JIM ABERNETHY CONFRONTS NOAA





Jim Abernethy, Florida's top shark advocate, has declared WAR on NOAA. Please read this important announcement, and lend your support!


Good Afternoon Friends of Sharks as well as Mr. Guy Dubeck of NOAA,


My entire adult life has been spent fighting for sharks! I have watched our species slaughter sharks at an unprecedented rate worldwide, all to supply the Asian demand for shark fin soup! In the history of our planet no other species has ever been decimated by another species the way sharks are by humans.


In the last 50 years over 90% of all large sharks have been removed. A perfect example of this is the oceanic white tip shark, which 50 years ago Cousteau's scientists stated "The most abundant animal on the planet, over 100 lbs in weight is clearly the oceanic white tip shark!" - today not a single ocean boasts more than 1% of that population.


According to the Ocean Preservation Society, the results of this massive removal of apex predators on our planet is catastrophic and significantly impacting all life on the planet. The cascading trophic collapse felt by their removal is having deep reaching negative impacts on our only biosphere, Earth! Our oceans, the life blood of our planet, are failing right in front of our eyes! We’re at a tipping point, where if we don't change our practices, we will be the cause of Earth's next Extinction.


Today I am writing to plead with you to help us stop NOAA's new plan for so-called "Shark Management", shifting their shark fishery from the summer, when there are fewer sharks, to January 1st, when sharks are at their all time high numbers! This will most certainly decimate the less than 10% of the sharks left in our waters from their mismanagement that already depleted 90% of all large sharks!


Accordingly, I am renaming NOAA - NO OCEAN ALIVE ANYWHERE!


I cannot understand how this can be allowed to happen when we know so much about these creatures and their plight to survive. Extinction is forever, and NOAA seems to be doing everything they can to overturn the state’s interests that are doing their best to protect them!


American NOAA shark researchers caught and tagged 2,835 sharks along the East Coast this spring, a record number which they say reflects a growing population thanks to legal protection. Lisa Natanson, a scientist who leads the survey at the Narragansett Laboratory of NOAA Fisheries' Northeast Fisheries Science Centre, said: "I think that's what turned it around - effective management. Just the decrease in fishing pressure on these species has helped quite a bit." This statement only reflects the last decade. Are we to ignore the previous 50 years where we already removed 90% of all sharks?


By ignoring the statements of their own scientist, is NOAA really looking out for the best interest of our planet, our oceans, and our species? Obviously, they are not!


I believe they are only concerned with the commercial shark fishing interests that line their pockets with money – this will continue to impact our planet in a negative manner until the ecosystem is completely destroyed!


I'm wondering if we allow this to happen, when we look back at this catastrophic mistake decades from now, will NOAA be remembered as my new acronym for them. NO OCEAN ALIVE ANYWHERE!


Will Guy Dubeck, from NOAA, be remembered for as the man who led NOAA to destroy our ocean ecosystems? And consequently the future of generations to come? Will NOAA be remembered as the agency that tried to undermine the people's best interests whom have already passed laws declaring their states SHARK FIN FREE?


As we all should know by now, No blue, No green - the ocean is our life support system, producing 50% of the oxygen we breathe and more than 60% of the protein we eat.


Dr. Silvia Earle, formerly NOAA’s chief scientist, says “We have been far too aggressive about extracting ocean wildlife, not appreciating that there are limits and even points of no return.”


I believe we are at the point where we need to take a stand and put an end to the commercial shark fishery in United States. This non-substance harvesting has no benefit, except to those who profit from it - people who do not care about the future health of our planet.


In 2013, NOAA shifted its so-called "Shark Management" to January 1st for lemon sharks, a decision that essentially wiped out the world's only lemon shark aggregation here in Jupiter, Florida. They did this despite many of the world's top scientists pleading with them not to do so. Since they took this foolish action, no lemon sharks have been seen aggregating naturally. Have we not all learned these valuable lessons from their past mismanagement, even after the shark scientists recommended against it? Obviously NOAA has not, or the shark fishery lobbyist, pay them plenty to undermine the health of our oceans!


To me, I find it strange that NOAA is still trying to manage a shark fishery...case in point! If I was your money manager with 100 million dollars 50 years ago, and today I only had 10 million left, would you still be allowing me to MANAGE your money?


Face the Facts, NOAA shark management has FAILED MISERABLY! We should give up all thoughts of conservation of sharks! We are in a last ditch effort to recover from NOAA's mismanagement! At this late hour, we’re no longer talking shark conservation management, it should be called what it really is, a last minute attempt at PRESERVATION with the few animals that have survived all NOAA's failed attempts at management!


FIRE YOUR MONEY MANAGER, FIRE NOAA and lets all work hard at preserving what few animals this mismanagement has left us, while we still can! We are all connected here on planet earth! Our diversity of animal and plant life is what keeps us all alive!


Sharks are the controlling factor that keeps our oceans in balance and healthy! Over 50% of the air we breathe and over 60% of the protein we eat, comes directly, or indirectly, from our oceans! We all depend on healthy oceans for this entire planets survival! If you desire healthy oceans, why would you remove from them one of the largest controlling factors that has kept our oceans in balance since before the dinosaurs were here!


Sharks are well documented as carrying high levels of mercury, a poison with devastating consequences to man. Scientist have also now documented that sharks carry the same compounds that have been blamed for causing brain degenerative diseases, like Lou Gehrig's and alzheimer's disease! Which of your friends, family, or US citizen's would NOAA like us to feed this poison to? Why would we have a fishery for an animal that is quite simply, poison? All the world's health organizations are pretty much in agreement, "Whenever possible avoid eating shark for health reasons!"


Why would we kill an integral part of the ecosystem for a one time economic gain of a few hundred dollars for each animal! Our neighboring country, the Bahamas has a thriving shark ecosystem that results in an 80 million dollar per year economic gain, just from looking at sharks in their environment everyday! It is well documented that each shark is worth roughly $250,000 alive over the course of it's life! Bahamas also has a thriving marine ecosystem because of their foresight to protect their offshore marine resources. Can't we learn anything on an economic value alone?


I am declaring WAR on NOAA, and asking all of you to join me, until they act responsibly for the best interests of our people and not the commercial shark fishery. If this mismanagement is allowed, it will jeopardize the future existence of our planet, including our own human existence! Please share this with everyone as we don't have time thanks to NOAA to respond to their announcement (Nov 30, 2015) by January 1, when the last of the 10% of our sharks will most certainly be wiped out, Thanks to NOAA and Guy Dubeck


Please click here to sign these important petitions ASAP at:


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/406/018/017/noaa-stop-commercial-shark-fishing-set-for-january-1-2016/


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/…/stop-commercial-shark-fis…/


http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/tell-noaa-no-to-shark


At the moment the 3 petitions have roughly 19,000 signature in roughly 1 week


AND please email Guy DuBeck at NOAA with your thoughts on this decision: guy.dubeck@noaa.gov. You can call Guy Dubeck at 301-427-8503. On twitter at NOAAFisheries @NOAAFisheries


Share this plea with everyone to help us put a stop to this further mismanagement from NOAA, before we wind up with...


NO OCEAN ALIVE ANYWHERE!


To join us in this fight to save our friends in the sea, go to Facebook.com/wildlifeVOICE1 and like us


If you have not already, please watch Racing Extinction on Discovery Channel to see what we must do in order to alter the current direction of our planet into a sustainable direction! Let's use this Christmas time to make peace with earth, while we still can.

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