Changing Human Behaviour for Sharks

Changing Human Behaviour for Sharks

Naomi Clark-Shen was sponsored by JMICAWE to attend the AFA Conference on Human Behaviour Change in Nepal back in December.  Naomi works on shark conservation in Indonesia and Singapore.

On the second day of the conference Naomi spoke about how her work looks at changing two extreme ends of behaviour; that of wealthy consumers who behave (eat shark fin) out of convenience, and that of fishermen who behave (hunt sharks) to survive.

Her work tries to achieve this by bringing shark consumers and shark hunters together – on an eco-tourism trip where the shark fishermen take guests snorkelling. Naomi shared how ultimately the shark fishing industry is more complex than many think, and a solution is far from being achieved. 

“This conference was interesting because the focus was on animal welfare – whereas my work is conservation. These fields are actually very different. I am passionate about animal welfare though, and listening to the other talks re-sparked my interest in getting back into welfare work as well.”

“There was another person working on shark fishing, in Pakistan, and it was great to learn from him. The conference was very uplifting. I was pleasantly surprised at how far the animal movement has come in Asia.”