RE: Do wildlife tourism actually make people want to conserve nature? A new study suggest that it does!
When I first started reading this post, I was thinking you were going to talk about whether or not tourism hurts the animal populations or not and I figured that you would go into a debate about the ethics in zoo. When you started talking about the positive impact of people observing sharks in a cage, it threw me off a bit, but I like the point it's making.
I often hear people talking about how by interacting with animals that do better in isolation, we hurt them and that by keeping them in a zoo would do more harm due to how unnatural it is, versus the benefit it would have to educate people about them. For the most part, I believe this is true for most things, but what I like about this approach is that it is, instead, taking people into the environment of the animal rather than forcing the animals out of their home.
When I think about this, it's very ingenious, because it forces people to actually see what thee animals look like in a natural setting. I makes it so that there can be a connection they make when someone addresses issues with pollution in the oceans and poaching (although I'm not certain that shark poaching is a common issue.....but defiantly for one of the other sea creatures.) It's kind of like when people see the videos about the animal cruelty in meat shops. Most people can't care if they aren't aware. By creating a meaningful link between the people and the sharks, I have no doubt that is has a positive impact. Plus, I doubt that the sharks care all that much about the cage. Good stuff!
There are lots of different aspects of wildlife tourism and things like zoos that went unmentioned in this post, and I'm sure I could write lots of posts on this subject. It's a really interesting topic, and what's great is that everyone has their own opinions, so there tend to be a lot of good debate. Anyway, I definitely agree that wildlife tourism is much better than zoos for the animals.
Like you mention, the sharks probably does not care about the cage. In fact they probably get fed, which is why they are attracted to the area in the first place.
Actually, the killing of sharks is a huge threat to their survival, because shark fins are extremely valuable and sought after in the Asian markets. Fishermen tend to illegally fish fish, cut of the fins and toss the shark back in the water again, where it will slowly die since it cannot breathe without moving. It's actually very morbid and brutal!
And thanks for leaving a good comment, @thegreatlife!
Yikes, I wasn't aware of the fins. It's probably for a flimsy reason like why a lot of people want elephant tucks and so forth... magical remedy and such...well, elephant parts have real utility...but you know what I mean.. People are probably selling them and buying them for reasons that don't even make sense (not that I agree with those type of sales happening under any circumstances.) Good post, and of course! I enjoy reading about the kind of things you address in these articles. Very professional and educational.
Yeah, you're completely right. It's believed to cure cancer or something like that in China, so everyone wants it. It is also a symbol of wealth, so people will go and eat very expensive (and apparently pretty tasteless) shark fin soup to get healthy and show off their money.