January Jones supports the sharks By: Amie Parnes December 29, 2009 04:18 AM EST

By AMIE PARNES | 12/29/09 4:18 AM EST Close Top of Form

In February, January Jones joined Oceana at the Bimini Biological Field Station, also known as

'The Shark Lab,' in the Bahamas. | Photos by Tim Calver Close Bottom of Form When the environmental group Oceana wanted to have an impact on legislation on shark conservation, it knew it had a trump card: The group called in “Betty Draper.”

Actress January Jones, who plays Draper on the popular television series “Mad Men,” brought her classic looks and Hollywood cachet to Capitol Hill in September, trying to sway a long line of senators, including John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barbara Boxer (D- Calif.), to support the Shark Conservation Act of 2009.

With one solo appearance on the Hill and nearly two days of back-to-back interviews with the press, Jones helped create some buzz for the issue.

In an interview with POLITICO at the time, Jones said her aim was to eliminate “the stigma that sharks have, that they’re this man-eater or that we’d be better off without them.”

“They are the apex predator of our oceans, and without them everything else goes out of balance so our oceans will suffer without them,” she said.

And she doesn’t just do desk duty: Jones filmed a public service announcement in Bimini, where the self-described “wimpy little actress girl” swam in the ocean with sharks and came out unscathed.

Jones is the latest in a string of celebrities pushing ocean-related causes. Kate Walsh of “Private Practice” has been advocating on behalf of sea turtles, an endangered species. And Sigourney Weaver has been lending her voice to the ocean acidification issue, narrating a documentary on the topic for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“When I think of how much I’ve taken the oceans for granted, as this vast mysterious place that we know so little about, I think that I wanted to be a part of letting people know that this was yet another cost of burning fossil fuels,” Weaver said in a recent interview on WNYC’s "Leonard Lopate Show" in New York.

Those in the enviromental movement say 2009 was a good year for celebrity support of water issues.

“We love the attention that the oceans are getting, and having it be a cause of the year, so to speak, is a good thing,” said Beth Lowell, federal policy director of Oceana, who has worked with Jones and other celebrities to lobby for ocean-related issues.

Until recently, Lowell says water causes have been “struggling to get attention. But when celebrities are putting attention on certain issues, it does raise awareness.”

Philippe Cousteau Jr., the co-founder of EarthEcho International and the chief ocean correspondent for Animal Planet, says that ocean-related issues are finally getting the time they deserve.

“Water is a growing issue here in the United States and is one of the largest issues of the 21st century.” Cousteau said. “It’s gaining momentum as a crisis of very serious, epic proportions.”

Lowell said the goal of Jones’s trip to Washington — on the heels of a public service announcement Jones had taped — was “to drive attention to the issue.”

The Shark Conservation Act of 2009 passed the House earlier this year. And since Jones’s visit to the Hill, the legislation cleared the Senate Commerce Committee and is awaiting action on the Senate floor.

“We’re looking for fast action,” she said. “We hope we can find a window to push this.”

Still, a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid said he did not know when the legislation would be debated as health care continues to dominate the upper chamber.

Lowell said lobbying for the legislation has been anything but easy since sharks have a slight public relations problem: “Ever since the movie ‘Jaws,’ people associate big teeth and sharks.”

Cousteau agrees: “Pop culture and media got us into this problem. Maybe it can contribute to getting us out.”

But he is well aware of what resistance may lie ahead.

“We’ve still got some reticent lawmakers who are advocating for shark thinning,” Cousteau continued. “It’s mind-boggling to me that it’s still a debate here in the U.S. They should be ashamed of themselves."

But Lowell said Jones has helped drive the message that “You should be sacred for sharks not scared of sharks.”

And she said the push will continue soon. Oceana plans to bring Jones back to Washington to lobby the White House sometime next year.