Please view (and sign) our petition to create a Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary at Snapper Ledge:
http://www.petitiononline.com/snapledg/petition.html
New: To see video of Snapper Ledge and narrative by Stephen Frink - http://vimeo.com/1861001
I am very grateful for the outpouring of support for this initiative!
For the story of why this is so important, see http://stephenfrink.blogspot.com/2008/08/shark-dead-for-no-reason.html. The photos show both ends of the spectrum, why Snapper Ledge is so unique, and why it needs protection. Please join our petition. NOAA is watching, and if it is the will of the people, they will create a Sanctuary Preservation Area at Snapper Ledge.
2 comments:
I find this information revolting. Who in this community is so amoral that they can teach this "sport"? Their names should be published because they are defiling what has made Key Largo a destination for people and families who love nature before mankind started defiling it.
Add me to your Petition to protect Snapper Ledge!
Some anglers and spear-fishermen are decimating the aquatic life living on Snapper Ledge reef off Tavernier; simply for the thrill of killing. Nurse sharks are being speared for 'sport' and left to die. They anguishly linger on to life for several days, only to be discovered on subsequent dives dead on the reef.
Several weeks ago in a 'letter to the editor' the internationally acclaimed underwater photographer Stephen Frink, described discovering a nurse shark while on a dive with 16 of his students, who had been stabbed in the head and eviscerated, leaving his entrails hanging out. Still alive, with nothing that anyone could do to aleviate this creatures' discomfort, it died a miserable death. It's probable that someone caught him, stabbed him, gaffed or sliced him, and then threw him back in the water to die.
What is the difference between 'animal cruelty' for creatures on land and those that reside in the sea, particularly, given the manner of death and injury previously described?
There are an awful lot of policing agencies in the Florida Keys. Surely a plan can be developed which would monitor and curb this type of recklessness. There are county, state and federal laws on the books, regulating an individuals' conduct while in a protected area. It's clear to all, that these sensless and illicit acts must be brought to an immediate halt.
Our body of law-enforcement, along with the State Attorney and United States Attorney have an opportunity to flex their muscles and leadership abilities, while prosecutorially proceeding with an appropriate expenditure of the Peoples' money, as they take action to protect our only remaining viable reef tract.
The business community has profited from their use of the environment. With a 'man of conscience' representing their ranks, such as Stephen Frink, I'm certain that they will resolutely do their part in remedying this ongoing tragedy.
We must expeditiously proceed to have this site protected as a 'Sanctuary Preservation Area' (SPA). Those elected and appointed to serve must vanguard this effort. All will be watching.
Evil perpetuates itself not because bad people do wrong, but because good people do nothing. Let us rally behind eradicating this crime being perpetrated upon the "People and Creatures of the Keys".
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