The Blue Issue

By: Interview by Sonya Magdevski | Photos by Michael Williams | June 10, 2010 |

January Jones is infinitely more comfortable talking about sharks than she is about herself, even though she was 15 years old before she ever saw the ocean. Growing up in the center of the country in Sioux Falls, S.D., 1,500 miles from either coast, made her childhood dream of marine exploration difficult. It was during a family trip to the North Carolina seashore that she caught her first glimpse of the Atlantic’s deep majesty. To describe that initial experience she uses words like “daunting,” “insignificant” and “curious.”

She jokes now that she wanted to become an oceanographer but became an actress instead, though she probably knew more about oceans than entertainment, she admits. Today, through her fame, particularly her Golden Globe-nominated role as Betty Draper on Mad Men, she is better positioned to explore and express her passion for marine life. Last year she joined Oceana, the world’s largest ocean conservation organization, as a spokesperson for her favorite fish in the hopes of using her voice to protect one of the ocean’s top predators and erase their stigma as man-eating ferocious beasts.

The irony is that while Jones is working to save sharks underwater she is navigating an industry on land everyday notorious for being full of “sharks,” and not only in Hollywood. Last year, Jones went to Washington, D.C., for the first time on behalf of Oceana to lobby congress to pass the Shark Conservation Act, a bill that had already unanimously passed through the House of Representatives twice. Not one to defer a challenge, she held 13 meetings on Capital Hill, and by all accounts, they were a huge success, particularly her session with Sen. John McCain. Initially scheduled for 15 minutes, the meeting lasted an hour during which Jones persuaded McCain to speak with the bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Kerry. McCain did and soon became the bill’s co-sponsor.

The Shark Conservation Act would outlaw shark finning in the United States and set a global standard in protecting sharks from this gruesome act where fisherman sever the fins off a live shark and then throw the body overboard to either bleed to death or drown. Either way it is analogous to cutting off someone’s arms and pushing them down a mountain. In the shark’s case, this happens to an estimated 73 million of them annually. Shark fins are prized in Asian cultures for shark-fin soup, an expensive delicacy and status symbol traditionally served at weddings and other celebrations. A rapidly increasing Chinese middle-class is skyrocketing demand for shark fins. Unfortunately, studies have shown that many are unaware of the harvesting practices, believing that fins grow back, while others don’t believe they actually come from sharks.

The problem in deciphering these numbers is that scientists don’t really know how many sharks exist in total making it difficult to quantify just how dire their situation is. Even though sharks have been swimming the world’s oceans for 400 million years — 100 million years before dinosaurs appeared on land — sharks are extremely difficult to study because of their behavior and habitat, according to Oceana marine scientist Elizabeth Wilson. Of the 350 or so shark species, many migrate halfway around the world, live in depths below 100 feet, travel through very rough waters and some, like the great white and tiger sharks, have very large teeth. Sharks live out of sight, and for most, they unfortunately live out of mind, Wilson said, as many engendered species have lost 99 percent of their population without anyone noticing.

But Jones is noticing and apparently Congress is, as well. Since her visit to Washington, The Shark Conservation Act was voted out of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee where it is currently awaiting a vote before the Senate, though its order of priority compared to the financial crisis and the recent devastating Gulf oil spill, another key Oceana concern, is difficult to know. This doesn’t prevent Jones from speaking on behalf of sharks at every opportunity. Malibu Magazine spoke with her two days after she returned home to L.A. from a trip to Belize where she swam with exotically marked 25-foot whale sharks, considered the gentlest giant of the seas reaching a big as 60-feet long. “It was the most amazing experience of my life,” Jones said, “and it would be tragic if they were gone.”

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