The second half of 2017 kicked off with Shark Guardians’ second annual Sardine run in South Africa. Shark Guardian Directors Brendon and Liz visited schools in the Johannesburg and Durban areas then took a group of avid scuba divers in to the wild waters of South Africa. Aliwal Shoal was the start where the group saw numerous sand tiger (Raggies) sharks, black tips and many other marine species, before heading south to the Sardine run. This year was a most memorable experience with huge bait ball action, bringing in dolphins whales and sharks. Be sure to contact Shark Guardian if you are interested in joining the 2018 adventure.
Check out SARDINE RUN SAOUTH AFRICA - JULY 2018
In August Director Brendon Sing visited Koh Tao on the east coast of Thailand to join Shark Guardian Dive Center Big Blue Dive Centers annual ‘Swim4Sharks’ event. This Shark Guardian dive center joined forces with Shark Guardian Dive Center Master Divers this year for a ‘shark week’ where Brendon and volunteers led quizzes, fun days and presentation nights. This event gets bigger every year and is awesome to raise the profile of sharks as well as supporting Shark Guardian and Sea Shepherd.
Educational events on Koh Phangan and in Ao Nang, both Thailand, also kept the Shark Guardian directors busy in August.
In September, Brendon Sing attended the ADEX dive show in Shenzhen, China. This was the first time Shark Guardian has featured at any event in China and was a valuable experience to share education and information, as well as making contacts for future educational events.
October was a busy month for Shark Guardian! Kicking off the official start to the Thailand scuba diving season at Auaqmaster in Phuket, the Directors were on hand to share important information about citizen science research projects to the community. Shark Guardian Dive Center Sea Bees Diving was also given an update. Brendon then spent a few days in Bangkok visiting two International schools and educating close to 2000 students about sharks, conservation and marine life.
November was also full of important activities. Visiting scientist Dr Christine Ward-Paige who runs eOceans met with government Officials and the Thailand IUCN representatives with Brendon in Phuket. Data collected by divers and snorkelers around Thailand is instrumental in helping Shark Guardian develop National Plans of action and focus future efforts for better shark and ray protection in Thailand.
Shark Guardians’ childrens book ‘Sharks – Our Ocean Guardians’ had its official release with an event in Takuapa, Phang Nga, Thailand on the 10th of November. GVI, the volunteer network who funded 1000 books translated in to Thai, led a fun educational day for students aged 8-14 at a local school. Brendon and Liz ran some presentations and 30 books were donated to the school. This will be a focus of shark education in Thailand in the coming year – donating books for free and running educational events. The day finished with a full house at the Happy Snapper Bar in Khao Lak for a night of sharks for the local community.
Also in the second half of 2017 Shark Guardian released a new look website with even more cool facts and fun information and downloads. The Shark Guardian charity saw some important restructure with more trustees joining the team, setting new visions and goals, promising an even more exciting 2018 ahead. A new featured dive centers initiative for Shark Guardian registered dive centers went live, plus the second book in the ‘Jed the Hammerhead’ trilogy is in it’s final stages of development!
As Shark Guardian look ahead to 2018 with many local events planned around Thailand, a new Chinese version of the Classic best selling tshirt will be ready for Chinese New Year education. Plus Shark Guardian will be at THREE Asian dive shows this year, playing an instrumental role in educating the next generation at ADEX (Singapore, April 2018), MIDE (Kuala Lumpur, May 2018), as well as and TDEX (Thailand, May 2018). Plus a big school tour in Bangkok in March ensures the Shark Guardian Directors will be spreading their shark education and projects to as many people as possible once more. Thanks as always to every single one of you who makes this possible!