Tesco's support for shark finning, make it stop!!!

Many people who know me will have received this post in e-mail form already, but for anyone who has come via Facebook or some other route read on. This is basically the mail I sent to anyone who's e-mail address I have followed by a mail I sent to Tesco directly....


I'm not in the habit of contacting everyone in my inbox (especially both personal and work) regarding issues, but yesterday I saw something that has spurred my normally (non tree-hugging, non-vegetarian) laid back attitude into life. As such, I would be very grateful if you could read this mail to the end before committing it to your deleted items.


Many thanks in advance,

Mik.


The pictures I have attached to this message were taken in Tesco Phuket (where I live....in Phuket, not Tesco's) on the 6th October 2008 and show, for those who don't open attachments willy nilly, 500g packets of Shark Fin freely available in the freezer cabinet.






Wondering what the big deal is? OK, first thing to do is open the following link and watch to the end so that you can see how shark fin is obtained (and be talked through things by award winning director Ang Lee)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkxoRPv4ugE&feature=related

As you can see, this is not exactly the most humane of processes, and I had to root around a bit to find a relatively tame video!! But before you fin them, you have to catch them, right? The vast majority of sharks are caught by long lining. Now, I'm sure that most of you buy tinned tuna that is 'dolphin friendly', i.e. not caught on long lines, as there was a massive public outcry that the by-catch on these lines (that are generally in excess of 20km in length) such as turtles, dolphins, sea birds and so on was a disgrace. Companies listened, as profits were taking a big hit, and lo and behold tuna is now generally obtained from non-long lining sources. But the long lining continues in order to catch sharks, and so the 'useless by-catch' is still being caught. Oh, and by the way, the lines have to be baited (and 20km+ requires a lot of bait)....but what to use? One of the most common baits is illegally caught dolphin. Getting angry yet?

OK, back to the sharks. Once the sharks are on the long line, one of two things happens. Either they struggle, get caught up in the line and suffocate as they can't move around to move water through their gills, or they get dragged aboard the boat alive, have their fins removed, and are thrown back in the water alive where they sink to the bottom and die. Slowly. At this point you may be wondering a couple of things.

Firstly...why do they throw away the shark? Well, shark meat doesn't store well and is worth comparatively nothing compared to the fins. Also, it takes up lots of space on a fishing boat that could be taken up with lots more valuable shark fin.

Secondly...why the fins? Shark fin soup is a popular (and expensive) Chinese delicacy. It is sold in huge numbers in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, Seoul, and Tokyo among many others. In fact, have a look in your local yellow pages and you'll probably find restaurants selling it not too far away from your home, wherever you live. It is often seen as a status symbol but is also popular in Chinese medicine as sharks are seen as strong creatures. Eat the strong creature and become strong yourself. Quite. Interestingly, shark fin is boiled and bleached before use to remove it's natural (apparently unpleasant) taste and so shark fin soup will generally taste of the broth it is cooked in, usually pork or chicken.

Thirdly...is this legal? Well, yes and no. Any country with a coastline is responsible for laws and regulations pertaining to fishing in their waters, and only 17 of these countries have currently outlawed shark finning. Some countries have implemented legislation against it, but they have not outlawed it completely.

But back to Tesco for a moment. It's worth noting here that regardless of the legality of the practice, shark finning is contrary to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) International Plan for the Conservation and Management of Sharks. Here's a quote from Tesco's website for you. "We are playing our part in seeking to maintain a viable and long-term future for wild fish and shellfish populations. We seek to buy all our seafood from responsibly managed fisheries. We use the United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries as our sourcing reference." Interesting. Maybe they fell asleep before they got to the bit about sharks.

I could go on and on about this subject all day, and probably through the night and into tomorrow, but I realise that some of you may not be particularly interested so I'll quit while I'm ahead. But that said, please check out the following links and make your own decisions....

http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/
www.sharkwater.com/education.htm (and watch the movie, it's heart-breaking and inspiring in equal measure)
www.bite-back.com/sharks.htm

These were just chosen at random from a myriad of large anti-shark finning organisations.

Want to do something about it? Contact Tesco, their e-mail address is customer.service@tesco.co.uk. I've already mailed them about the issue and am awaiting a response. They also have a 'Corporate Responsibility Team', although these guys may live in the middle ages as they have neither e-mail or a phone number. If you want to write an old fashioned letter (or maybe send a carrier pigeon), their address is...

Corporate Responsibility Team
Tesco PLC
New Tesco House
Delamare Road
Cheshunt
Hertfordshire
England
EN8 9SL

If you're now half and half as to whether to do anything, I've attached a text file to this e-mail (see the mail below for the blog readers). It's a copy of the mail I sent to Tesco and all you have to do is cut and paste it into a new mail and send it to the e-mail address above. Two minutes of your time.

