Category: Sustainablity

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February ReefBox Unboxing!

So, subscription services are all the rage these days.  Everything from food to dog toys, it’s like getting a little gift (that you paid for) once a month.  I really like the concept, and about a year and a half ago, I signed up for the Waterman’s Pack (which was meant for fishermen, surfers, and SCUBA divers), and happily, signed up to get a box in July, which was timed for Shark Week (check out my Shark Week reviews here at Nerdvana!). It was a box curated by Andy Casagande IV (the Shark Week veteran photographer and diver), and a portion of that month’s profits were donated to my friends at Shark Angels, who I wound up diving with 8 months later in Fiji.  I got a nice little dive knife, and a few other things, including a print of an Andy Casagrande shark encounter.

And then a month later then ditched the fishermen and SCUBA divers portion of it, and started going marketing directly to watersports.  I kept going for a month and got a tshirt and hat, but not really my thing, so I cancelled it.

And then thanks to the miracle of Facebook Targeted Advertising…  I found ReefBox!

reefbox
Promotional image/ReefBox.Com (used under Fair Use guidelines)

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To Save the Ocean, Start at the Ballot Box (Part I)

First off, it’s good to be back!  It’s been over 4 months since my last post, and as much as I want to blame the fact I’ve been busy (which I have been), and work (which there has been a lot of), and travel (ditto – in 2017, I dove two oceans, two seas, and a lake), the truth is I’ve been overwhelmed by events and needed a mental health break.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the sheer pace of everything that’s been going on with the oceans. For every story of hope and goodwill (did you see the story about the people saving sea turtles from the recent cold snap?), there’s fear and hopelessness.  That for all the work we’ve done (and many of you have helped out with!), it could all be for naught because of the American lust for profit.

I’ve also been wrestling with the ideas of political purity versus political expediency.  Basically, how does one reconcile what they want out of politics versus what they can get?  Many people have made some persuasive arguments about propping up the American two-party system does not affect change, but all the while, while engaged in this existentialist wankathon, one party, and only one party, has been plotting the systemic destruction of the one thing on this planet I truly care about.

And I might have remained in this bullshit fugue state for this wake-up call by the Trump administration.

Chyron.jpg
Like an alarm clock made of a Civil War cannon.  

Continue reading “To Save the Ocean, Start at the Ballot Box (Part I)”

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Florida Diaries, Day 1: Die, Lionfish, Die!

This is an Indo-Pacific lionfish (from the genus Pterois) from one of my 2017 dives off of Fiji’s coral coast.  Even though I don’t have a red filter on my GoPro and I’m using natural light at about 60 feet down, it’s I think the video conveys the beauty of the animal as it hovers in perfect balance, display its’ delicate fins in a threat display as I approach it.

If you’re not familiar with the lionfish, it’s a predatory reef fish and on those delicate fins are spines which can be used defensively to deliver a painful sting.  As stated by divemaster Mike Ryan to Erin Spencer in National Geographic:

“It won’t kill you, but it’ll make you wish you were dead”.
Continue reading “Florida Diaries, Day 1: Die, Lionfish, Die!”

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THIS JUST IN: Exclusive Words Available at Shark-Con!

Shark-Con: Like Comicon, but for Sharks.

On July 8th at Shark-Con in Tampa, FL, I will be releasing  a brand new collection of poems, essays, and art called “Cap’n Klute’s Ocean Almanac, Vol. 44 #2”!  It’s probably the most ambitious project I’ve ever embarked on. It’s a collection of some of the essays and poetry, and I’ve commissioned a whole bunch of illustrations and drawings from some of Arizona’s top talent to present the work in a way you’ve never seen before. I’m really excited.

And to sweeten the deal, I’m including an exclusive book-only essay on tiki bar culture and sharks!  The essay also includes two drink recipes I’ve created, the Blue Guadalupe and the Waidroka Angel, and if you come to Shark-Con you can buy tiki mugs to serve those drink recipes in (note: that tiki in the picture is not what I’m selling, that’s one from my private collection).

As always, any and all profits from the books, tiki mugs, t-shirts, and stuff for the little remoras in your school get donated to shark conservation groups.

So if you love sharks, if you love the ocean, if you love tiki bar culture,  and like it all with a little chaser of sarcasm, you know where you need to be on July 8th and 9th.

