The ‘Save our Fins’ 3-legged fin race was an event organised by Fish4divers.com, to help raise awareness about shark finning (and much needed funds) to help the Shark Trust continue their constant fight to protect our ocean’s sharks.

Fish4divers.com called upon everyone they could think of, including dive clubs, schools and local community groups, to get them involved with this fun event. In Regents Park, Newquay and Ko Lanta, people have hosted their own three-legged fin races to support the cause.

The Event Itself…

We asked divers, locals and holiday-makers from all over Ko Lanta to grab a buddy and join us for a three-legged fin tournament, to help raise awareness about shark finning.

Posters and shark-fin shaped leaflets in Thai and English were distributed around the island the publicize the event and Ko Lanta’s dive centers united to form teams and enthuse their divers to take part.

We were delighted and overwhelmed by the hugely positive response and fantastic turnout to the event. Nine Dive Centres, White Rock Resort, Opium Bar and even the Thai Diving Association joined fins to sponsor the event, and over 80 people from all over the island came to take part in the race, spectate or have a giggle at the fin-wearing racers. It even became a traffic-stopping event with cars and motorbikes pulling up to see what was going on.

Please visit the Liquid Lense Flickr photostream to view more of our event photos.

Twelve, 3-legged teams raced in 2 heats, with first and second place winners from each heat competing for overall first place in the final. Race winners, Luke and Ben from Blue Planet Divers, used questionable, but dramatic shark-like tactics to secure their win. Reports of them beating other contestants with a giant home-made Leopard shark fin have been confirmed with video evidence that can be viewed on Facebook or You-Tube.

Donations for the Shark Trust are still being counted, but if enthusiasm and support for this event had a monetary value, this was certainly a huge success and will be remembered, and hopefully repeated, for a long time to come.

Narima Diving and Scubafish will continue to support events and causes that raise awareness about Shark Finning and other environmental issues facing our oceans and marine life.

Living, working and diving in Ko Lanta – a small island community in Southern Thailand – gives a unique opportunity to understand, disseminate and share information with local islanders, to whom fishing is a part of everyday life, and tourists who come to dive, snorkel and admire the beautiful reefs.

We hope that by coming into contact with such a diverse mixture of people, we can continue to spread the word and educate people from all around the world about the great need to protect our oceans’s top predators.

Ko Lanta ‘Save Our Fins’ Event Sponsors:

* Scubafish
* Narima Diving
* Blue Planet
* Go Dive
* Lanta Diver
* Ko Lanta Diving Center
* Kontiki Lanta
* Dive and Relax
* Flip Flop Divers
* TDA (Thailand Diving Asociation)
* White Rock Resort (& Mr. Bean)
* Opium

Why?

Sharks continue to be fished faster than they can reproduce causing real fears that shark species will become extinct in the very near future.

As global shark populations continue to decline – some by more than 90 percent in the last two decades – many scientists fear the worst.

Losing these top predators has devastating impacts on our underwater ecosystems and local economies. When sharks disappear, entire food webs can shift and valuable economies become devastated.

Sharks take decades to reach sexual maturity, and the fishing industry is catching, killing or finning them at such an astonishing rate that shark populations have no chance to regenerate.

This is a dramatic over-exploitation of shark populations and this tampering with the largest ecosystem of the world, can never be undone. We will see far-reaching and dramatic consequences within our own lifetime and for generations to come.

If we don’t act now, the seas will die off within just a few decades and with them, 70% of the means for generating oxygen on our planet.

Right now there are few countries and laws that have actually banned shark fishing, and those that have restrictions on shark fishing and shark finning have not successfully enforced their rules.

Organisation, such as Project AWARE, are working to close loopholes in shark legislation, support establishment of effective MPA networks and engage divers in underwater research, data collection and awareness projects.

Films such as SharkWater aim to raise public awareness about the plight of these beautiful, but misunderstood, apex predators. The SharkWater documentary exposes the abuse in the shark-fin industry and the damage it is causing to our ocean’s ecosystems. It also uncovers government corruption supporting the industry.

Although shark fining violates the UN food and agriculture organizations code of conduct it is hard to police because this process is done at sea in international waters. Some see the best approach to help combat shark finning is to educate the consumer. WildAid’s slogan “When the Buying Stops, the Killing Can Too” may be the only real way to curb the problem.

The consumer must understand that sharks are vital to the health of our oceans, and without them, entire marine ecosystems may break down. And if this is not compelling enough of a reason to be against shark finning, the high levels of mercury in shark fins may cause sterility in men and birth defects in pregnant females.

