yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Convincing Fishermen to Save Sharks | Nat Geo Live


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

( Intro music )

Four years ago, I was standing in front of a group of local fishermen on a tiny island called Mitiaro in the Cook Islands. And I was there to tell them why they needed to protect sharks. Except there was one problem. They hated sharks. Sharks stole fish from their lines that they needed to feed their families.

So, these are the guys that I had to try to talk to who had very real experiences with sharks. They're in canoes every day trying to feed their families and sharks are literally ripping the tuna off of their lines.

And, so when the man who's sitting behind me in the turquoise shirt raised his hand, he told me how much he hated sharks. He literally said, like, "I hate them. They've terrorized me in my canoe. I wish they would all disappear from the planet." I'm like, "Oh, this is not going well."

And then he said, "But I've learned something today. I wasn't sure of the importance of them to our reef. I have children, I have grandchildren, and I would like for them to fish, and for that reason I will support you."

For me, that was the single most powerful moment of the entire two years of the campaign. And soon after that happened... ( Audience laughter )

We made front page of the paper. This small group of farmers, fishermen voyagers... They came together and were successful in getting regulations that ban the import, export, sale, trade, possession, and trans-shipment of sharks and rays in the entire exclusive economic zone of the Cook Islands.

More Articles

View All
The Element That Could Kill Billions but Save Millions
Many warnings have been uttered by eminent men of science and by authorities in military strategy. None of them will say that the worst results are certain. What they do say is that these results are possible, and no one can be sure that they won’t be rea…
Taken Hostage While Rock Climbing | Nat Geo Live
( Intro music ) About a week into our expedition, a rebel group from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan moved through the valley, and they saw us 1,000 feet up on this big wall. They saw this as this opportunity. And so, we awoke one morning to bullets fl…
Clearly I messed something up...
Hey, it’s me Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day! So the last video I uploaded was about helping an orphanage and trying to motivate you to help me build this orphanage, but it’s pretty clear that I messed that up. So I’ve flown over to England, I’…
Use the Force! | Explorer
Innovator Ton Lee is changing the way we study the brain. So that will feel a little wet on your head because this is the nature of this system. Lee’s revolutionary headset records our brain waves and translates them into meaningful data that’s easy to u…
NEW FED STIMULUS WARNING | FREE MONEY + INFINITE SPENDING
What’s up, you guys? It’s Graham here. So today, I’m going to be pulling a Meet Kevin and posting a brand new video within hours of a market update. And today, that update comes from none other than Jerome Powell, who is the chairman of the Federal Reserv…
Live from Mars 360° | National Geographic
You [Music] Welcome to the second season of Mars! I am Samuel, TV, I play Rubber for Car, and this is a beautiful Clementine for that Sand. I play Dr. Emily Johan, and we are in our beautiful studio in Hungary at Court. Last video, which is like one of t…