And I have two final things to say. For anyone who has read this and is thinking that sharks are evil tooth filled killing machines, here's a little fact...

Sharks kill on average 5 people every year, which is less than are killed by either soft drinks dispensers or chairs (seriously). It is also significantly less than the 130 people killed by Americas biggest 'man-killer' every year. The deer.

Is it worth the 11000 sharks killed hourly? Please help to stop this abhorrent trade and forward this mail to anyone you think may care.

Many thanks,

Mik.

and now the Tesco mail....

Dear Sir,

It has come to my attention that Tesco in Thailand is selling Shark Fin in the freezer department. As you may or may not be aware, the process of shark finning in the vast majority of cases involves the shark being caught on a long line (a terrible practice in itself) and dragged aboard the fishing boat where it has its fins cut off while alive before being thrown back in the water. If you are in any doubt about the process please go to the link below where Wild Aid and Ang Lee will explain the process…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkxoRPv4ugE&feature=related

I understand that Tesco UK may not be entirely responsible for Tesco in Thailand, but the store is very much under your banner and so representative of you in Asia, where as you will appreciate, there are many non-Asian holiday makers and expatriates who (as you will be aware) are more and more aware of environmental and conservation issues.

On your website you state that "We are playing our part in seeking to maintain a viable and long-term future for wild fish and shellfish populations. We seek to buy all our seafood from responsibly managed fisheries. We use the United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries as our sourcing reference."

In response to that quote, shark populations world wide have NO future if finning continues at the current rate, and more importantly shark finning is contrary to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) International Plan for the Conservation and Management of Sharks. Maybe you should read their documentation more thoroughly in the future.

I would like some kind of satisfactory response to this e-mail and would hope that this will lead to the swift removal of shark fin products from the shelves of Tesco Lotus in Thailand. As I know that my solo e-mail is likely to have very little impact I will be passing this on to as many people as I can as well as to all major wild life conservation and anti-shark finning organisations as I can think of in order to exert the pressure required to help in this matter.

Awaiting your response,

The Footy Season Approacheth

So we're nearly there. The beginning of the football season. And to stop anyone from outside Europe getting football confused with lesser sports, we are talking about football. Proper football. The one you play by kicking the ball around with your foot. Not the one where you dress like you're about to get mown down by an articulated lorry and stop every eight seconds for a rest, and certainly not the one where you wear unfeasibly tight shorts, feel all your friends up and have a choice of goals depending how lucky you feel. Football.

Four and a half hours after writing this, the Coca Cola League One (possibly the finest league in the world....ahem) season will be kicking of again. Which means that the finest team in the world (aside from a minor accounting error or two) will be in action. With a 12:00 kick off against Scunthorpe it all begins again. And for one I will be happy to be in Thailand. Now don't get me wrong, I love my team and will be cheering them on whenever possible, although for some reason League One is not shown in Thailand, but it makes me want to cry. When I came to Thailand Leeds were a Premiership side who were just struggling a bit after some rather suspect gambling with the company's accounts had failed to pay off. And now we're in the 3rd league in the country. And to add insult to injury we were kept there artificially last season after being punished for the same crime twice. But now it changes. Leeds for promotion. Mark my words!

There is also another important league starting the following weekend. That's right, the premiership fantasy football league. Mikky's Boys are in there and will be making a bid for glory, even though making substitutes and transfers will be impossible due to living on a boat through most of the season. And I suspect this will be a far messier affair than the one at Elland Road last season.

Yoga - a good idea?

OK, says I (and Kerry), I must get fit. I must lose this layer of protective body cushioning that I'm starting to develop as low season, and a desk job, takes its toll. And maybe the discovery of cheap wine and Beer Lao has assisted in this too. And the Green Man. So what to do? I hate exercise, it bores me. But my chair at work is starting to physically grip me, so standing up is getting harder. It's a vicious cycle!!

So maybe yoga is the answer? It seems perfect, it really does. You read the brochures and it seems to be so simple...you go to a gym, sit around for a while doing some light bending and stretching, smile broadly at your fellow yoga'ists, and lo and behold you have a very trim and very bendy body. I was sold on the idea so after some research, which was really done by Kerry as my chair was really starting to grip me in front of the TV, a gym was found, arrangements were made and away we went.

Let me tell you now, the brochures are wrong!!! Yes you do some sitting, but that is the only part of the advertising that tells the truth. For a whole hour, without moving my feet more than 3 feet from where they started, I was forced into positions that I have never been in before. At one point I swear I have never been happier to have been wearing clothes, because if I wasn't I could have seriously offended my own sensibilities!! After only 5 minutes I was sweating like a one armed Arab with a stolen orange in my pocket. And this didn't stop for 25 minutes, and that was only because I was drier than a box of Bran Flakes. And I definitely wasn't smiling!!