Useful Links:

* WildAid
* Shark Trust
* Shark Project
* Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
* Shark Gaurdian
* ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research
* Fish4Divers
* Sharks Need Your Help

Grab a buddy and join us for a three-legged fin tournament, to help raise awareness about shark finning.

What: Three-Legged Fin Tournament.
When: 17th July, 5.30pm.
Where: Meet at White Rock, Klong Nin Beach.

Shark finning refers to the re­moval and retention of shark fins and the discard at sea of the carcass. The shark is most of­ten still alive when it is tossed back into the water. Unable to swim, the shark slowly sinks toward the bot­tom where it suffers predation from other fish, starves to death, dies from blood loss or suffocates and drowns, since most sharks need to keep moving to force water through their gills for oxygen. Sharks can take hours or even days to die after being finned.

Fishermen are mainly interested in the fins because shark meat is of low economical value and this conserves room in the hold. Up to 99 per cent of the shark is thrown away, a process as wasteful as slaughtering an elephant for its tusks.

Shark fins are used as the principal ingredient of shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy. Demand for shark fin soup has rocketed in recent years due to the increased prosperity of China and other countries in the Far East. In the past, Chinese Emperors ate shark fin soup because it was rare, and difficult to prepare, and conferred prestige. Shark fin soup, which can easily cost $100 a bowl, is still of­ten served at wedding celebrations so that the hosts can impress their guests with their affluence. In fact a set of fins can sell for more than US$700/kg, and a single Whale Shark pectoral fin can sell for up to US$15,000.

Shark fin itself is tasteless, it just provides a gelatinous texture for the soup which is flavoured with chicken or other stock. It has also been shown to contain high levels of mer­cury which is detrimental to our health. Many people, especially the consumers, are unaware of the suffering that fin­ning causes.

Global trade in shark fins is increasing, and the market for shark fin soup is estimated to be growing by 5% per year, placing an unsus­tainable demand on shark populations. Tens of millions of sharks are slaughtered every year to satisfy the demand for shark fin soup (three sharks are killed every second for their fins); at least 8,000 tonnes of shark fins are shipped to restaurants around the world.

Sharks’ life history makes them vulnerable to exploitation. Sharks take between 7 to over 20 years to reach matu­rity, and produce few young over long lifetimes meaning that it takes populations a long time to recover once de­pleted. Fishermen report that sharks are getting smaller because they are not being given time to mature.

Sharks are “apex” predators, eco­logical stablisers, when they are removed from the ocean the entire eco-system suf­fers.

Koh Lanta’s tropical climate is governed by 2 distinct monsoons, the ‘Dry’ North-east monsoon which coincides roughly with high season (between November and April), and the ‘Rainy’ South-West monsoon falling roughly between May and October, or the tourist low season.




What weather should I expect if I visit between May and October?

The South-West monsooon winds that control Lanta’s weather over this period do not switch direction at the same time each year, in fact over the last few years this switch appears to be happening later and later. This means that the rain can start late June, and even stop for a month or so. These winds bring a mixture of dry and wet days, and it is far from unusual to experience gloriously sunny weather for weeks at a time even during the rainy season. At the start of the monsoon season the rain tends to come in the late evening or night. The most rainfall seems to occur from around August to mid-October. In general when it does rain, it tends to be heavy, quick and occur in short bursts. Ocassionally it may rain for 3 or 4 days towards the end of the season. The temperature rarely falls below 27 degrees.

What should I expect of diving in the low season?

This is diving as it should be! From May through to around August the visibility actually increases, with distances in excess of 50 meters being reported from Ko Haa and Hin Daeng, Hin Muang. Crystal blue, aquarium-like conditions are frequently experienced by divers coming at this time of year. The visibility tends to start dropping slightly between August and October, but even at this time rarely drops below 15m at Ko Haa. The water temperature hovers around 30-31 degrees through until the start of July, then drops slowly to around 28 degrees.

Narima Diving use Lanta Old Town,a picturesque and historic fishing town on the South East of the island, as our departure point throughout these months. Enjoy plenty of room on our comfortable, spacious dive boats, and an even more personal service from divemasters and instructors, as you take in the sights of the National Park and lighthouse during your journey around the bottom of the island, passing several of the smaller Lanta archipelago islands on your trip out.

