Let’s Save Our Sharks
One small step at a time

Why save our sharks? Whether you have a passion for them, just a passing curiosity, or they trigger fear and loathing at the very thought of them, you have a vested interest in saving them.

Who wouldn't want to save our sharks after seeing these beauties?

But what can I do to save our sharks?

Even if you don't live near the ocean there is plenty you can to do save our sharks. And many of those things wont cost you a cent. In fact, some of them may even save you money. Now, if that got your attention, let's look at some ideas:

Educate yourself and others. Get to know all you can about the pressures our sharks face and then tell anyone who will listen. You don’t have to convert the world, but everyone you can get on the side of sharks is a big step forward.

Pass on the url to World of Sharks and other shark sites to your friends, family, colleagues – anyone you can think of that might be interested.

You can also get your voice heard by signing petitions and sharing them with you friends.

Join us on Facebook and Twitter where we share the petitions we sign.

Watch the movie Sharkwater and show it to your friends. Maybe invite them round for a shark themed party. Not that Sharkwater is good party viewing – you may end up passing the tissues round rather than the popcorn. It does get the message across though, and I highly recommend you watch it.

Shop carefully and read the labels, or ask the guy behind the counter what it is. Shark is sold under many misleading names at both fishmongers and restaurants. In fact, some of the chip shop owners we spoke to were unaware that they were selling shark meat.

Shark can legally be sold in the UK under the following names... Dogfish Flake Huss Rigg Rock Eel Rock Salmon ...And the retailer is under no obligation to tell you that it is shark you are buying. Please look out for these names, for your own health as well as that of the shark. Being at the top of the food chain shark contains more mercury than any other seafood.

Don't eat me by accident!

Karen taking a break on a local clean up

You could organise a clean up. If you live near a beach that's great but, if not, you could have a riverside clean up, or even your local park or street. Pollution, particularly plastic, is a threat to all marine life, and no matter where you live you are always upstream of the sea. Discarded junk in the environment is highly likely to end up in the ocean if it gets into a watercourse. Don't want to organise a big clean up? How about checking to see if anyone else in your area has one on the go and see if you can join them? Or you could do what we do and have your own little clean up from time to time. We also keep a bucket in the car and whenever we're out and about we collect any rubbish we see lying around. Even if you only ever pick up junk you see lying around in your street you will make a difference.

Reduce, re-use, recycle and re-purpose. I’m sure you’ve heard that one before. Well, it helps save our sharks as well as our wider environment. So, how can you do it? Here at WoS HQ we love to turn all sorts of junk into art. We recycle plastic bottles, newspapers, old cardboard, anything we can get our hands on really. This not only keeps trash out of the oceans it also gives us plenty of new art for our own homes as well as unique gifts to give to friends and family.

Recycled Art - Hippo Head

Reusing containers is something else we do. We put tap water into wine bottles and keep them in the fridge. This gives us cold water anytime we want it and no plastic water bottles. Personally I would never buy bottled water, but if you don’t like the water that comes out of your tap, filtering it and bottling it in glass could well prove to be a healthier (and cheaper) option than buying it in plastic bottles.

Plastics are known to leach BPA into food and drink, especially if you reuse drink bottles or use plastic containers in the microwave.

Okay, I get why you might not want to walk down the street swigging your water from a glass wine bottle, but how about a nice stainless steel one? Even Radley, the resident WoS HQ greyhound has his own.----> We have stainless steel coffee mugs too. We take them everywhere and most coffee shops are happy to fill them up. There are some who insist you use one of their takeout cardboard or Styrofoam cups but, hey, that's fine - as long as it's strong, I'm not fussy who makes my coffee, and there are plenty of places who'll fill mine. You can also take reusable containers to school and work with your lunch in. It's cheaper than buying food everyday, it saves the packaging and it would probably be a lot healthier to make your own too.

Radley with Annemarie and his 'magic' water bottle

Raise money for sharks by buying things you were going to buy anyway.

We signed up for EasyFundraising. It’s simple to do and now, whenever we buy anything from participating retailers, a percentage of what we spend goes to our chosen good cause, the Shark Trust – all at no extra cost to us.

Just sign up, choose your cause, and you're good to go.

If you're a bit more energetic you could run a marathon or do a swim for sharks. Many shark charities have details about how you can raise money for them.

Join a group or movement. There are many people dedicating their lives to saving our sharks and you can get involved too. Here are just a few of the organisations you can join to help save our sharks:

• Shark Angels
• Sea Shepherd
• Shark Trust

Save our sharks and save money

You could make your own household cleaners and toiletries We’ve been doing it for years and not only does it save us a lot of money, it also means we’re not putting harmful chemicals down the drains or on our skin.

I'm sure there are loads more things you could do and when my brain shifts into gear I'll add more to this page.

Are you doing something to save our sharks?

Let us know. Or, if you have any great ideas that you'd like to share please get in touch via our contacts page.

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