At the conclusion of my last campaign, Operation Sadistic Truths, a major milestone was reached in the fight to protect sharks and manta rays. Despite these new protections, there is still much work that needs to be done. Sharks are still being wiped off the face of the Earth as are manta rays. The gill raker trade that has seen manta populations destroyed continues to grow and more and more of these gentle giants are being wiped out. Shark finning has not slowed much as 100,000,000 sharks are being killed for their fins every year. To catch you all up on recent happenings involving sharks in the United States, well lets just say things are looking slightly up. Maryland, New York, and Delaware have recently banned the sale and possession of shark fins. These laws are similar to the laws that Hawaii, Washington, and several other states have already passed. New York passing this law was very significant as New York is the largest shark fin hub on the east coast of the United States. There is also a similar bill in the New Jersey government system right now. With that being said, the primary focus of Operation: Forgotten will be sharks and manta rays. This summer though, these two amazing creatures will be joined by a third animal that is quickly headed for extinction.
Venture into the open Ocean and you will without a doubt find all kinds of fish. Few though are as majestic as the endangered bluefin tuna. Sadly these fish are being fished to extinction. Bluefin tuna are regularly caught and sold at a very high price. They are yet another one of the Ocean's apex predators that are being driven to extinction by man's unwavering desire for money. For an idea as to just how rapidly these fish are being wiped out consider this fact. Female bluefin tunas are capable of carrying 30 million eggs. Of course the vast majority of those baby fish will be eaten by other fish in the Ocean and only few will survive to adulthood where their size makes them safe from most would be predators. Just like many other fish, bluefin tuna are known to spawn at the same time, so large groups of them will gather together. It is at this time that they are very vulnerable to nets as spawning often takes place near the surface. Sometimes entire schools of bluefin tuna are taken out of the sea at one time, which does heavily hurt their fragile populations. This will be the first time that any of my campaigns have had any kind of focus on these animals.
Without any words, here are two quick photos to show why these animals are in so much trouble.
To put it simply, far too many bluefin tuna are being removed from the Oceans and unless something is done about it soon, they will cease to exist.
So ladies and gentlemen. Here we are at the start of yet another campaign. For those of you who have been following along since Operation: Bleeding Seas last year, you know the plight of sharks and manta rays which is why I didn't really go into detail about them. If you are just joining us. Welcome! I strongly encourage you to take a look back at my past blogs from Operation: Sadistic Truths and Operation: Bleeding Seas to get caught up on the plights of sharks and manta rays. All three of these animals are crucially important to our world. Losing any of them would be nothing short of a tragedy that could severely alter the face of the Earth. While you go about your daily business, do not forget what is going on in the world around you. Do not forget that these animals are suffering and rapidly moving towards extinction. Do not forget that we, the people who care about them, are their only voices. We are the voice of the voiceless. Never forget. With that being said Operation: Forgotten is officially underway. Expect to see the first blog of the campaign go into some more detail about the plight of the bluefin tuna so we are all fully aware of what is going on with these majestic fishes. From there, expect a bunch of blogs on all three of these animals complete with pictures (sometimes very graphic), videos (new to this campaign), facts, opinions, news articles, and much, much more!
