COARE: news | archives | newsletter: February 2010

Fintastic February . . .
Saturday, 06 March 2010

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Contents:
  - SFOFF
  - Sharks in the Park
  - Shark Naming Contest
  - Shark Days
  - Our World Underwater
  - Volunteer List
  - Social Networks
  - Newsletter Contest
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Hello, fellow ocean lovers!

With four different events, February was an exciting
month for us.  We'd like to extend a warm welcome to 
the more than 200 new subscribers who recently joined
our mailing list!

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  - San Francisco Ocean Film Festival
 ---

This year's SFOFF was held at at Theater 39 at The
Aquarium of the Bay.  Unfortunately, limited space at
this new venue did not allow for partner tables as the
SFOFF has in the past.

COARE has long been a supporter and community partner of
the festival, and we were still involved this year. 
Immediately following the block of shark films, a panel 
discussion of ocean sustainability was held at the
Aquarium, and included our own Executive Director.  The 
presentations were enlightening and inspiring, as was
the discussion sparked by questions from the audience.

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  - Sharks in the park
 ---

This year's Sharks in the Park event with WildAid was 
a great success and was a lot of fun.  Since we timed
the event to coincide with the Flower Fair preceding
Chinese New Year, we had a much more exposure than last
year, and were able to reach an even wider audience.

In addition to all our volunteers and participants,
we're sincerely thankful to WildAid, our partner in this
event, to Erika Marchino from Dorsal Friends who flew up
from Southern California to help, to David McGuire from
Sea Stewards who documented the event, and to our sponsors: 
Noah's Bagels, Peet's Coffee & Tea, and Cresco Equipment 
Rentals, without whom this event would not have been the 
success it was.

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  - Shark Naming Contest
 ---

The life-size inflatable shark we've been using for
Sharks in the Park is a tremendous aid in capturing 
attention and drawing people into our event.

She is popular with adults and irresistible to children,
but she needs a name.  Please help us name her.

You can submit suggestions to us by e-mail. The winning
choice will be published in an upcoming newsletter. 

For photos and more information, please visit:
   http://coare.org/contest/

 ---
  - Shark Days
 ---

The Monterey Bay Aquarium held a special weekend-long
celebration of shark awareness and conservation called
"Shark Days", and they invited us to participate.

The event's attractions included special shark and
bat ray feedings, behind-the-scenes shark stories
from Aquarium experts, and an appearance by our friend 
Jim Toomey - the artist behind the popular syndicated 
cartoon "Sherman's Lagoon."

Many special thanks to Jennifer, Chard, Josi, Diane, 
and Molly - the volunteers who staffed our table there,
helping us extend our message to the 15,374 people who
attended the Aquarium that weekend.

 ---
  - Our World - Underwater
 ---

This was our first year at the Our World - Underwater
Show, and it was also a success.  We saw a number of
colleagues there, and also made some wonderful new
connections.

Through serendipitous booth selection, we ended up
neighbors with Matava, Fiji's Premier Eco-Adventure
Resort, and they are extremely environmentally aware.
We're happy to announce they've joined our efforts and
their restaurant is now the first one in Fiji to 
achieve Shark Safe Certification.

During the the show, our Executive Director gave a 
talk about plastics and consumerism as part of the 
Environmental Seminar series.  The audience was engaged
and participated in a lively discussion that spilled 
out into the hallway when organizers had to clear the
room to prepare for the next seminar.

The OWU show featured entertainment geared towards our
younger audiences, but at some point, we noticed that
one of the nearby puppet shows was using less-than-ideal
messaging.  We began working with them on improving
the lyrics of their songs, and eventually ended up just
becoming part of the show.  The kids had a great time
and so did we.

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  - Volunteer List
 ---

In addition to our regular mailing list (to which this
newsletter is sent), we also maintain a volunteer list,
to which we send specific volunteer opportunities.

Joining the volunteer list gives you the opportunity to 
work behind the scenes with us.  If you're interested 
in getting more involved, visit http://coare.org/volunteer
or simply send a note to volunteer@coare.org describing
your interests.

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  - Social Networks
 ---

As many of you may already know, we have a presence on
Twitter and Facebook for both COARE and our Shark Safe
program.  If you're not already, you can follow us 
(@coare and @sharksafe) using the following links:
   http://twitter.com/coare
   http://twitter.com/sharksafe

To make it a little easier to find our Facebook Fan
Pages, we've set up the following new links:
   http://facebook.coare.org
   http://facebook.sharksafe.org

These links will automatically redirect you to the
corresponding Fan Page.  If you're a Facebook user,
please join our Fan Pages.  Help us spread the word
by using the "Suggest to Friends" link to invite your
friends to join as well.

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  - Newsletter Contest
 ---

The newsletter title competition we announced last month
is still underway.  We've received a few entries, but 
are hoping for a few more to choose from.  Please send 
suggestions to info@coare.org.

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Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends, 
family, and colleagues.  If you received this newsletter 
second hand, we encourage you to subscribe directly by
visiting http://coare.org/subscribe



Wishing you healthy oceans, 
 - Your friends at COARE

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