PELICAN--Nature Foundation has organised a fun and educational shark event for children at Buccaneer Beach Bar from 1:00pm Saturday, June 22. The event will start with a Shark Scavenger Hunt and end with a raffle for all children at 4:00pm.
Shark Day is part of the fourth annual St. Maarten Shark Week organised to educate the community about the importance of sharks and healthy oceans. Beside the yearly activities, a creative activity has been organised with WasteFactory to create shark art from waste at the Shark Day event, said Shark Week organiser Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern.
The scavenger hunt will feature shark objects and shark species that can be found in the surroundings of Buccaneer. Knowledge can be gained and tested about the sharks living in the oceans. The first 60 children participating in the Shark Scavenger hunt will receive a goody package. Each child will receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win prizes such as a tube ride or paddle boat rental.
There are also free-of-charge activities such as shark colouring, shark clay mould, a shark quiz, shark tattoos, shark face painting and shark selfies with hammerhead or great white shark suits.
There will be special shark drinks for adults and children. Proceeds from the sale of these drinks will go to the Nature Foundation’s shark awareness programme.
Shark Day caters to all ages and is free of charge. A US $5 donation is appreciated for the waste-to-shark art activity to cover material cost.
Sharks are not frightening or dangerous, but an important contributor to the ecosystem and important to the local community as they attract valuable dive tourism. Sharks also keep the reefs clean of unhealthy fish, thus keeping the ecosystem in balance.
Healthy oceans need sharks, and humans depend on the oceans. Therefore, we need sharks. Last year only four people died due to a shark bite on this earth; sharks are not a threat to humans, but humans are a threat to sharks as humans kill 100 million a year.
