Jason Momoa took to the internet recently to call some people out, and it was for a damn good reason.
Recently, two fishermen posted a video of themselves cutting off a shark’s fin. And Aquaman—sorry, Jason—was not having it.
WARNING: There may be graphic content contained in this article.
The video of the incident was posted on Facebook.
I watched it so you don’t have to.
In the video, a fisherman cuts off the tail of a shark. They then release the shark back into the water.
Two Icelandic fishermen brazenly show themselves laughing at the end of the video.
It’s completely horrific.
It’s very jarring to see a shark without its tail, and even more jarring to see the people responsible for mutilating it laughing so openly about it.
According to a translation, one of the men says, “Good luck trying to swim, you punk.”
The video was then picked up on social media.
@SavetheReef, an Instagram account for a documentary of the same name, reposted the video to their feed.
They immediately urged their followers to tag everyone they could, in order to spread awareness.
Jason Momoa saw the post.
And he got very, very angry.
His first reaction, perhaps like many of ours, was of sheer disbelief. He first commented, “WTF.”
He then returned to the post to express how he was feeling.
And it wasn’t good.
The cruelty displayed by the fishermen shocked many.
It’s hard to imagine treating a living creature with such callousness, but the two fishermen (and their third partner, who did the actual fin slicing) seemed delighted by the cruelty.
He then took up a cause.
He reposted the video to his own Instagram.
In his caption, he went after the fishermen: Follow @savethereef WTF. [Expletive] these [expletive] I’m so [expletive] upset What is wrong with humans I would give anything to catch these idiots [expletive]. Please repost to get these [expletive].”
It didn’t take the internet long to find the men.
Momoa promptly posted an update. In it, he made sure to humanize the men, but condemn them for their actions:
“And there you are……it sucks to see that you are probably good men friends providers fathers but you [expletive] did this.”
He posted screenshots of their Facebook profiles.
The men had been identified and outed by Icelandic media.
Most fans agreed with his choice to post their Facebook profiles. While others were concerned, it was quickly pointed out that their names were public knowledge already.
And he had some strong words for them.
He wrote: “Your life will forever change I have never in my life seen something so cruel.
Your laugh makes me furious never have I wanted to hurt a human as much as I did when I heard your laugh and what u said.”
He wasn’t done.
He finished: “This will change you and hopefully you will save and protect I pray you find redemption.
we all make mistakes but what u did was evil PURE EVIL.
You will get what that shark got. [Expletive] YOU j”
This story may have a happy-ish ending, though.
In @SavetheReef’s post, they indicated that the men faced consequences for their actions.
“Thankfully, these men were promptly fired from their jobs on board […]”
At the very least, the two lost their jobs.
And they’re now facing legal charges.
@SavetheReef also indicated that the law was involved.
“[…] it also seems that the men broke several laws and could face up to a million ISK (roughly $8,000) in fines on animal cruelty charges […]”
They also had a few words about the incident.
In their post about the subject, they said:
“Sadly, it’s this kind of senseless killing that will be the end of our marine life, environment and eventually our own species too unless we change RIGHT AWAY!”
They also identified the type of shark in the video.
“It’s absolutely disgusting that 2 fishermen recorded and laughed as another cuts off the tail (caudal fin) of what looks like a Greenland Shark.”
In terms of endangered species, The Greenland Shark is considered “Near Threatened.”
RELATED STORIES
The person who nabbed the video had a message for the internet, as well.
Christel Ýr Johansen originally reuploaded the video after seeing one of the fishermen post it.
She wrote: “The guy is so proud of himself that he disabled comments because no one seems to agree with him … got a screengrab before he closed that … share at will.”