To all participants planning to join the Shark Fin Soup Protest in SF Chinatown

Recently there have been shark finning demonstrations in other cities. Some of these events involved participants marching down the street chanting slogans. This may be an effective tactic in those cities, but our event in San Francisco’s Chinatown will use a different approach or tactic. We will not march down the street chanting.

We hope for positive results wherever anti-shark-finning movements are held, and ours will be non-confrontational. San Francisco’s Chinatown is a unique and complex community. Marching and shouting will have little or no effect in this community. It would be perceived as nothing more than a mere nuisance and ignored.

The San Francisco protest will involve strategic placement of small groups of protesters at specifically targeted locations. We will have as many groups as possible spread out to these various locations to maximize the possibility of accomplishing our goal for this event.
Our goal is to educate the public about the health hazards involved and the devastating effects that Shark Fin Soup consumption is having on the environment. We will attempt to convince people to not order or make shark fin soup. We will also try to persuade restaurants to stop offering shark fin soup to their patrons.
We will do this by having our small groups stand in front of the targeted locations holding signs with that message. We will be handing out informational leaflets (written in English and Chinese) detailing the issues connected to shark fin soup consumption. We will use courtesy and respect to convey our message.
We understand that many shark advocates are very passionate about their beliefs. We want to invite the Chinatown community to understand and share our passion and receive our message clearly.

Code of Conduct for Participants in the
SF Chinatown Shark Fin Soup Protest Demonstration

• All participants will conduct themselves in a peaceful and respectful manner.
• Participants shall not make any racial or derogatory remarks towards any person.
• Participants shall not enter any establishment that is being boycotted or picketed.
• Participants shall not block any persons from entering or exiting any building or structure.
• Participants shall not purposely disrupt vehicle or pedestrian traffic.
• NO violence of any kind will be tolerated.

Participants will be required to check in at Portsmouth Square before joining the demonstration.

See you there!

Thank you all ! For the tremendous outpouring of support.

Since announcing the Shark Safe Project and the upcoming event in San Francisco’s Chinatown we have received hundreds of emails from concerned shark lovers and supporters from all over the US and from around the world.
Many people have expressed a sincere interest in starting a similar effort in their own home city. We will do everything we possibly can to continue this effort and provide support for these future efforts.

You all can start now to begin preparing for a successful campaign in your area.

• 
  Reach out to the Chinese and Asian community by contacting schools and various youth groups such as Boy Scout troops, Church groups, sport clubs, schools, etc…
• 
  Offer to speak at group meetings and events about scuba diving and the ocean environment.

Focus on educational aspects about sharks. It would be great to show slide shows and or videos showing the beauty of sharks. Make your presentation educational. Concentrate on educating these groups about the importance of sharks in the marine environment. Speak about how sharks are at risk of extinction due to over fishing and the demand for shark fin soup. Inspire your audience to be passionate about the marine environment and convince them that they can be active in their own community and promote the protection of sharks.

• 
  Create a contact list from your audiences and offer to invite them to future events in their local area.

If you start working on this soon you will have created a wonderful, educated and dedicated group of young people to participate in the “Shark Safe” campaign in your area.

We will soon be announcing future “Shark Safe” campaigns in cities such as New York, Miami, Seattle and Los Angeles. If you live near these cities please start preparing in your area.

Shark Safe Project will soon be able to support you further from our website which is currently under construction.

Thank you all.

Yours in sharks,
The Shark Safe Team

Shark Finning Protest Demonstration in San Francisco's Chinatown

The Shark Safe protest demonstration in San Francisco’s Chinatown will be on
Sunday January 25th at 12:00 noon.
(No football games that day so no excuses!)

Participants will meet at Portsmouth Square San Francisco.
The square is centrally located in Chinatown and a great place to meet. There will be a Shark Safe representative there at all times to meet and greet participants. Picket location assignments and supplies will be distributed from Portsmouth Square.

We have 100 picket signs and stacks of leaflets to be handed out. If you could make a personal banner and/or sign please do so and bring them with you.
We will send groups of 3 or more protesters to targeted restaurant and market locations. There are many locations we wish to picket so we will hit as many as we can as time and attendance allows.

The protest will continue until approximately 7:00 pm. It could be a long day so please bring water and snacks with you. In case of inclement weather please bring a coat and or umbrella.

The San Francisco Police department has been very helpful. They have suggested some rules of conduct that all participants should follow.

Rules of engagement are as follows:

• At no time should any participant block or disrupt street vehicle traffic.
• At no time shall an entrance or exit to any establishment be blocked or barriers of any type be erected that would impede persons from escaping the establishment in case of emergency such as fire or earthquake.
• At no time shall a participant deface any private or public property.
• Loud speakers over 10 dcb are not allowed.
• No violence will be tolerated.
• For emergencies dial 911

Everyone has the right to FREE SPEECH and we are welcome by the city of San Francisco as long as we do not break the law!

Protesters will stand in front of targeted restaurants and shark fin market locations holding signs and banners. Leaflets will be distributed to pedestrians passing by or entering the picket locations. Our goal is to convince patrons to stop patronizing the restaurants that serve shark fin soup and to encourage them to patronize the establishments that do not serve shark fin soup (SHARK SAFE) instead.

Keep it simple!

For questions or more info email us at sharksafe@comcast.net