"The Shark Whisperer"

by Dori Brenes / www.SharkWhisperer.org

This is a story about my 16 year old daughter, an avid Shark enthusiast and conservationist and a story about our world and what is happening in it. My daughter freely gives up any spare time to speak to anyone who will listen about the plight of sharks and the dangers we humans may be facing. Scientists right now are predicting that if the ocean continues to be overfished as it is right now, our oceans could come to a standstill in the year 2048. Is only 36 years from now. Are we willing to leave this kind of legacy to our children and their children? Sara, my daughter, started a not for profit charity last summer. Sara loved sharks from a very young age, she was always fascinated by them. Several years ago our family went to the IGFA in Dania Beach when we saw the movie “Sharkwater” by Rob Stewart. It was deeply moving and very profound. We walked out of that theatre crying. It was so sad to see how sharks are being treated. Cruelly hauled up out of the water, their fins cut off while they are alive and then thrown back in to the ocean to slowly drown. It is simply horrible.

There is no doubt about it, sharks have a bad reputation. Why, because who can see a 18 foot fish with rows and rows of teeth as being cute and cuddly and worth living when there are cuter things to love and embrace like dolphins and polar bears. You might think without sharks there will be more fish, but in actuality the opposite is true.

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