Sharkwater

Sharkwater is a internationally acclaimed documentary by Robert Stewart discussing the fascinating and mysterious creature of the deep: Sharks.

Before this movie, I had the same stereotype of sharks as most other people in this world, that they're dangerous and shouldn't be messed around with.
One of this things changed after the movie: they're not dangerous at all. However, it remains the same that sharks should not be messed around with.

The common misconception is that sharks are dumb and they will eat and go for anything that crosses their path. However, sharks are actually just scared and shy fish. More people are killed by elephants than by sharks.
They're highly intelligent, and follow just about the same rule as every other animal in this world: if you don't bother them, they won't bother you.

But can that rule be applied to humans?
Shark fins are a delicacy and symbolize royal status in Asia. Shark fins have such an enormous price tag on them, that it has become a multi-million black market industry.

Watching this video was heart-wrenching. As a lover of the sea and animals, I could not fathom why people would do such cruel and torturous things to animals. They were killing an entire species, for what? A nice bowl of soup. A tasteless bowl of soup. Sharks had their fins slashed off, and simply thrown back into the sea, dead.

Throughout the movie I wanted to scream at the poachers: "Would you appreciate having parts of your body cut off and then being thrown back to die. No, I don't think so. So you have no right doing that to creatures who have done nothing to you."

But there were also the heroes of the sharks: Stewart, Watson, their team and every protester involved. I greatly admire their passion and commitment. They risked prison, and the wrath of machine guns to try and expose how people were abusing the sharks, and bring more awareness. They provided the foundation of protesting in Costa Rica. They single-handedly saved thousands, possibly millions of sharks of the future from being hunted. It just goes to show how a person and their passion can make such a difference

All in all, the bigger picture is that humans are destroyed this planet. That the damage we have created will eventually and bite us back. And hard. If nothing is done, if we continue our way of living, not only will the animals suffer but we can face our own destruction as well. Without the greed of money, we could find a way to live harmoniously with the world, and not lead it to its destruction.