It can feel like your own private adventure, as you approach dive sites where often you will be on the only boat. If you are a fan of fish over divers then this is the ideal time to come and dive Koh Lanta. The reduction in dive and boat activity lends itself to some spectacular diving, with a natural increase in marine life activity, and the ability to offer longer dives. Furthermore May and June are renowned for an increase in manta ray and whaleshark sightings around Lanta’s dive sites (last year for instance, Lanta was fortunate enough to have 27 consecutive days of sightings with these majestic creatures.)

However do be aware that boats do not go out daily over this period since sea conditions can become unfavourable, although it is not rain that limits these activities, but the wind and resulting waves. Dive operators and boat captains keep a keen eye on weather forecasts and reports, and make informed decisions on a daily basis as to whether boats go out, and to where….safety first!

What about the island itself?
Less tourists, Fantastic beaches, Unhurried pace, Thai hospitality.

Koh Lanta is a true gem of an island offering a relaxed tropical atmosphere, a choice of 10 unspoilt beaches, tidal mangroves, rainforests, waterfalls and tree-covered mountains. Low Season is also referred to here as the Green Season, since the rains allow a rejeneration of the flora and forests across the island. Koh Lanta Yai is quite a long island (27kms) and as such the beaches are never full, and the general ambience is far less commercialised than neighbouring islands such as Koh Phi Phi, or Phuket. This is particularly the case the further south you journey on Koh Lanta, where there are fewer resorts, and the views and beaches become progressively more rugged and beautiful. The low season means cheaper accomodation, a holiday away from the crowds, from the parties, and noisy bars. So if the idea of sleeping to the sounds of of cicadas, the waves breaking on the beach, and bullfrogs singing, holds more appeal for you than the bass from a bar then Lanta is definately the island for you.

This year’s activities were a resounding success and three times more people than last year turned out to join in the community spirit.

With plastic accounting for over 80% of all marine debris, our focus this year aimed to specifically highlight the need to reduce plastic bags use. With Event Sponsors funding re-useable, non-plastic baggies for every volunteer to take home, we hope to provide a practical alternative – ‘Do Something Drastic – Say No to Plastic’.

[26/09/09]: Kantiang Beach & Village Clean-Up
In partnership with Project AWARE, Pimalai Resort & Spa and Same Same But Different Restaurant, Scubafish recruited 206 volunteers to collect debris and rubbish from the beach and Kantiang Village.

All equipment (gloves, bags, water, ice coffee, rubbish trucks) was provided along with a video briefing on safety & collection guidelines.

Three separate groups of volunteers were assigned different areas to clear, including the river, the beach and the main village street. The debris was collected and information was catalogued and recorded, (e.g. drink cans, smoking-related activities, clothing, plastics etc.) to help identify the general sources of marine and coastal debris.

All trash was then weighed on the Scubafish, home-made, balance scale, which became somewhat of a live show creating much intrigue, amusement and participation by the children. The scales were constructed from articles from around the dive shop, and compared the weight of each bin bag of collected debris to standard lead dive weights.

The work was hard, hot and dirty but astoundingly 3,528 kgs of rubbish was collected in under an hour and a half!

Results showed that, around the Kantiang Bay area, shoreline & recreational activities accounted for almost 400 cigarette butts, 720 plastic bags, 382 glass bottles, 314 beverage cans, more than 700 straws and stirrers, almost 1,000 caps and lids, more than 300 food wrappers & containers, and unpleasantly, over a hundred diapers! Rubbish left through ocean & waterway activities included almost 50 fishing nets, over 1,000 different pieces of rope, and more than 20 light bulbs/tubes.

Scubafish and Narima Diving are proud members of Greenfins Thailand, who are joint Thailand coordinators of this event, along with the DMCR (Department of Marine and Coastal Resources). It will be their responsibility to collate all the ICC data from clean-ups like these around the country for both the Ocean Conservancy and Thai government departments.

Scubafish and Narima Diving would like to say a huge thank you to the following organisations for their generous contributions and time in sponsoring this event:

Pimalai Resort & Spa, Same Same But Different, Baan Laanta Resort, Phra Nang Lanta Resort, The Narima Bungalow Resort, Eyes Lanta Lifestyle Resort, Drunken Sailor’s Cafe, Why Not Bar, and Win Jeang Surf Clothing Shop.

We would also like to thank the following organisations for their support of this event: Ko Lanta Yai District Office, Klong Hin School, Kantiang Bay View Resort, Aqua Bar, Lanta Marine Park View Resort, Shroom Bar, 9 Art Gallery, Simply Life and Drunken Tailors.