Swimming Fast - For the SHARKS!

The above photos are from the 2009 Sarasota Shark Tournament in Florida. Great Hammerhead, Bull, and Lemon sharks were all caught for sport and prize money. (Great Hammerheads are listed as an Endangered Species on the IUCN Red List.) In November 2011 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) agreed to prohibit the harvest of three species of Hammerhead shark and Tiger sharks in Florida waters. FINS UP to all who worked hard toward making this law happen!	"Finning millions of sharks for a nutritionless, poisonous, overpriced soup is likely the pinnacle of waste, ignorance, and absolute environmental destruction in how we blindly abuse and mass commodify animals as a food source." ~Todd Cameron When I was a kid I used to spend hours and hours in the pool pretending I was a shark. Not much has changed.... Sharks have been a passion of mine since before I can remember. The JAWS films arrived at an impressionable age for me, fueling the fire, and one of the most amazing experiences I had was an opportunity to dive with sharks on my birthday in the Bahamas. I was hooked! Unfortunately we are learning that it is the sharks that are now hooked; these animals are hunted in numbers upwards of 100 million a year for their fins which are sold on the Asian markets for big bucks. A bowl of prized shark fin soup (cartilaginous shark fin offers zero nutrition and has no flavour) can sell in excess of $100. Due to this great demand and profits reaching in excess of US $1.2 billion a year, sharks are caught by the hundreds on long-lines (lines up to 150km long with thousands of baited hooks) hauled aboard and after their fins are sliced off and while still alive they are tossed back into the ocean to drown and bleed to death. This can take days... In one year enough long-lines are set out in our oceans to circle the planet 550 times. Essentially one of the oldest, most beautiful and most important species in our largest ecosystem is brutally tortured, maimed, and killed for profit. This barbaric act of 'finning' sharks has to stop now. Not just for sharks but for our oceans, our planet, and ultimately us. I was always very drawn to water and swimming, but I was seriously involved in other sports and didn't start dedicated swim training until the summer of 2008 around the same time the Beijing Olympics were on. (This was also the first time the 10k open water swim was an event at the Summer Games.) I made an instant connection with the water and I took to all aspects of the sport quickly, did my first race just 4 months later, a 5k open water in the Caribbean and it has been my love, passion and life since. I have been coaching since early 2010 which started out as just helping fellow swimmers and grew from there into LATERAL LINE AQUATIC TRAINING. In 2010 I traveled to Australia for the Whitsunday Swim, a 14.5km first-time crossing from Whitsunday Island to Hamilton Island in an effort to raise awareness for shark conservation. In very early 2011 I progressed to a 100% plant-based diet training and racing as as a vegan athlete. In late 2011 I started totaling all my swim training and races to span 2300km, the length of the Great Barrier Reef, to help raise funds for Shark Savers. In August 2012 I did my first 10k race, fighting wind, waves and very fast competition. I am super motivated and driven to train hard for a cause I strongly believe in, layering my passions to ‘Swim Fast – For the Sharks’ and dedicate my races towards helping sharks, and by hopefully making some waves I'll raise some awareness and also bring about some much needed change for our oceans. FINS UP! Todd Cameron tc.sharkisland@gmail.com STATS DOB: August 11th Nationality: Canadian Height: 6’ 1” Weight: 170 lb Diet: Raw Vegan Ⓥ Coach: Self-Coached Mascot: Harry the Hammerhead Spirituality: Sphyrna Mokkaran - The ocean is my temple, water my religion, and sharks are my gods... If I had a knickel for every time I'm asked: -How many laps/how far did you swim? (I don't count laps, I go by distance. Depends on the workout, average is 5000m - 7500m.) -Do the shark tattoos make you swim faster? (YES! Of course they do - by intimidating the other swimmers!) With Rob Stewart, director of SHARKWATER. Toronto, Canada - June 2011 Harry the Hammerhead, our mascot! "MUST VISIT" SHARK HOTSPOTS Blue, Mako - Rhode Island Great Hammerhead, Tiger, Lemon, Caribbean Reef - Bahamas Bull - Playa del Carmen, Mexico Oceanic Whitetip - Cat Island, Bahamas Great White - Guadalupe Island, Mexico & South Australia Reef - South Pacific & Great Barrier Reef Scalloped Hammerhead - Cocos Island, Costa Rica Whale - Isla Mujeres, Mexico Oceanic Whitetip - Cat Island, Bahamas SWIMMING FAST - FOR THE SHARKS © 2010 - 2013

The above photos are from the 2009 Sarasota Shark Tournament in Florida. Great Hammerhead, Bull, and Lemon sharks were all caught for sport and prize money. (Great Hammerheads are listed as an Endangered Species on the IUCN Red List.) In November 2011 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) agreed to prohibit the harvest of three species of Hammerhead shark and Tiger sharks in Florida waters. FINS UP to all who worked hard toward making this law happen!

