SeaWorld: Keep Your Promise to Protect Marine Life and Stop The Seven Seas Festival
- by: Jennifer Davis
- recipient: SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby
After Seaworld publicly announced in a press release that they would be ending their orca breedings & shows, the marine park has been working to revamp to their former glory after their major decline from "Blackfish".
Their newest promise is to focus on animal research and conservation, educating people about the dangers animals are facing in the wild - developing their newest program for sharks with their rollercoaster: "Mako". Partnering with artist, Guy Harvey, CEO Joel Manby said in an interview with Sun Sentiel that the new partnership will stress the message of conservation the brand is actively focused on promoting.
After this newest release, SeaWorld began their second annual "Seven Seas Food Festival" in San Antonio & San Diego - an event that allows people to try different culinary dishes from around foreign/local regions. While there are other options, seafood is the main feature dish in both locations.
The seafood goes against Manby's promise to help endangered marine life, as many of these dishes, such as the "Sesame-Crusted Tuna" and shrimp plates contribute to purse-seine/longline fishing, which bycatches pounds of other marine life and destroying the ocean floor.
It is time that Manby keeps his promise to saving marine life and cancels his "Seven Seas" Festival to a more friendly alternative.
Dear Mr. Manby,
We the undersigned are asking you to keep your promise to conserve and educate about the plights of wild animals by cancelling your Seven Seas Food Festival.
We are concerned about the seafood menu items you are serving such as: Diver Caught Sea Scallop, Shrimp & Sustainable Bamboo Steamed Salmon in the California Ocean region, Lava Rock Grilled Pacific Oysters in the Island Fusion region, Lomi-Lomi Salmon & Sustainable Tuna Poke Stack in the Pacific Rim region, Peruvian Ceviche in the South American region, Sustainable Salmon Rillete & Escargot Maison in the French Bistro region, Sesame-Encrusted Tuna in the Japan & Korea region and Paella in your Mediterranean region, as well as your multiple shrimp options.
These items cause a great impact to the environment and contradict your promise to protect marine life.
Yellowfin Tuna used in your "Tuna Poke" & "Sesame-Encrusted Tuna" is the most important species in the Eastern Pacific. According to the IUCN, Yellowfin are harvested in association with dolphins, in free schools and increasingly under fish aggregating devices (FADs). In the Western and Central Pacific, the population is harvested by about 50% with purse seiners while longline and pole-and-line fleets only harvest 15% and 3%, where the Indian Ocean they are harvested by purse seine by over 40% along with Skipjack Tuna and Bigeye Tuna.
Shrimp appears to be a very popular key item at your festival and is listed as 2 flavors of Coconut Shrimp, Chipotle Chimichurri Shrimp, Pink Pepper Shrimp, Macaroni - Shrimp & Red Eyed Shrimp. It is also one of the most important food sources for marine life/water birds to survive in the wild.
Fish species such as: Jellyfish, Atlantic/Pacific Cod and American Herring, crabs, sea urchins, whales such as: Sperm Whales and Belugas & dolphins all depend on shrimp in their diets. Water birds also greatly depend on shrimp such as the Flamingos, Atlantic Puffin, Black Skimmer, Terns, Gulls, Rails, and Herons to name a few of many.
Now, shrimp face an even bigger threat: mankind. Certain species of shrimp have been listed endangered by the IUCN Red List due to shrimp trawling for seafood demand. The shrimp market accounts for 2% of global catch, but 30% of bycatch. For every 1 pound of shrimp collected, there are 10 - 15 pounds of bycatch in the trawling nets.
As many as 50,000,000 sharks are caught unintentionally as bycatch to collect these delicacies, which puts them at an even greater risk of extinction. The most common to be caught in these nets are blue sharks, silky, oceanic white tip, mako, porbeagle, thresher, hammerhead, and other highly threatened shark species.
Please find a friendlier alternative to help play your role in saving our dying oceans, as well as conserving sharks, without the need of serving deadly seafood.
Signed,
Care2 Petitioners
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