Translator: Mirjana Čutura Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
I'm here to talk about sharks.
I know that's a little bit strange,
but I actually like sharks.
I really like sharks.
I kind of love sharks.
(Laughter)
And I know for most of you
that's possibly the first time you've ever heard somebody saying that,
and it's kind of a bit maybe shocking,
but I just want to let you know
that it's not the only shocking thing you're going to hear from me tonight.
Okay, so why do I love sharks?
Because they're awesome.
What is not amazing about these absolutely beautiful creatures?
They have been around for over 400 million years.
They're as old as dinosaurs.
That's given them quite a bit of time to get good at what they do.
They have evolved in a way that is so amazing;
their speed, their stamina, their strength,
everything about them is perfection.
They are the best that they can possibly be.
And I can't even get to the gym once a week.
So, yeah, I feel quite an awe of sharks.
I don't just want to talk about sharks today though,
I also want to talk about our oceans.
And I know: what goes on in the ocean, stays in the ocean, right?
We spend more money and more time exploring outer space
than we've ever done exploring our own oceans.
We don't know much about our oceans,
but one thing that we do know,
that anyone who's explored oceans does know,
is that our oceans are dying.
Whether it's from climate change, habitat destruction, overfishing,
there are so many different reasons.
The United Nations in 2010 said
by 2048, our oceans would be pretty much empty.
And I know I'm a little bit old, but that's still in my lifetime.
And I'm really concerned about that.
One reason that I'm concerned about it is not just because,
"Wow, oceans are great, and I love swimming in them,
and I love sharks, and I love the sea life,"
but the oceans are our lungs,
they're the lungs of the world.
I really enjoy breathing. I think it's pretty neat.
I'm sure you do too.
And a lot of our oxygen comes from the ocean,
and I know most people think oxygen, trees, forests.
Yes, let's keep preserving those as well.
But a lot of our oxygen comes from the ocean.
Some people think maybe 10, 15, 20 percent.
Seventy percent.
Seven-zero.
Seventy percent of our oxygen comes from the ocean.
These little dudes help us out: algae.
They help us by filtering and by giving us oxygen.
So you might be thinking,
"Where's the relationship between this and sharks?"
As I mentioned before,
sharks having had a lot of time [to get] quite perfect,
and during this wonderful time that they've had on Earth,
they have made their way to being one of the apex predators of the ocean.
And their main role, besides being awesome,
is to look after the oceans and to balance them.
Without them,
the basic cycle of life in the oceans would go out of way.
And that would trickle down from the top all the way down
to our oxygen-giving life forms.
A lot of people when I talk about sharks, and oceans,
and oxygen, and all of these things are like, "Oh, that's nice. That's nice."
But basically - what he said - they're scared of them.
Right?
Who here thinks sharks are scary? Even just a little bit?
Just a little bit? Yeah. Right.
There are over 400 species of sharks in the world,
and the majority of them,
they're not in any way harmful to us.
But the ones that we know about and we think about
are the ones that scare us, and there's a reason for that:
because we don't have that many positive images of sharks.
How many times did you see a beautiful mermaid swimming with sharks?
Not very often. And we need more of this. Thank you, Hannah Mermaid.
The reason that we don't have such positive images of sharks
is because they've been vilified
by movies such as ...
(Singing Jaws' theme song)
Jaws and that ever so wonderful and so deep and moving Sharknado
(Laughter)
have made us and have given us a perception of sharks,
which is that they are the enemy, they are the worst thing out there.
But let me put this into perspective for you, okay?
More people get killed every year by dogs than sharks.
More people get killed every year by ants than sharks.
More people get killed every year by falling out of bed than by sharks.
More people get killed every year by falling coconuts than sharks.
And the one that just cracks me up:
more people get killed every year by vending machines than by sharks.
(Laughter)
I don't know if Hollywood is going to follow this,
but the whole vending machine ...
(Singing Jaws' theme song)
Listen, it might have the same brand.
But anyway.
So that's where our fear of sharks comes from.
The fact is that less than ten people per year, on average,
get eaten or get accidentally killed by sharks.
Flip side of that: How many sharks do we kill?
Thousand? Couple of thousand? Hundred thousand?
Sixty million and up.
Sixty million, seventy million, up to a hundred million sharks every year
get killed by us.
And the reason that they get killed?
Their fins.
So if you can try and imagine, just try to phantom this number,
think this times thousands, and thousands, and thousands,
and thousands, and thousands.
And that's not the worst part of it.
(Japanese) Mottainai: it's such a waste.
The majority of sharks we net are killed,
just the fin is taken, and they're thrown overboard.
Ninety-five percent of the animal is wasted.
Not to mention the inhumane and barbaric method that they are killed:
just to be thrown overboard, and suffocate, and get eaten alive.
Again, for this: shark fins,
which are used for cosmetics,
and "medical" products that have absolutely no scientific background,
and the majority of them are actually used for shark fin soup.
Shark fin itself doesn't have any flavor.
I'm sorry to anyone here who's paid a lot of money to have a shark fin soup.
What you actually tasted is usually chicken stock
and other things that have been added to it.
The actual fin itself has absolutely no flavor.
The reason that people buy it and eat it is because it's a prestige,
it is something to show their wealth.
So let me just bring this back again.
One hand: beautiful, amazing, perfect creatures, our oceans, our oxygen,
or soup.
Soup.
Are you following me here?
And this is about how this is so ludicrous.
So if you kind of agree with me that this idea is worth spreading,
let's think about what we can do about it.
We have consumer power.
You, ten of your closest friends, a hundred, a thousand,
however many you've got.
Make a petition.
Write your names down
and take it to a local place that has shark fin products,
and then say, "Hey, I'd love to come here,
I'd love to eat here, I'd love to buy your stuff.
If you would remove shark products from your menu or from your shelves,
I would bring all of my friends."
Keep it positive.
Share, share these ideas with people around you.
We as educators, as learners, as parents, as individuals,
what can we do?
Whatever is in your power.
The least you can do is get the word out.
I hope you think that my idea is worth sharing.
My name's Pania Lincoln, I'm from PangeaSeed, Japan.
For the sharks.
Thank you.
(Cheers) (Applause)