"Finning millions of sharks for a nutritionless, poisonous, overpriced soup is likely the pinnacle of waste, ignorance, and absolute environmental destruction in how we blindly abuse and mass commodify animals as a food source." ~Todd Cameron

When I was a kid I used to spend hours and hours in the pool pretending I was a shark. Not much has changed.... Sharks have been a passion of mine since before I can remember. The JAWS films arrived at an impressionable age for me, fueling the fire, and one of the most amazing experiences I had was an opportunity to dive with sharks on my birthday in the Bahamas. I was hooked!

Unfortunately we are learning that it is the sharks that are now hooked; these animals are hunted in numbers upwards of 100 million a year for their fins which are sold on the Asian markets for big bucks. A bowl of prized shark fin soup (cartilaginous shark fin offers zero nutrition and has no flavour) can sell in excess of $100. Due to this great demand and profits reaching in excess of US $1.2 billion a year, sharks are caught by the hundreds on long-lines (lines up to 150km long with thousands of baited hooks) hauled aboard and after their fins are sliced off and while still alive they are tossed back into the ocean to drown and bleed to death. This can take days... In one year enough long-lines are set out in our oceans to circle the planet 550 times. Essentially one of the oldest, most beautiful and most important species in our largest ecosystem is brutally tortured, maimed, and killed for profit. This barbaric act of 'finning' sharks has to stop now. Not just for sharks but for our oceans, our planet, and ultimately us.

I was always very drawn to water and swimming, but I was seriously involved in other sports and didn't start dedicated swim training until the summer of 2008 around the same time the Beijing Olympics were on. (This was also the first time the 10k open water swim was an event at the Summer Games.) I made an instant connection with the water and I took to all aspects of the sport quickly, did my first race just 4 months later, a 5k open water in the Caribbean and it has been my love, passion and life since. I have been coaching since early 2010 which started out as just helping fellow swimmers and grew from there into LATERAL LINE AQUATIC TRAINING.

In 2010 I traveled to Australia for the Whitsunday Swim, a 14.5km first-time crossing from Whitsunday Island to Hamilton Island in an effort to raise awareness for shark conservation. In very early 2011 I progressed to a 100% plant-based diet training and racing as as a vegan athlete. In late 2011 I started totaling all my swim training and races to span 2300km, the length of the Great Barrier Reef, to help raise funds for Shark Savers. In August 2012 I did my first 10k race, fighting wind, waves and very fast competition. I am super motivated and driven to train hard for a cause I strongly believe in, layering my passions to ‘Swim Fast – For the Sharks’ and dedicate my races towards helping sharks, and by hopefully making some waves I'll raise some awareness and also bring about some much needed change for our oceans.

FINS UP!
Todd Cameron
tc.sharkisland@gmail.com

STATS

DOB: August 11th
Nationality: Canadian
Height: 6’ 1”
Weight: 170 lb
Diet: Raw Vegan Ⓥ
Coach: Self-Coached
Mascot: Harry the Hammerhead
Spirituality: Sphyrna Mokkaran - The ocean is my temple, water my religion, and sharks are my gods...

If I had a knickel for every time I'm asked:

-How many laps/how far did you swim? (I don't count laps, I go by distance. Depends on the workout, average is 5000m - 7500m.)

-Do the shark tattoos make you swim faster? (YES! Of course they do - by intimidating the other swimmers!)

With Rob Stewart, director of SHARKWATER.
Toronto, Canada - June 2011

Harry the Hammerhead, our mascot!

"MUST VISIT" SHARK HOTSPOTS

Blue, Mako - Rhode Island
Great Hammerhead, Tiger, Lemon, Caribbean Reef - Bahamas
Bull - Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Oceanic Whitetip - Cat Island, Bahamas
Great White - Guadalupe Island, Mexico & South Australia
Reef - South Pacific & Great Barrier Reef
Scalloped Hammerhead - Cocos Island, Costa Rica
Whale - Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Oceanic Whitetip - Cat Island, Bahamas

SWIMMING FAST - FOR THE SHARKS
© 2010 - 2013