Save the Sharks

No, this is not a hockey column about the SJ Sharks, my local team .

This one is about real sharks. I just finished watching Rob Stewart's amazing film SharkWater, and I'm still shaken to the core. The atrocities committed on sharks and other sea animals, horrifically documented in the film, in the name of "killing monsters", or just plain profit (shark fins industry is second only to drug trafficking in price per pound) can make your stomach turn.

Stewart, a marine biologist, wanted to film the animal he likes the most. He got into confrontations with illegal poachers in the Galapagos underwater reservation, and the mafia in Costa Rica (who apparently profit immensely from shark finning - the act of catching a shark, sawing off its fins and throwing it overboard, still bleeding).

Along the way you learn about the importance of sharks to life in the ocean and on Earth, and meet some of the people who dedicate (and often risk) their lives in the effort to protect wildlife.

The film has some of the most beautiful underwater sequences, with and without sharks. But it's not for kids - because it shows some of the horrible acts committed by the most vicious predator in the world (that's us).

I recommend watching it in theater, or in HD, to get the full effect. You can also get the DVD here.

If you want to know what you can do to save the sharks of this world, go to SavingSharks.com.

And one last fact: more people in the world are killed each year by elephants than sharks.