Come to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, FL and indulge your love of all things sharky, and stop by my booth, and say hi!

Follow Shark-Con on Facebook, or on Twitter – there might be some upcoming discounts.  You never know.

Am I excited to be back at Shark-Con? You bet I am.

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The Sharks Would Like to Know… Where’s Kyrsten Sinema?

UPDATE:

On July 24th, 2017 – Rep. Sinema agreed to Co-Sponsor #HR1456, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act!  Read my follow up post:  The Sharks Want to Thank Rep. Kyrsten Sinema HERE!

ORIGINAL POST:

As we all know, sharks are in trouble.  Suffering from a laundry list of problems from overfishing, to habitat loss, to pollution, to a rapidly changing environment brought on by anthropogenic climate change, many species from the smalltooth sawfish to the daggernose sharks are teetering on the verge of extinction. The daggernose shark so endangered that the National Marine Fisheries Services got off it’s ass on May 9, 2017 to declare it an endangered species – under the Trump administration.  That’s like the Flat Earth Society endorsing Buzz Aldrin for President of the Moon.

Daggernose shark (Isogomphodon oxyrhynchus), from Grace, M. (2001). “Field Guide to Requiem Sharks (Elasmobranchiomorphi: Carcharhinidae) of the Western North Atlantic”. NOAA Technical Report NMFS 153.

Continue reading “The Sharks Would Like to Know… Where’s Kyrsten Sinema?”

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Let’s Talk Tuna – Eating Responsibly Without Harming Our Ocean Friends (except the tuna, of course) – Part II (Sushi Edition).

I love sushi.  Spider rolls, seared escolar, ebi, shrimp tempura rolls, etc.   I’ve never been a fan of raw tuna or salmon, not because of the taste, or the idea of raw fish, but the texture of raw tuna and salmon leaves me cold.  Crustaceans  are my jam, which, if I were a shark, would put me in order Orectolobiformes, the carpet shark family. Easy access to crabs, lobster, clams (mollusks are pretty tasty too).  However, as I point out in a post back in February (Fry’s Food Stores and the High Cost of Shrimp), you’re not just eating crustaceans when you order your plate of coconut shrimp or tempura roll, you’re laying waste to the marine environment.

Come at me bro.

Continue reading “Let’s Talk Tuna – Eating Responsibly Without Harming Our Ocean Friends (except the tuna, of course) – Part II (Sushi Edition).”

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Sharks vs. Trumps: Big Game

Every day, I scour the internet for news about sharks. When I do this, I will inevitably find something that makes my blood boil, but some of it’s led to positive action (I helped start an investigation that I found out later led to the charter boat Phoenix get fined for illegally taking a hammerhead), and I’m proud of that.  When you add the Trumps to the equation, well, things are going to get heated.

Dramatic Re-Enactment

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The Fiji Chronicles: Prologue – Sustainability and the Ethics of Eating Fish.

The one thing that is very hard for a person who loves the ocean is the idea of eating wildlife, aka fish.  I touch on it a little in my poem “Suicide Bomber“, that everything from the lowly crab to the mighty marlin is classified as “seafood”, as if there is some common thread between these animals, beyond the fact that they both live in the ocean.

Oh, I’m a “soupfin” shark? Thanks for the name, jerks.
Image via Monterey Bay Aquarium

Continue reading “The Fiji Chronicles: Prologue – Sustainability and the Ethics of Eating Fish.”

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Fry’s Food Stores and the High Cost of Shrimp

I love shrimp.

Love it. Maybe more than I like any other food. Grilled shrimp skewers, coconut shrimp, tempura rolls, you name it, I love the taste, I love the texture, shrimp delivers on every level. Popcorn shrimp? Fuck yes. As a wee Klute, Red Lobster’s was my jam, and my father, frustrated that I never ordered anything else, tried to talk me into crab, fish, etc.

Nope. He didn’t understand that part of the appeal of popcorn shrimp was that I could pretend I was a giant baleen whale and I was swallowing a whole school of delicious, golden brown, tiny crustaceans. I just assumed they ate it like I did. I didn’t know where they got the cocktail sauce, but whales were smart.

LOL Pwned.

Continue reading “Fry’s Food Stores and the High Cost of Shrimp”

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