PHOTOS: Live Like Luke Beach Cleanup Features New GHS Club Dedicated to Sharks

On Saturday morning the weather gods cooperated and volunteers turned out in droves for the Tod’s Point (Greenwich Point) cleanup.

In fact, according to Green & Clean executive director Kanako MacLennan over 250 people registered in advance to volunteer.

The event was inspired by Luke Meyers, a GHS student activist who lost his battle with cancer in 2019. Luke was part of the GHS Environmental Action Club and a Bruce Museum Seaside Center volunteer. He was dedicated to making improvements to the environment and the quality of life in Greenwich, and the beach cleanups honor his legacy.

“It’s a moment to learn, not just a clean up,” MacLennan said. “It’s about protecting the ocean, Long Island Sound and the environment. One person can’t do it alone.”

Bob Conlan the advisor to the GHS Environmental Action Club put Saturday’s effort into context.

“We could pick up every single piece of trash here today,” he said. “And tomorrow, because of the tides, it will bring in more trash.”

But Mr. Conlan was not discouraged.

“The kids are passionate. It’s a community event and it grows every year,” he said.

An impressive new club at GHS, the Shark Conservation Club, shared a shocking information about sharks.

Cal Stranzl –founder and president who is a junior at GHS – accompanied by Caroline Boyea, Alexander Robles, and Antonio Leal – said there were numerous threats to sharks starting with their undeserved bad reputation.

Antonio Leal, GHS freshman and club vice president, said sharks are unfairly portrayed as demons.

“Most of the time sharks are not responsible for deaths. Only four species are responsible for the attacks on humans. All the other sharks are ones people have never heard of,” he said.

“Compared to the sharks that are killing us, we are killing around 150 million a year, which is a crazy number,” Cal said.

“This is so important but I feel like people just haven’t heard about it. I did not know about any of it until I met Cal in middle school and she opened my eyes,” said club member, Caroline Boyea.

Cal said she previously lived in Canada where she first learned about endangered sharks from a documentary by film maker and conservationist, Rob Stewart.

“Rob Stewart died sadly in 2017, but because of his work, today, the US and Canada have both banned shark finning and the shark fin trade,” she said. “It’s still happening illegally, unfortunately because there is still a demand.”

Stewart’s film, “Sharkwater,” is about the importance of sharks to ecosystems and humankind’s mass destruction of shark species worldwide.

“I started the Shark Conservation at the beginning of this year,” Cal said. “We’re dedicated to the conservation and preservation of sharks, mainly through awareness and education.”

What are sharks killed for?

“They’re killed for their fins, their cartilage, and for the oil in their liver,” Cal explained. “And they are a delicacy in Asia.”

Cal said that sharks don’t have a bladder like bony fishes. Instead, she said, they have an oil called squalene.

“If you read labels on the back of many products, you’ll see it’s an ingredient in your conditioner, your shampoo, your makeup. It’s in so many things.”

(Squalene is also found in cosmetic products including sunscreens, anti-aging creams, lotions, deodorants, eye shadows, lip balms, lipstick, and face cleansers.)

As for shark fin soup Cal said, “These sharks actually die very slowly after their fins are cut off.”

“Sharks rely on ram ventilation to breathe and they have to keep moving to breathe, so when they can’t move, they slowly suffocate.”

“And, when they cut off their fins, they’re wasting 98% of their bodies,” she added.

“There’s actually no flavor to the squalene, you can only eat it in a broth that they add flavor to,” she added.

Antonio had the idea to chalk a silhouette of a deceased person – like a crime scene– to drive home the point that sharks are demonized in the media.

He said likelihood of being killed by a shark was nominal.

“You’re more likely to die from a vending machine falling on you, from cows, or from mosquitos,” Cal said. “Sharks aren’t actually that dangerous.”

“The most ridiculous thing about it is that only about 10 to 15 people die in the entire world from shark attacks,” Cal added. “About 96% of time you’re in the water, there is a shark swimming next to you. If you put it in perspective, sharks are fish, they live in the ocean. It’s their habitat.”

The Shark Conservation Club hopes readers will take the next step and read labels before purchasing products.

“If there is squalene, don’t buy it,” Cal said. “Look for sustainable fisheries and support them rather than unsustainable practices. And, of course, don’t eat shark fin soup.”

In addition to the Greenwich High School Environmental Action Club, some of the many participants in the educational aspect of the cleanup event included the Greenwich Shellfish Commission, The Greenwich Sustainability Committee, The Riverside Association, Bruce Museum Seaside Center, Greenwich Point conservancy, Greenwich Recycling Advisory Board, Greenwich Green & Clean, the Live Like Luke Group, Waste Free Greenwich, Friends of Greenwich Point, Old Greenwich Garden club, Friends of Binney Park, and the Old Greenwich Association