Call for Amazon Shark Ban

Published 5 years agoon February 25, 2021

Alice Cimino, made a shocking discovery while shopping on Amazon. As the founder of OceanKin Conservation she was appalled to discover the sale of shark products in the form of newborn baby sharks preserved in bottles and offered as gifts. Just over a week ago, Alice launched a petition urging Amazon to ban the sale of shark products on petition platform change.com which has garnered an overwhelming response.

Amazon permit the sale of shark products on their U.S.A platform from vulnerable and endangered species, such as the Spiny Dogfish shark and Mako shark. These items range from shark pups in bottles, Mako teeth and Mako jaws to supplements created with chondroitin aka shark cartilage.

“I am trying to encourage Amazon to align their actions with their words as they profess to be a company with good values,” said Alice Cimino.

As she dug deeper, Alice’s investigations uncovered surprising contradictions within the global shopping giant’s policies and sustainability credentials. Through their Smile program Amazon support ocean conservationists such as WWF and Ocean Conservancy. Amazon also outlined plans for the company to be completely carbon free by 2040. Alice explained, “Allowing the sale of shark products not only sends the wrong message to consumers, it is also at odds with the ethics Amazon claim they have.”

Sharks populations are in critical decline, with a 70% decrease over the past 60 years. “If we don’t stand up for this keystone species, our oceans ecosystems will collapse, it’s that simple. Amazon should stand by their sustainability statements and work with the marine community to protect the oceans most important apex predator, the shark.”

A link to OceanKin’s petition can be found at www.oceankinconservation.com

Updates and further information on the campaign can be found on Instagram @oceankin_conservation & @protectoceankin on Twitter.

Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown

Nick and Caroline (Frogfish Photography) are a married couple of conservation driven underwater photo-journalists and authors. Both have honours degrees from Manchester University, in Environmental Biology and Biology respectively, with Nick being a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a former high school science teacher with a DipEd in Teaching Studies. Caroline has an MSc in Animal Behaviour specializing in Caribbean Ecology. They are multiple award-winning photographers and along with 4 published books, feature regularly in the diving, wildlife and international press They are the Underwater Photography and Deputy Editors at Scubaverse and Dive Travel Adventures. Winners of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Photo-journalist of the Year for a feature on Shark Diving in The Bahamas, and they have been placed in every year they have entered. Nick and Caroline regularly use their free time to visit schools, both in the UK and on their travels, to discuss the important issues of marine conservation, sharks and plastic pollution. They are ambassadors for Sharks4Kids and founders of SeaStraw. They are Dive Ambassadors for The Islands of The Bahamas and are supported by Mares, Paralenz, Nauticam and Olympus. To find out more visit www.frogfishphotography.com