Featured Image Credit: Fin For A Fin
By Sarah Sharkey
Mike Coots created Fin for a Fin to ensure that if a surfer loses their life to a shark, it will not be killed if that goes against the surfers wishes.
In 1997, Coots lost his leg in an encounter with a tiger shark. Although others may have wanted to kill that shark, he decided he did not want it killed. Coots says this of the incident and his solution to the problem of shark killing, “Sure, I lost my leg. But if a shark takes my life, I don’t want it dead. It’s a surf fin that acts as a statement for shark protection.”
The fin acts similarly to a organ donor card. After buying the fin, the surfer is added into the registry that lets people know you do not want sharks to be killed even if you lose your life to a shark in an unlikely event.
The thruster goes on the bottom side on the board. The set up is $160 AUD and one fin is $180 AUD. For now the campaign is only in Australia, but it is likely that it will spread to the US soon.
The profits from the campaign are being used in multiple ways to help sharks around the globe.
Educating people about sharks is one key component and funding a shark alert system (Dorsal) is another way that Coots is helping to protect sharks and surfers alike.