United for sharks

United for sharks? When we tell people that in Costa Rica shark meat is legally sold in supermarkets, people are baffled.
"But how? Isn't Costa Rica so famous for environmental protection, green energy, and so on?" Yes.

It also officially landed 372.853 sharks in 2014. That’s 1021 killed sharks every day plus the ones that don't get reported. 98 tons a year of Thresher Sharks alone.
Sharks are the apex predators in the ocean.

This means they keep it in balance. They take care of removing the dead, the sick, the weak, out of the delicate equation that is the maritime ecosystem.
With that, comes fish population blooming. And with that, comes depletion of food resources.

This brings to fish population decimation, that in turn affects the cleaning fleet that keeps the corals healthy: coral reefs support 25% of the entire marine life.
Planet Earth is what it is thanks to the Ocean: without it, we'd be a cloud of ammonia and sulfur. No monkeys, nor sloths, nor tasty mangoes would exist.

The fight to protect the sharks at a legislative level is in the hands of small environmental organizations that work on a volunteer basis, but each one of us can contribute to it even without donating money or getting politically involved. How?

By making it harder for those who sell sharks to make business.
Bolillo, bolillón, cazón, mamón, corvineto, picudo: these are all shark meat products.
Whenever you buy, or order, fish, be alert for these names. You can choose not to buy it. And you can choose to inform your friends about it.

LifePlanetProject, in conjunction with Oceanic Movement, Pelagos, Crema and Seashepherd, recently launched a campaign called #UnidosPorLosTiburones, that aims at educating the Costa Rican people on this matter.

People need to know what they are eating and what are the consequences for both their health and the ecosystem.
The campaign's intent is to bring knowledge to the people, in a way that nobody else has done before for the sharks.

If you want to be part of the movement, visit www.unidosporlostiburones.com