Steven – The Shark that Left a Lesson
After 3 hours surveying humpback whales I was ready for a break for my next shift in 3 hours. It was time to go home but soon I went down the stairs from our humpback whale observation site I saw two kids coming and going to the sea with a bucket full of water. These 10-12 years old children were with all their heart to save a small nurse shark still alive but dying under the sun on the sand. I looked around and asked who had fished that shark. No one answered. I asked if the owner of the net was there and nobody seems to care. I asked if I could put the shark back to the other. And one fisherman told me that it was ok ‘we don’t care’. I ended up going with dress to the water with the two kids. For more than half water we tried to recover the poor little shark. The kids named the shark Steven and tried everything they could do to bring Steven back, but it was too late, Steven died leaving the three of us with water in our eyes.
Two days later I was walking on the beach and I saw the same nurse shark on the sand. This time it was a pregnant female and was not being there for too long. The owner of the net that caught the shark was just nearby. I asked him if he would to eat it. He laughs and said ‘NO’. ‘So what are you going to do with this shark’. He said ‘kill’. And I asked for what as with a surprise he answered just to kill because we caught also yesterday. ‘Please, please let me put her back’. He said ‘If you wish, I don’t care’. I swan with the shark for about 500 meters, eventually the shark started slowly recover and when I left her she has managed to find her way to the bottom swimming graciously if she will survive, I am not sure, but I hope so. I hope she survives and move far away from us to not die in fishing net.
Such events were heartbroken but at least gave me the hope that the next generation might still able to change what our and the past generations have destroyed.
After 3 hours surveying humpback whales I was ready for a break for my next shift in 3 hours. It was time to go home but soon I went down the stairs from our humpback whale observation site I saw two kids coming and going to the sea with a bucket full of water. These 10-12 years old children were with all their heart to save a small nurse shark still alive but dying under the sun on the sand. I looked around and asked who had fished that shark. No one answered. I asked if the owner of the net was there and nobody seems to care. I asked if I could put the shark back to the other. And one fisherman told me that it was ok ‘we don’t care’. I ended up going with dress to the water with the two kids. For more than half water we tried to recover the poor little shark. The kids named the shark Steven and tried everything they could do to bring Steven back, but it was too late, Steven died leaving the three of us with water in our eyes.
Two days later I was walking on the beach and I saw the same nurse shark on the sand. This time it was a pregnant female and was not being there for too long. The owner of the net that caught the shark was just nearby. I asked him if he would to eat it. He laughs and said ‘NO’. ‘So what are you going to do with this shark’. He said ‘kill’. And I asked for what as with a surprise he answered just to kill because we caught also yesterday. ‘Please, please let me put her back’. He said ‘If you wish, I don’t care’. I swan with the shark for about 500 meters, eventually the shark started slowly recover and when I left her she has managed to find her way to the bottom swimming graciously if she will survive, I am not sure, but I hope so. I hope she survives and move far away from us to not die in fishing net.
Such events were heartbroken but at least gave me the hope that the next generation might still able to change what our and the past generations have destroyed.
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