The Wacol plant is now responsible for producing pre-cured treads for eight company-operated Bandag factories and 30 licensed dealers across Australia and New Zealand, as well as being the primary producer for the Asia Pacific region. When the last of the tyre manufacturers left Australia more than a decade ago, Bandag held firm, focusing on quality and future-proofed sustainability so that rather than simply surviving, the company thrived. Following them is a great way to learn about fascinating new scientific discoveries and conservation issues.TRUCK tyre specialist Bandag has provided a glimpse into its sustainable future as it celebrates the 60th anniversary of its Australian manufacturing operation at Wacol in Queensland. Many ocean science, management and conservation experts are active on social media. As I explain in my book, it is essential to identify organizations that use science in support of worthwhile conservation goals and avoid promoting others that do not. For example, in the spring of 2022, some 60,000 people signed a petition calling for Florida to ban the practice of shark finning – without recognizing that Florida had banned shark finning in the early 1990s. One of my particular pet peeves is amateur online petitions that may not reflect actual conditions. For example, some organizations are trying to get certain airlines to stop carrying shark products like dried fins, without acknowledging that well over 95% of fins are shipped by sea or that sustainable sources of these fins exist. We found that a small but vocal minority had never read scientific reports or spoken with scientists, and held blatantly incorrect and harmful views that cannot help sharks. In a 2021 study, colleagues and I surveyed employees of 78 nonprofits that work on shark conservation issues to understand whether and how these organizations engaged with the science of shark conservation. Unfortunately, some organizations promote pseudoscience that doesn’t help anyone or anything. In my book, I describe the work of many of these groups, including my favorite, Shark Advocates International. Lots of great environmental nonprofit organizations work on shark issues and offer opportunities to get involved, such as donating money and communicating with elected officials and other decision-makers. Support reputable environmental nonprofits, not harmful extremists While experts may quibble over details of some of these rankings, consumers can follow these guidelines and know that they are helping to protect sharks and ocean life in general. Reputable organizations such as California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium publish sustainable seafood guides that rate different types of seafood based on how they are caught or raised. There are even sustainable fisheries for sharks. Seafood is healthy, delicious and culturally important, and there are environmentally friendly ways of catching it sustainably. This does not mean completely avoiding seafood, as some advocates urge. The single most effective thing that individual consumers can do is to avoid seafood produced using these harmful methods. For example, fishermen pursuing tuna may accidentally catch sea turtles or sharks swimming near the tuna. They can also produce high rates of bycatch – the unintended catch of nontarget species. Some fishing methods are incredibly destructive to marine life and habitats. 1 threat to sharks and rays – and arguably, to marine biodiversity in general – is unsustainable overfishing. A 2020 study that surveyed 371 reefs found that sharks had virtually disappeared from about 20% of them.
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