Goodwill Hunting

Above : Just me, the whaleshark, and the vast ocean!

This little beauty, surviving on 1 and a half fins, was featured in a short 10-minute video co-produced by Wildaid and Merciless Productions, entitled "Goodwill Hunting".

SYNOPSIS
Part 1 : THE BIG AND THE BEAUTIFUL
Features the beauty and grace of the largest fish in the sea : the whaleshark. It highlights their similarity to human kind, especially the length of sexual maturity and slow rate of reproduction.
However, it questions whether whalesharks and human kind can live side by side? Given the nature of these misunderstood "sharks", who is the friend and who is foe?

Part 2 : THE APPETITE OF DESTRUCTION
Chinese are masters of waste management; they eat every part of any creature killed for human consumption. Unfortunately, creatures close to endangerment are not spared either.
A lady takes a bite out of an innocent-looking dish. Play the rewind button and we are instantly given a tour of a Taiwanese kitchen where a "tofu-shark" meal is being prepared. We are then led to another world that the consumer does not see nor care much about. The consumer who has no regard for what he/she eats is only interested in satisfying his/her appetite now. Given these eating habits, who is predator and who is prey? [Whaleshark hunting photos].

Part 3 : THE GATEKEEPERS OF OUR BLUE PLANET
While some human beings are slowly killing this blue planet and the creatures living in it, others have taken on the role as gatekeepers to salvage those that remain. Creatures cannot help themselves as they do not communicate in human language. We have to do the talking for them.
Conservation groups such as Wildaid are their only voice to push for their right to survive. Humans play a large part in deciding their fate via the regulation and implementation of trading restrictions. This takes place only once in 2 years at the CITES meetings. A landmark decision was made in the November 2002 CITES meeting for the protection of whalesharks. It is hoped that this will pave the way for the conservation of other shark species which are becoming endangered or extinct.

Read more ahout Wildaid's Shark Campaign and think twice before you put that spoonful of sharks fin soup into your mouth! The choice is yours.