comedian Paul Rodriguez. And by interesting I mean frightening because Rodriguez doesn’t understand the whole picture, yet he was still able to speak his side on national television.  Watch below and pay special attention around the 2:23 mark…

If the smelt were to disappear, the next species in the food chain wouldn’t have a food source and this would continue all the way up the food chain.  Rodriguez pokes fun at the idea how his actions could effect killer whales.  But the bottom of the food chain is the most crucial part and you take that away and everything above it will collapse – including the killer whale.  Whose to say the California fishing industry wouldn’t collapse as a result of the smelt extinction? Then the unemployment rate would be a lot higher than 41%…

There has to be a sustainable way to provide the farmers with water while not killing the smelt.  Conservation is about finding this balance.

It’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. What did you think about this video??

This past Saturday, Sand Shack volunteers came together to help clean the beaches of Stone Harbor, NJ. The most surprising part of Saturday was how little effort was needed.  In other words, it was easy.  All it took were some garbage bags and in a few hours, the Sand Shack crew collected over 60 pounds of trash! Some of the things we found included: a street sign post, a tarp, a can of cat food, shotgun shell, balloons, plastic bags and many Many MANY PLASTIC BOTTLES/CAPS. 

At the end of the day, we had collected 4 bags of trash.  This may not seem like that much, but when a bag is filled with tiny bits of plastic pieces and plastic bottle caps – that ends up equaling a lot of plastic.  It is said that sea life often confuses plastic bits with actual food – and when we were walking along the beach, I saw it firsthand.  I saw birds picking at plastic and ribbon thinking it was a meal.  Which automatically made me think of the picture below…

We picked up almost everything that can be seen in this dead carcus, which really makes you look at garbage in a different way.  Bottle caps, lighters, plastic rings, buttons, lids, cigarettes, food wrappers, ribbon, string…the list goes on of what gargabe living sea life is confusing as food on a daily basis.  But by taking a few hours and keeping our oceans blue, Sand Shack helped a few animals avoid this confusion. 

We hope to see you at our next beach cleanup!