In a controversial video bound to raise a few eyebrows underwater photographer Douglas Kiesling takes us into the world of unregulated shark encounters:
Here is the video from this past weekend while I was out on location in the Gulf of Mexico with our Southwest Florida Weather Paparazzi, Brian. We were working on a Coral Reef video project when we encountered a pair of the largest sharks in the world, Whale Sharks. The first Whale Shark was about 25 feet in length and the second Whale Shark was at least 30 feet in length.
The most amazing thing that happened was that when the group of divers we were with in the water got near the larger Whale Shark, it stopped and let everyone rub its back and head. It acted as if the divers were there to clean it and must have thought we were a cleaning station. This gave everyone that was in the water with the larger Whale Shark a once in a lifetime experience since this was out in the wild and is an extremely rare event.
In the video below, I shot the footage in the water while Brian was on the boat and shot the topside footage. That is until put his camera away and jumped into the water with the rest of us to swim with the gentle giants.
The great Guadalupe Island Squid Mystery seems to be solved with an email we received this morning and it looks like we might be contributing to science.
Aloha Annie et al.,
The squid is Leachia dislocata . It is the third arms that are elongated, not the fourth but this is difficult to tell from the photograph. The squid looks (pigmentation) like it is close to maturity. I hope that it was preserved. It is a valuable specimen and should be sent to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (c/o Dr. Eric Hochberg).
Best wishes, Dick
Editors Note: The specimen was saved, and then thrown out last night as it was sitting in the chefs freezer on board the MV Horizon. The good news is the crew went "dumpster diving" as soon as we called and our little Leachia dislocata has been brought back for science...in the nick of time.
Science ain't pretty sometimes but the crew of the MV Horizon and Shark Diver will go to almost any lengths to help it along.
Shark conservation efforts typically run the extremes, like many complex user and socially emotional animal issues. Within the conservation community stances like The Humane Society "no take" to other "catch and release" groups seem at times at odds with the overall issue of saving sharks.
One duo, the Paxton Brothers, take a middle road. Acknowledging the rights of fishermen to catch sharks, at the same time pushing for strong catch and release methods and tagging protocols.
Change begins when you recognise the validity of your conservation subject to do what they do.
We support the Paxton Brothers for the middle road in shark conservation. Changing habits is a long term investment in time, outreach, and understanding.
This years Shark Week has garnered the usual media hysteria and a sharp backlash from both the shark community and the research community. We all know Shark Porn sells, but this years offerings by Discovery and media promotions go beyond even the worst of fears by the community at large.
Throughout Discovery Networks have been countering this growing opposition with hasty conservation media themes, slapped together press releases and bizarre partnerships with credible NGO's who are struggling to bring shark conservation awareness to a larger audience.
The entire production reminds us of liquor commercials targeted to underage adults, with the quick "Please Drink Responsibly" tag at the end.
We were going to point out one such Shark Porn Media Band Aid this week but a new blogger The Dorsal Fin beat us to it, succinctly wrapping up Discovery Networks ongoing folly.
When a Blue Blogger gets it right the first time, we post the whole thing. Kudos:
Kerry Teams Up With Discovery
According to the article, Kerry teams with cable channel to protect sharks, the Discovery Channel has “teamed up” with Massachusetts Senator, John Kerry, to support the The Shark Conservation Act of 2009, which is intended to strengthen the ban on shark finning in the U.S. and encourage international shark conservation. The article features a letter from John Ford, the President & General Manager of Discovery Channel, in which Ford states that Discovery Channel will be participating in “a public service announcement campaign, to air throughout Shark Week, with the goal of educating viewers about the plight of sharks and encouraging them to take action.” and that they will be “putting all of our media weight behind this effort.”
Ford also says, “As the #1 non-fiction media company in the world, Discovery Communications strives to educate and inform viewers about our planet. The flagship network, Discovery Channel, reaches over 98 million viewers in the U.S. alone and is committed to providing the highest quality content on television."
I wonder if the video above is what Ford considers to be striving to “educate and inform.” If this kind of media is the “highest quality content on television,” people might be better off pulling an Elvis and shooting their t.v.
I really wish the Discovery Channel would put “ALL their media weight” into a conservation-minded Shark Week, but it seems like a good chunk of their media weight has been put into promoting fear and misconceptions regarding sharks. For Shark Week 2009, The Discovery Channel has “put their media weight” behind 4 different ads involving fictional shark attacks on humans (like the one seen above), the Frenzied Waters website, and a YouTube Channel page, which features bloody water and floating articles of clothing presumably to be from shark attack victims.
Kerry was quoted as saying, “We need to get serious, and I’m thrilled to see Discovery Channel’s willingness to roll up its sleeves and help get the job done,” in reference to shark population declines and the disruption of the oceans as a result of the finning industry. Eliciting fear towards sharks to increase your ratings (and ad revenues) and then turning around and proclaiming to being committed to shark conservation is hardly “rolling up your sleeves” and helping to “get the job done,” as far as I’m concerned.
Editors Note: Discovery is not totally at fault. As long as industry members both in the dive community and research community are willing to partner with productions and anti shark themed Shark Porn this production model will be with us for many years to come. Change begins at an industry level. Shark Porn programming can be changed to offer embedded conservation themes that educate as well as thrill.
