On March 28, the South Pacific state of Tiburonia sent a delegation of research sharks to study North Pacific fish and shark communities. The purpose of the trip, according to research leader Gil Maneater, was to “investigate the health conditions in the North Pacific and hopefully come to some conclusion as to why North Pacific emigrants are mired with high levels of disease.” Their findings shocked and horrified them. A massive garbage patch consisting entirely of human debris, mostly plastic broken down into confetti-like pellets, has built up along the North Pacific Gyre current and, until now, been unknown to Tiburonia sharks. This giant quantity of minuscule plastic pieces, while not always visible to the naked shark eye, not only causes severely impaired vision for hunting but also makes native fish and shark populations sick as the pellets build up in their digestive tracts.
No shark nation has yet taken this issue seriously. Many sharks will remember the violent government repression of members of the Rekahn tribe of the central-North Pacific during their peaceful protest of intersea inaction with regard to the garbage patch. This conglomeration of filth has been making the indigenous nomadic shark schools of the North Pacific sick for more than 30 years, yet it is only now that powerful shark nation Tiburonia is feeling its detrimental effects that intersea shark governments are beginning to consider taking action. Had this happened earlier, this issue would have been immediately and effectively addressed.
More importantly than inter-shark conflict, though, is the animal-shark divide that becomes even more significant as this recent ‘discovery’ reinvigorates anti-human sentiment among shark populations. Obviously, this is a flagrant example of what shark philosopher Karl Sharx described as species warfare. As any educated shark will point out, human claims of “evolutionary superiority” have led them to oppress the natural animal kingdom since their shift from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture. Sadly for our terrestrial brothers and sisters, this has been occurring for what seems like time immemorial on land; however, it is only in the recent past that this egregious injustice has come to be imposed on ocean species.
Such blatant disregard for the well-being of our planet’s oceans on the part of humans is unacceptable. This species warfare is evident not just in this latest violation of the laws of nature, but in countless destructive human practices such as oil extraction, ocean shipping, and toxic dumping, all of which feed their insatiable need to impose their artificial evolutionary superiority on the species of the world. If we are going to stop the selfish human activities that are destroying our environments and livelihoods, sharks from every sea, every ocean, must band with other oppressed species of the planet. It is only united that animals will be able to fight the revolution that will finally bring peace, balance, and harmony to nature. Divided, diseased, we fall.
