How much good news can we take! On Thursday, the Republic of Maldives imposed a complete ban of hunting for Reef Sharks. Aside from the fact that it was the right thing to do, why did they do this? Because the coral reefs off the Maldives are so mouthwateringly awesome for diving, the government of the Maldives knows that its wildlife is more valuable live than dead. What is the retarded cliche? You can only skin a goat once. Keep nice Sharky reefs and you can make millions attracting divers to your archipelago. Let me tell you who have no experience with these kind of things--diving ain't cheap and when you create a diving-based tourist location with a healthy and vibrant wildlife, your economy is going to explode? Why? Uh, divers are sort of like surfers only with more money. In other words: they are fanatical about their passion and they like to party. Right now the Shark-safe zone only goes 12 miles out from shore, but within a year the Maldives hopes to expand its Shark hunting ban throughout every square inch of their territorial sphere.

This news comes just when the US House of Representatives voted for a ban on Shark Finning off US territorial waters. Madeleine Bordallo, Congresswoman from Guam sponsored the bill. The Senate and President Obama are expected to sign on to the bill shortly.
Obama and Madeleine Bordallo talk about what time it is--time to clean up Bush's mess.

Sorry about the venom (no, we aren't). I just thought that after the love-fest of the last couple of days you'd all want some trademark Chum Slick anger.

--Sharky

For a some more nuanced info on the Maldives and their Shark hunting ban, visit our BFFs at Underwater Thrills.