Juliet Eilperin: "Demon Fish"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-06-15/juliet-eilperin-demon-fish
Michael Lionstar
Long before humans first appeared on earth, sharks were swimming the seas. They predate dinosaurs by about 200 million years and were revered by ancient human societies as gods. Over time, sharks became a commodity for people to consume. In movies and books such as "Jaws," they have been demonized as killers. Washington Post environmental reporter Juliet Eilpern traveled the globe investigating the ways different individuals and cultures have related to one of the ocean’s most mysterious creatures. She explains why people now pose the primary threat to sharks, rather than the other way around.
Guests
Juliet Eilperin
environmental reporter, The Washington Post
Comments
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Great show! As a wildlife biologist and constant listener to the D.R. Show ~ this interview is the most direct and matter-of-fact wildlife related show I've heard. Juliet you definitely know sharks. I'll have to get your book. And: I grew up in Montana. After seeing "Jaws" as a kid, the movie scared the bajeezus out of me, terrified of fresh and salt water for months. Even as a kid, I realized the film was going to be terrible for the livelihood of sharks. Oh, and fairly recently a whale watching tour in Monterey Bay, CA filmed an orca killing a great white shark.
Enjoy your show. I remember hearing a report stating that sharks don't get cancer. Can your guest confirm this?
Davina Anderson
Ashe County, NC
I just saw an amazing documentary showing killer whales turning sharks onto their backs and stroking their bellies to "paralyze" them. They were then eaten without resistance.
Increase in Stingray attacks
I understand that sharks are the primary predator of stingrays. The stingray population has increased a lot and people are stepping on them and being stung more frequently since they rest on the bottom in the sand and can be near the shore.
I am more worried about being stung by a stingray than being bitten by a shark.
Our ignorant, cruel treatment of sharks (and other species), and the risk it represents to our oceans (and ultimately ourselves) has elicited few Facebook comments. Recent topics (and comment counts) such as Puerto Rico (10), Stowe (5), debate (35) and railroads (12) might ~suggest~ that these others are "more important." That certainly is not true.
One hundred years from now, none of those other topics will have any significance beyond what they do today. Even the identity of our next President -- no matter how fine or poor their legacy -- will pale in comparison to the loss of ecological balance now accelerating, worldwide.
Killing sharks for their fins is a clear example of pure inhumanity. When we eventually realize what we have done, and establish courts to try Ecological Crimes Against Humanity, the people involved in today's mindless slaughter deserve a severe penalty. I propose that we sever their feet, and discard their bodies -- bleeding stumps left raw.
Hmmm, interesting Juliet, without chicken or pork shark’s fin soup would be nothing. How very ethnocentric of you. No, never would we westerners ever spice up an otherwise bland dish to make the main ingredient more palatable.
We’re living in fantasy land, however, if we believe that laws banning or restricting shark fin procurement will actually have any meaningful impact. I’ll take any doubters down to Canal Street to pick up a knockoff designer hand bag, complete suite of the latest pirated software and a few lead-laden children’s toys. Afterwards we’ll snack on an endangered species while watching our freshly-minted pirated DVD of the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Give me a break.
The answer is aquaculture on a grand scale to supply the need and preserve the sustainability of all fish species in the wild.
Unless we can supply meaningful solutions (read: profitable alternatives) as well as come to grip that cultures different then our own have different values then our own, we will never arrive at the promise land.
By-the-way, shark’s fin soup is quite yummy. Add a little tobasco.
There is an imitation shark fin soup which is hard to tell the difference and perhaps better, in taste, than the real deal.
Thank you Juliet for helping us better understand sharks. I am interested in knowing what actions were taken for the successful banning of shark fin soup in the NW United States. It would be wonderful to have the same ban in the state of Florida.
Anyone who buys factory farmed meats (well over 90% of U.S. meat/poultry/eggs/dairy including misleading claims and pictures of quaint farms on their labels such as Purdue chicken) knowingly or unknowingly supports suffering of animals, destruction of environment, declining health, elevated health care costs. The massive American industrial animal food system is inhumane, and more foolhardy than mutilating sharks for soup- we just can't see it. Try internet search of battery cages, manure lagoons, factory pig farms and swine flu, antibiotics, growth hormones- just to name a few... and the GMO corn monster to feed them all- and feed fillers like feces, rotten food, floor sweepings etc. since nothing is wasted.