English dominates the world of shark conservation , says Paul Cox , but is this limitation hindering the global effort ?
A design for life
Mind your language
English dominates the world of shark conservation , says Paul Cox , but is this limitation hindering the global effort ?
A design for life
The Marine Conservation Society ( MCS ) has highlighted five quick wins for the newly elected Labour government to lead on conservation . MCS Director of Conservation and Policy , Gareth Cunningham set out five ways in which the UK can become a global leader on climate and nature action . They are :
■ Optimise the marine planning system to deliver offshore wind
■ Tackle the growing issue of ‘ forever ’ chemicals , beginning with the immediate ban of PFAS from fire-fighting foam
■ Unlock the true potential of our blue economy , publishing a strategy for sustainable jobs and economic growth
■ Lead global efforts on climate change by continuing , and increasing , vital financial support to the UK Overseas Territories marine conservation programmes
■ Accelerate target delivery of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan , to protect vulnerable Marine Protected Areas , bathing waters and shellfish waters .
Avid followers of our social feeds – and if you ’ re not then maybe you should be – might have seen that in July we took part in a Wikimarathon as part of a little project called Tiburones Y Rayas . This spin-off from the Sharks International conference that we held in 2022 , is a partnership with our friends and colleagues at Lamna in Valencia . It stems from a recognition that shark world can , at times , be a tad Anglocentric .
You go to conferences and meetings and , almost by default , everyone speaks in English . That ’ s great if that happens to be your first language , but , for most of the world , it ’ s not . And it ’ s not just conferences . Scientific papers , NGO reports and online resources are all guilty of approaching language like an Englishman abroad .
The Wikimarathon was a start at balancing the books on Wikipedia . If you look up information on a shark species , for example , you get pages of detailed information on distribution , diet , ecology , threats , culture and so on . Try switching to Spanish and , in most cases , much of the information disappears . It ’ s just not been translated . Until now . Over the course of a weekend , experts , scientists and conservationists came together – in Spanish – to fill some of the gaps . So now , just maybe , a junior scientist , a student or an enthusiastic child can dig into the world of sharks without having to learn a new language .
We know we ’ re just scratching the surface and there ’ s a long , long way to go but as we increasingly find that shark conservation requires us to work internationally , then it ’ s ever more important to find ways to straddle language barriers and be as inclusive and accessible as possible . Over the last few years we ’ ve been translating more and more of our materials , campaign communications and resources for fishermen . It makes a huge difference .
But the need to be accessible applies just as much when speaking in English . Last year we published a ‘ Speaking Up For The Ocean ’ toolkit , which challenges people to think harder about how our words are interpreted by the people we ’ re hoping to reach . It turns out – surprise , surprise – that we all hear things differently . Words that we throw out again and again to make our case mean different things to different people .
If we want the world to love sharks like we love sharks then we need to mind our language . If you want to know more about our language work , or any of the work of the Trust , check out our new podcast series on YouTube or your regular podcast provider . Including a great mini-episode with one Simon Rogerson . www . sharktrust . org
Requin marteau ; or tiburón martillo ; or Gebogener hammerhai ... after the whale was sighted trapped in trawler cabling . Cutting through the cable removed a large portion of the cable from the whale ’ s tail , allowing it to continue its northern migration with only a small amount of wire trailing behind . However there are still fears for the whale ’ s wellbeing as the remaining wire still represents a danger for the cetacean .
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