UVP NEWS

 

 Two Minutes

 I Love sharks the way most people love dogs and cats. To me there is nothing more majestic and beautiful than a big shark.  I have played a game of 'fetch' with a 900 pound female Tiger Shark  named 'Emma".  She is a sweet creature that has never showed any aggression to me despite my high vulnerabilities underwater.   Countless times I have hand-fed sharks bigger than me and pet  them, inverted them into tonic immobility and gently released them.   

 My favorite shark is a Great White Shark named 'Spots'.  Her massive 3,500 lb body reaching over 16 feet in length made her look ominous but she has always been wonderfully calm and inviting.  Over years I have come to know her personally and two years ago I had the rare chance to swim along side her holding her huge dorsal fin.  She was a perfect lady... never made me feel  threatened. As I rode alongside her for the camera she calmly watched me and swam slow enough for me to cruise next to her for nearly two minutes.  I will remember those two minutes for the  rest of my life.

 I Love Emma and Spots and many other sharks. I know them as individuals and I miss them between trips.  Over the last two years I have loved my memories of Spots and told her story at dozens  of speeches.  

 My Love for the sea and for sharks has led me down a path of being a Warrior to protect them best I can.   For fifteen years I have hunted poachers that illegally or (unethically) murder sharks, sea  turtles, dolphin, porpoise, endangered fish (Totuaba) and film them... often at great personal risk and almost always alone.

 My heart was hurting but calm enough to continue to gather images of the cowards killing these defenseless animals so I could get them prosecuted and imprisoned.  Often I would sneak out in the  sea at night and collect nets, long lines and traps and drag them to shore and burn them.

 Over the last five years I have worked with a few other people and I have tried to sell my poacher hunting missions..dubbed "rECOn"...as a television series. It is important work and, at the same  time, very expensive and time-consuming. It takes money to do rECOn Missions and I hoped a series would help pay for some of it which would increase my range and effectiveness. However,  most of my missions are still solo and paid for out of my own pocket.  

 Yesterday I heard that eleven of my friends were murdered in Baja... in my backyard. Eleven Great White Sharks that I have known personally for years as individuals off Guadalupe Island and  filmed for several shows... were 'legally' caught and killed for their fins and jaws.   Some were dragged ashore on my favorite beach in Loreto.   

 My heart was crushed when I looked at the picture of one of the dead White Sharks with people rejoicing in the background and thought I recognized my friend... 'Spots'. You see, those people who  film and study these beautiful sharks know them well. Their faces, their scars, their coloring and size are recognizable traits. That leads to them getting special names.  "Spots" was, as you may  have guessed, named for the unique spot pattern on her body.  From my view of the picture online, I feel certain it was her.

 Now her body rots in the surf-line without her fins (the same fins I lovingly held on to two years earlier).  Her massive fins on their way to China for a senselessly fashionable & tasteless soup.   Her  murderers were paid... and will kill again many, many more times... just to get a few dollars.

 I feel just as I did when my friend died in combat in front of me.  I know I am an effective warrior and very capable but my friend(s) have died nonetheless.

 This morning, I am sitting next to a beautiful aquarium at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas... watching sharks and rays cruise by without concern.  I feel I have failed them all.

 Hunting Poachers, Polluters and Eco-Terrorists (PPETs) is costly and very dangerous. Sharks, dolphin, sea turtles and fish have behavior patterns that can be easily predicted and exploited.  Catching and killing these animals is easy. It takes no talent but it does (in my opinion)  require a severe deficit in a person's  brain to rationalize the act.  Now, with intelligent people applying  their  money-motivated energies, new technologies have arisen to make the murderous slaughter of these inoffensive creatures even more deadly efficient. Killing the innocent for financial or  political  gain is found in genocide, robbery, fratricide just to name a few.   

 Unfortunately, most networks are more interested in showing  wholesale slaughter on the open seas then in showing the opposite....conservation and mindful protection of the earth's limited  resources. What part of... "If the Oceans die... so does all mankind" ... does Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Outdoor, National Geographic not understand? 

