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I sat down to watch this movie the night before last; been a while since something I watched has affected me like this to be honest. I'd recommend anyone with an interest in wildlife to go watch this film if for no other reason than to increase awareness... Sharkwater begins as a beatiful feature-length documentary into ocean life and especially the life of sharks. It goes on to explain, and in some ways dispell, the myths surrounding sharks and the menace they are to humans in the ocean. They provide statistics and facts explaining just how very few shark attacks there are each year and tell how many animals that are protected species kill and injure far more humans every year than sharks do. The film maker is captured swimming with them, feeding them and even playing with them in a far-less protected environment than you'd normally see in such a documentary. The film takes a sudden, and slightly disturbing shift in its focus. A long-line is discovered with a suffocated sailfish entangled in it. As the line is followed they find over 150 sharks, some sea turtles, tuna and a variety of other fish attached to this line, stretching for over 60 miles. The long lines are in place to catch nothing else but sharks. Anything else they kill is waste and is simply thrown back into the ocean once the catch is reeled in. The sharks are caught for one reason only, their fins. In Asia, shark fins, caught for shark fin soup, are valued at around $200 per lb making the dealing of them only second to narcotics in profitability. The film goes on to explore 2 of the world heritage sites in Galapagos and Cocos off Costa Rica. Both of these places were sanctuaries and one of the few places on the planet were sharks were protected with long line fishing being prohibited. Unfortunately due to various factors such as no available resources to police the waters, bribery from the Thailand mafia, coups and threats by greedy Galapagos fishermen both governments had their hands forced and legalised long-line fishing in these areas with the sharks now becoming slaughtered at a rate of up to 300,000 per day. Many scenes of live footage are captured in this film of poachers dragging live sharks aboard their boats, slicing off the dorsal, tail and pectoral fins of the sharks then throwing them back into the water, sometimes with their throats cut fo extra savagery or in order to easily remove a hook for further use. To see this amazing animals dropped back into the ocean, still alive, in agony and trying to swim away, sometimes with their heads still barely attached to their bodies was absolutely disgusting and affected me in a way that nothing I've ever seen on a TV screen has done before. That could be partly down to the current state of mind I'm in at this time of my life but I know that it's not the sole reason; I know it's not the primary reason. Another scene shows a sea turtle being dragged aboard and having it's head smashed while they try to remove a hook from it's mouth. It won't open it's mouth so they stick their thumbs into it's eye-sockets and gauge in order to get it's mouth open and smash a cheap steel hook out of it's mouth, ready to reuse again. The effect this is going to have on ocean ecology is just stupifying and the importance of sharks to our own lives is so crucial that it beggars belief that no government in the world is doing anything to protect these animals around their own coastlines. This is before we broach the subject of international waters which is basically just one big free-for-all with no one claiming responsibility, and fisherman pretty much allowed to kill whatever they want at a rate of whatever they want. Take sharks out of the food chain and the fish and seals they eat are allowed to thrive. The smaller fish that are eaten by the seals and fish that the sharks would have eaten are depleted at a greater rate, since the controlling factors that the sharks provided is now gone which in turn means that smaller creatures that eat the plantlife in the ocean are allowed to breed on a massive scale and consume the ocean vegetation which accounts for around 70% of the photosynthesis which takes place on Earth. That means if the sharks are continued to be killed, it'll have a direct influence on the air we breathe; the food chain and the ecology of life in the ocean is so finely balanced and has been structured so carefully by the sharks for hundreds of millions of years that the sudden devastation we're causing in the ocean could really have untold ramifications for all life on land. This is all for a luxury; a delicacy that can only be only be afforded by the rich. Shark fin soup is served for up to $100 a bowl in Hong Kong. There's nobody dying from hunger who are being saved by the the serving of sharks fin soup, yet up to 2 million sharks per week are being killed to satisfy the demand in the far east. The people of Costa Rica have actually began to march and demonstrate and apply pressure to their government in order to have long-line fishing prohibited but there's still no resources to police it or stop it. Poachers have nothing to fear, so continue to do it anyway. It's become illegal again in the Galapagos, even after the fishermen there kidnapped officials, threatened to pollute the waters and kill the giant tortoises that the Islands are famous for. Hopefully this means that in someway the populations of the sharks in those areas might begin to recover from the sudden burst of shark fishing but with so little known about them and their breeding habits there's not much anyone can do to aid it. I do see that how I now view this situation is based on what I saw in this film and some of the figures and statistics I saw are only based on what was reported in it. They could be skewed but, to me, the number isn't really important. The volume, and it's ramifications for ourselves is only one troubling aspect. The manner in which these amazing animals are maimed then tossed back into the water was really fucking disturbing to me and the why life is treated by so many people on this planet just disgusts me. I guess this actually makes me a hypocrite since I'm not a vegetarian. Maybe I only care because I've so often been in awe of sharks and the way that these paochers are treating something I've always had such admiration for is igniting a feeling I should have had a long time for other animals which are killed in similarly disgusting manners. I don't know to be honest as I haven't had time to really explore my own feelings on this but I guess what's most worrying is that this is so unreported and the scale of these killings is pretty much open to the resources of the poachers. There really doesn't seem to be anything stopping them from sweeping the ocean clean of sharks if they want to. I'm not sure I'll watch the film again as it'll only cause my, mainly dormant, militant side to wake up and probably have me fucking off to join greenpeace.

Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | Liverpool | Season shape-up Rafa Benitez says it will be his greatest achievement if he can lead Liverpool to the Premier League title and the pressure is on to mount a serious challenge for England's top prize. In the latest of our Shaping up for the Season series, Peter O'Rourke takes an in-depth look at what The Reds need to finish at the summit. Overview Liverpool have been nearly men in the Premier League under Rafa Benitez failing to seriously challenge for the title Reds fans are desperate to win above any other one. Benitez, who is preparing for his fourth season at Anfield, has enjoyed success in the UEFA Champions League, but has struggled to find the right formula to succeed in the Premier League. The Reds have finished no higher than third under Benitez and last term they came in fourth behind Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. Over the last few seasons Liverpool have closed the gap on the leading pack in regards to points at the end of the season and he will need to find more improvement if they are to finally end their 18-year wait for the Premier League. Liverpool's poor home form dented their ambitions of fighting for the title and Benitez has pin-pointed an improvement in defending set-pieces as key to their hopes of going all the way in championship race. With a few quality additions to an already star-studded squad Liverpool could finally end their overdue search for the league title. What's happened so far Benitez has shown a tendency to raid his native Spain for new players, but it appears he may be changing his focus this summer by going for English talent. There have rumblings of not much money being made available for Benitez's budget, but the Spaniard will be hoping American duo George Gillett and Tom Hicks can put their problems behind them to provide the funds for some major deals. The only new faces at Anfield this summer are Swiss defender Philipp Degen who has arrived on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund and Italian international Andrea Dossena from Udinese Dossena, who becomesthe first outfield Italian to join the Reds, will be a straight replacement for John Arne Riise who has left for Roma after seven successful years at Anfield. Brazilian goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri from Palmeiras is on the cusp of a move to Anfield to provide cover for Jose Reina to cast further doubt over the future of Scott Carson. Harry Kewell has departed after seeing out his contract and Benitez will be keen to bring in a new winger to help solve the problematic left-sided position. The Reds are involved in a very public pursuit of Aston Villa and England international Gareth Barry as Benitez looks to unite him with England team-mate Steven Gerrard. Should Liverpool be successful in their attempts to snare Barry, Xabi Alonso is expected to leave with Juventus already holding talks over a possible move for the classy Spaniard. A number of other players could be offloaded in a bid to trim the squad and raise funds for Benitez's transfer plans. Peter Crouch is on the verge of a move to Portsmouth after Liverpool agreed a deal for the England international. Yossi Benayoun could be sacrificed with the likes of Portsmouth, Tottenham and Ajax all credited with an interest in the Israeli international. Jermaine Pennant could also be walking on dangerous ground with the winger failing to win over his detractors since arriving from Birmingham two seasons ago. What they need Liverpool scored more goals than anyone in all competitions last season and Benitez has admitted he is hoping to shore up his defence next term. Benitez was alarmed by the number of goals conceded from set-pieces and he has moved to address this problem by bringing in two new full-backs in the shape of Degen and Dossena. He is unlikely to look for any new central defenders having brought in Martin Skrtel last January to provide cover for Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia. The return of Daniel Agger from injury will also be a welcome boost with the Dane missing the most of last year with a foot problem. In midfield, Benitez needs to bring in two tricky, skilful wingers to provide the ammunition for Fernando Torres. With the right supply from the wings, Torres could even beat his tally of 33 goals in his debut season last term. A striker or a withdrawn attacker to play alongside Torres would help ease the burden on the young Spaniard's shoulders after he exceeded all expectations in his first year at Anfield. Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa has been confirmed as a target by Benitez, but Liverpool are likely to be priced out of the market for the Valencia hit-man. Tottenham's Robbie Keane has also been mentioned as a possible target, but it would take a major bid to persuade Spurs to let the Irishman leave White Hart Lane. It would allow skipper Steven Gerrard to move back into his preferred position of midfield from where he could drive the team forward. What they'll get Barry is more than likely to end up at Anfield with the player expressing a desire to move to Liverpool and Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill resigned to losing the midfielder. Milner could make the move from Newcastle to Liverpool with the winger thought to be keen on a switch to Merseyside. A deal for Downing could be more problematic with Middlesbrough determined not to lose one of their star performers. A new goalkeeper will arrive to provide cover for Jose Reina with Charles Itandje set to move on. I was wondering how much (If any of it) everyone agrees/disagrees with.Obviously its not a truly monumental plan but just another point of view