But I was keeping up. I was breathing like a Grand National winning horse, and though keeping the in out rythmn of the instructor was surprisingly difficult for someone who has been breathing for 35 years, I was keeping up. OK, so my knees weren't always straight, and I can't touch my toes with straight legs (and haven't been able to since 1998), but maybe I was going to survive!! But no, just as things were looking up I was asked to stand on one leg, hold my left toe in my left hand and pull it out in front of me......and then to the side. I cannot do this. In fact, I cannot do this so well that another student fell over laughing and the instructor had to hold me up as I was shaking, as Peter Kaye would say, like a shitting dog. But I have no shame and carried bravely on to the end of the session.

I left feeling good, if absolutely knackered!! In fact, so tired that I still can't figure out how I got to be in such state by simply standing, bending, sitting, lying down, and standing on one leg. But the question is, is it any good? Well right now it's hard to say. I'm still stuck in my chair, which you might think was understandable after only one session, but it is less about the handles and more about the fact that I feel as though my hips have been operated on while I was in bed last night. Although the handles are still not helping.

The jury is out, and I'll keep you informed. For now, I'm going home for a cheap red and the Tour de France. I can really feel for those boys now......

2008 Update. Part 1.

Right, I’m trying. So a more detailed update.

I really can’t face telling you everything about the job for the last couple of years, so I’ll tell you how I got here. If you’ve read the stuff below then you’ll know I was working for Calypso Divers in Kata. After almost 2 years of tour leading the lovely Greta I felt it was time to move onwards and upwards, and a great opportunity presented itself to tour lead aboard Colona VI, owned by Colona Liveaboards in Chalong. I was planning two seasons there, at least, as I was really enjoying the job, the diving, and the company, but in August of 2007 an even better opportunity presented itself….

Aquamarine Dive Center in Chalong were looking for 2 people to run their 5* liveaboard MV Philkade. The combination of an awesome boat, the chance to work with Kerry, upping our reputations, and more varied diving was too much. So in a nutshell……we applied, we interviewed, we had new jobs. After a season on the boat and now a low season where we’re working everyday preparing for next season as well as the expansion for the company towards both day tripping and being a ‘complete dive centre’ rather than simply a liveaboard company you could say it was good move!! Yes you could!! And the way things look here is very exciting…could this be something more long term with some kind of career ladder? Watch this space…

The icing on the cake though is the coming season. We announced a trip to the Andaman Islands and have now had to extend it to two trips as a full charter has already confirmed. So next March it’s almost a month in the very very nearly middle of nowhere. And then June 2009 the boat will run low season Lombok to Komodo in Indonesia!! I’m very nearly wetting my pants just writing this.

So that’s where we are. Or at least where I am career-wise.

Coming soon…..home life? friends? family? Who knows…….or even cares.

Stay well people.

Mik.x

The wanderer returns

OK, so I've been gone for a while, figuratively speaking. I appreciate that and apologise profusely. In fairness though, most people I know will have been in touch with me via e-mail or facebook so it doesn't really matter. In fact, I'm not entirely sure who I'm writing this for. Is it therapy? Probably. Who knows?

So. Due to the two years or so of missing information I've decided to write and update you all, whoever you are. There may be several updates over a few weeks if that's what's required. But the question is where to start? New jobs, houses, children (not mine I ought to point out), friends leaving, new friends arriving, friends floating in the water for 19 hours, cyclones, missing cats. It's a long story, so you might want to make a cup of tea before you start reading....

I guess a quick rundown would be the best way to start and then I can do the rest another day, so here we go....

Career: I was working at Calypso as tour leader on Greta. I left there in September of 2006 to work as tour leader on the liveaboard Colona VI. A great time was had by all....well, by me at least! Stayed there for a year and then moved on to work as tour leader on another liveaboard, MV Philkade with Aquamarine divers. Why? An awesome boat that just didn't seem to have the reputation around Phuket that it seemed to deserve. I like a challenge. It gave me a chance to work with Kerry, my girlfriend. New areas to dive. All of those in no particular order.

Home Life: Was living in Kata with Kerry. Moved only a month or so ago to a fancy house in Chalong, still with Kerry. There were three cats as well, but due to some.....shall we say, 'forgetting to look after' incidents by house mates who were only given one task, we now have none. Although we know that one of them is still alive, he just moved out. And I don't blame him. Went to Spain to see my parents and even managed to fit some friends in. Parents came here to see me. Went to England with work and managed to see a little of the place and some old friends.

Friends: Many many people have left Phuket, and most of them I was sorry to say goodbye to. Though not all. Some people have arrived, and I even like a few of them. And still more have left, and then returned......though some returned and then left again. Confused? I know I am. A few have had babies with eachother; an interesting life style choice that remains completely alien to me. We will come back to all of these.