 You ready for the biggest 'rub'? A fisherman is operating under the law, gets paid, is socially acceptable, insured, supported by many peers and is linked to big money on the end.   A  conservationist (which I am proud to be called) is often unfunded, unpaid, often considered a radical 'tree-hugger', has little social support, not insured, and is fighting against organized groups  alone (or nearly alone).  Nonetheless I intend to dedicate much more time and energy to stopping this mindless cruelty and globally unsupportable, ignorance (or arrogance)-based slaughter.  

 Perhaps I need to focus my efforts in one area of discipline first... say Mexico.  I am wondering... to get Mexico to stop supporting or blindly allowing this type of behavior... influence to boycott all of  Mexico including travel, goods and yes... even beer.  If an 'example' is made out of Mexico by hurting their economy... perhaps other countries will take notice when I set my eyes on them...

 My rECOn missions are now a part of Undersea Voyager Project.  If you are interested in helping support these missions please consider donating a few dollars through the website.  We now have  powerful sponsors who are stepping up to the plate with donations of equipment and time.  Our major sponsor, Luminox, is donating some of the proceeds of every Scott Cassell Limited Edition  Undersea Voyager Project Watch to our work.  Every dollar has more power now then ever before so every donation is appreciated.

 Not everyone can do this work.  Not everyone would want to.  It is challenging in every possible way. But everyone can help with their own gifts and talents. We are lucky enough to have dedicated  volunteers and donors.  Thank you all so much for your continued support.

 Being with Spots for those two minutes was a glimpse into her world...and it was vast, beautiful yet fragile.  Those precious moments were possibly the most spiritual of my life.  I will remember  her...and I will miss her.


 Scott Cassell

 CEO & Founder
 Undersea Voyager Project
 rECOn Missions

 

Update

The incredibly talented Peter Overstreet has created this video about the loss of the sharks.  There is a part of me that hopes the horrible picture Scott saw was of some other shark.....that he was mistaken.  He would be overjoyed to hear that Spots was still out there.  This is one time he would love to be wrong. But the point isn't just the tragic loss of ONE shark, it's about the tragic loss of SHARKS and the massacre occurring in the oceans of the world in the name of soup.  If, by some miracle, it wasn't Spots then it was another equally as important and beautiful Great White dead on that beach.

Please watch and share if you like the message.

 

Kerry Franciscovich

Executive Director

The UVP Team Mission Album....................................... 

Read about the Great White's first Dive → Click on the photos below for Part 1 and Part 2 of the article.

 

                   

                                  ↑ Part 1                                                                             ↑ Part 2

 

The Undersea Voyager Project Vision....



Explore human influence upon the sea and its life


Discover new species of marine life


Encounter giant squid and other unseen pelagic species


Communicate and share findings to all


Influence a new generation of undersea explorers


Protect marine-life

 



 

UVP Mission Statement

 


 

To advance scientific knowledge and understanding of the Oceans current condition, mankind's influence upon it and communicate our findings to a global audience, including its interrelationship with the global climate, the life within, and discoveries of new life.  With the "Youth Ambassador Program" UVP will inspire children to look to the sea as a career lifestyle.

 

I
"
magine a time not too far from now in which
every single person is involved in conservation of some
kind. This is a world I can see. Can you imagine what
might occur in a world where everyone took a step to
help the planet recover from the abuses of past and even
present generations? How do you think that would impact
your personal life? Less pollution, lower energy costs, less dependance on foreign sources
of food and fuel which might lead to fewer wars. This is a world I imagine and it is
possible if we work together to create it. Join me. Choose to lead. Choose to inspire. If
you do I know we will all be successful. If you lead those around you, if you inspire those
around you, every one of us will help to make a difference”. - Scott Cassell-CEO, UVP

Imagine....


"Imagine a time not too far from now in which every single person is involved in conservation of some kind. This is a world I can see. Can you imagine what might occur in a world where everyone took a step to help the planet recover from the abuses of past and even present generations? How do you think that would impact your personal life? Less pollution, lower energy costs, less dependence on foreign source of food and fuel which might lead to fewer wars. This is a world I imagine and it is possible if we work together to create it. Join me. Choose to lead. Choose to inspire. If you do I know we will all be successful. If you lead those around you, if you inspire those around you, every one of us will help to make a difference”. - Scott Cassell-CEO, UVP

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