Four years ago I was standing in front of a group of local fishermen
on a tiny island called Mitiaro in the Cook Islands.
And I was there to tell them why they needed to protect sharks.
Except there was one problem.
They hated sharks.
Sharks stole fish from their lines
that they needed to feed their families.
So, these are the guys that I had to try to talk to
who had very real experiences with sharks.
They’re in canoes every day trying to feed their families
and sharks are literally ripping the tuna off of their lines.
And, so when the man
who’s sitting behind me in the turquoise shirt
he raised his hand, told me how much he hated sharks.
He literally said like, “I hate them.
They’ve terrorize me in my canoe.
I wish they would all disappear from the planet.”
I’m like, “Oh, this is not going well.”
And then he said, “But I’ve learned something today.
I wasn’t sure of the importance of them to our reef.
I have children, I have grandchildren
and I would like for them to fish
and for that reason I will support you.”
For me, that was the single most powerful moment
of the entire two years of the campaign.
And soon after that happened…
( audience laughter )
We made front page of the paper.
This small group of farmers, fishermen
voyagers… They came together
and were successful in getting regulations
that ban the import, export, sale, trade,
possession and trans-shipment of sharks and rays
in the entire exclusive economic zone of the Cook Islands.
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