There you go then. A two minute update. Easy.

I'll be back.

Still alive....

And posting again soon.

Possibly.

Meet Brian...

And finally. He returns!!!

OK, so I'm a busy man and often enjoying my one and only day off takes precedence over coming into the office and letting (theoretically at least) the world know what is going on with me. And quite a lot has happened over the last few weeks I can tell you. But I'm not going to. Why? Because believe it or not we still haven't finished on the introductions, and we're not going to get any further with those either today.

"WHY!!?!?!?" I hear you shout, or at the very least murmur in an uninterested fashion. Well, I'll tell you a little story that will explain everything......

It's Saturday the 9th September. The time is 11:00am. The sea is flat and blue, belying the fact that we are in the middle of monsoon season here in Phuket. I'm returning from an overnight trip to Phi Phi with 2 other staff members and 8 customers. On checking the tide tables, I notice that there will be no current for the next dive and instead of diving on Shark Point (beautiful, if over dived by myself), I opt for the smaller, though no less impressive (and definitely under-dived by myself) Anemone Reef.

We jump into the blue and descend over the reef, moving from lovely 20m visibility at 15m down to the murky 7m visibility at 25m at the lower reaches of the reef.

"Bugger" says I too myself, thinking not unreasonably that I may have made a rather poor choice this morning. In fact, I could see in the customers eyes that the thought of large tips as a thanks for fantastic diving were not at the forefront of their minds (and how correct was I to be about this particular thought!!).

On leaving the murky depths in the hope that something could be salvaged from the dive, I looked out into the blue as something caught my eye. Something (in fact a few something's) quite sizeable were lurking of the reef. On closer inspection these appeared to be cobia. In fact on closer inspection, it became clear that they were actually a shoal of cobia. And what is it dear reader that these, relatively large fishy friends escort around the ocean?

That's right............

The Boss!! The largest fish in the ocean!! The fish who from here on in we shall call Brian!!

To inform those who are thus far lacking the knowledge and are at this moment in time thinking "what is this guy banging on about? It's a big fish for Christs sake!", let me educate you.

Brian is a whale shark (Rhincodon Typus for the geeks amongst you). In fact, Brian was an 8m whale shark. I think you'd agree friends, that that is a not inconsiderable fish. He was a curious little fellow, and we managed about 20 to 25 minutes of rather close (though I ought to point out non-touchy feely) interaction before the customers ran short of air, and in all honesty, Brian ran out of attention span. And that's what I came here to say.

Showing off really. And unashamadely at that!!

See you soon kids,

Mik.

ps. Brian will soon be registered with www.whalesharkproject.org , after which I'm sure that I'll discover Brian is actually Belinda. Please check out their website and help save these amazing creatures.

Cheers!

The job

Amazing, I made it back for a second time. So we'll start with learning about me shall we? Let's face facts, you're not here to learn about microphysics, or how to build a pipe bomb, or to ask why your love life is going down the pan are you!! And if you are, maybe you need to go back to Google and search again.

OK, so the job....

I work for a dive company in Phuket called Calypso ( http://www.calypsophuket.com ). The promo stuff says we offer PADI courses in all languages, and we can organise daytrips and liveaboards, whatever your time and budget constraints. And all this is true. And we are very good at it, I would recommend us to anyone, even if I didn't work here. But I have nothing to do with that. I work on a boat.

We have a day trip boat called Greta, and she's wonderful. In fact here she is....

21 metres long. Take up to 30 people and is just lovely. And what do I do aboard the lovely Greta? Well, I run her. Every day.

With a great Thai crew (Captain An, Engineer Ang, and boat boy Deen), I take her all around the local dive sites basically telling people what to do and how to do it. And it's great. In a little more detail, I set up the day trips in the office, collect all the dive folk from their hotels and get them to the boat. I then tell them the boat layout, and how to behave on a boat, help them set up gear, brief on the dives, point out fish and stuff on the dives, bring them all home again. In a nutshell.

I have perhaps one of the best jobs on the planet. Just amazing really.

It has its trials and tribulations, such as the low pay and ridiculous hours, but it's worth it for the fantastic diving. I can't really tell you much more initially without it sounding like an ad for the company, or looking like my CV. So I'll leave it there. Are you gripped yet? Are you!!!!

Well Hello

Good morning world. Welcome to me.

Just a quick start to this. As an intro for those who have accidentally stumbled here by clicking on the wrong link, or having lobster claws instead of hands, my name is Mik. I'm living in Phuket, Thailand and working as a diving instructor.

My reason for setting this thing up is that I'm officially the third worst person in the world for keeping up with friends/writing letters/responding to e-mails and so on. Just in case you wondered, I am some way behind Lord Lucan and Jimmy Hoffa.

And that's all you get for now. I will be back at some point, with more.

Possibly......