Sherman’s Lagoon creator Jim Toomey is working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help launch a campaign to change the bad reputation of sharks and advance greater protection for sharks in international waters.
Currently sharks are being caught for their fins (for soup). “Finning” is illegal in American waters, but in international waters, they’re fair game.
Jim will use his Sherman’s Lagoon for a two week series to raise awareness for “finning” and with a strong public reaction, the NOAA hopes to use the public response in meetings with representatives of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) meeting in November.
“What I’m trying to do with the cartoon is prove some of that folklore wrong,” said Toomey, who added that he had a 5-year-old who enjoyed playing with both plush bears and plush sharks.
As the President has said, ‘I know the human being and fish can co-exist peacefully.’ I’m sure that goes double for sharks.
Seriously, I wish Jim Toomey best of luck and look forward to reading the series. I’ve always felt sharks got a bad reputation unfairly (like snakes and spiders). Besides that, ‘finning’ sounds terribly wasteful. That lack of foresight made a lot of animals endangered or extinct.
Difficult task, given the fatal attack north of San Diego a few days ago.