Shark Diver : Shark Diving : Swimming With Sharks

Dates Announced for Whale Shark Festival in Isla Mujeres, Mexico

2012-02-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

ISLA MUJERES, MEXICO, Feb 02, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --Celebrating the beauty and culture of Isla Mujeres, Mexico, andchampioning the need to preserve a fragile marine ecosystem,ecotourism travel agency Ceviche Tours and the Isla MujeresDepartment of Tourism announce the Fifth Annual Whale Shark Festival,a community extravaganza that showcases the achievements, traditionsand environmental splendor of Isla Mujeres.

The Festival will be held June 15-17, 2012 in Isla Mujeres, QuintanaRoo, Mexico.

Last year thousands flocked to the family-friendly Whale SharkFestival, which offers guests an opportunity to participate inecotourism adventures such as swimming with whale sharks, the largestfish in the ocean and an endangered species; swimming with sailfish;join in traditional dancing performed by local troupes; exploringancient Mayan ruins and much more.

Proceeds from the Whale Shark Festival will be donated to Amigos deIsla Contoy, a 501c3 non-profit organization that is involved in theeducation of the local population on sustainable marine conservationand ecotourism.

Sustainable Ecotourism The Whale Shark Festival is an effort toraise awareness for the need to preserve the area's marine ecosystem.Isla Mujeres is part of the second largest barrier reef on theplanet, and serves as the nursery of the Caribbean and the migratorypath of whale sharks, sea turtles, water fowl and game fishes.

"Sustainable ecotourism engages guests in the effort to preserve theculture of Isla Mujeres, their way of life and the marineenvironment," said John Vater, who co-founded Ceviche Tours with hiswife, Adriana, and longtime friend and Isla Mujeres native Luis"Cuco" Refugio and his family.

Swim with 200+ Whale Sharks Kicking off the Festival will be thewhale shark bloom, when hundreds of these gentle giants come togetherto swim in a group near the coast of Isla Mujeres. As many as 1,400whale sharks may make their way through the waters north of IslaMujeres every summer according to Dr. Robert Hueter, Director of theCenter for Shark Research, Mote Marine Laboratory and scheduledspeaker at the 2012 Whale Shark Festival.

The Isla Mujeres Tourism Department Director, Eyder Jahil Hoth Perez,stated, "Through this event tourism awareness about the whale sharkhas increased over the last several years, especially regarding theneed to protect all our species and natural resources.Ecotourism-related activities have also been creating a new cultureof respect and care for our natural resources in the new generationsof islanders. In this, children have been playing a very importantrole toward changing behaviors that were unsustainable in the longterm."

Exciting Activities for the Whole Family Guests of the Festival canparticipate in a wide array of activities:

Swimming with Whale Sharks -- Guests can swim with whale sharks andjoin a conservation effort spearheaded by ECOCEAN, a non-profitorganization that maintains the global Whale SharkPhoto-Identification Library, a visual database of the uniquemarkings, or spots, that can identify individual whale sharks andtrack them. Guests can add their underwater photos of the whalesharks to ECOCEAN's global database.

Fun for Families -- The Festival will feature many educationalchildren's activities about environmental conservation.

Academic Seminars and Film Showcase Scientists from around the worldwill attend to present a series of Academic Seminars on marinebiology, sustainable ecotourism and Mayan architecture. Renownedmarine biologist Rafael de la Parra, who discussed his groundbreakingresearch, "An Unprecedented Aggregation of Whale Sharks, Rhincodontypus, in Mexican Coastal Waters of the Caribbean Sea" at last year'sWhale Shark Festival, will again be speaking and also organizing the2012 panel of distinguished speakers.

The Oxygen Shark Myth - Debunking the Bunkable

2012-02-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

What would Steve Zissou say?

Ah, yes, and now it is an open discussion, any takers?

We're talking about the Sea Shepherd School of WTF Media inspired shark conservation quackery about sharks and oxygen.

You know the one we are talking about because it goes something like this:

"If we lose all the worlds sharks we will run out of oxygen to breathe".

The single most stunning moronic conservation quote of the century. Based not in fact, created to help sell a film, and gobbled up like Conservation PEZ by those who trade exclusively in "shark conservation chatter".

But don't take our word for it.

Good old Da Shark in Fiji has taken this issue on like few others can with a nice mixture of ranting, analogy, historical context, links to others, and yes some freaking science people!

For Want of Some Freaking Science

So here we are with a veritable tide of discontent directed at the purveyors of the oxy shark myth, and so far nothing. No push back, no irate "how dare you," nothing at all. We would have thought if this juicy factoid about sharks was in fact true that our constant poking at shark conservations "most hallowed media byte" would have elicited at least a good old fashioned "F%@!% you".

Frankly we're disappointed.

The oxy shark myth is one more nail in the coffin for an entire grass roots movement begging for credibility and clinging to a never ending series of high energy Facebook postings, twice baked petitions, and Hockey Mom Hysteria based on the cracked and crumbling foundation of, "if we lose all the worlds sharks we will run out of oxygen to breathe".

We even saw this garbage on a recent petition to get NY to go shark fin free. Naturally we didn't sign said petition, like we wouldn't sign a petition from shark finners who claimed that sharks are now growing their fins back.

In any language or culture, a lie is a lie, made up conservation facts expose the shallowness of the people behind them. Is this a conservation movement or a spiraling media cesspool?

The question begs about the oxy shark myth, so, can we get some freaking shark science here people?

And for those who read in complete sentences, more great stuff here and even more here.

Welcoming the New Guys - Nantucket Shark Divers!

2012-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time coming but through it all Captain Bryce Rohrer has maintained a steady head of steam and enthusiasm you only find from truly dedicated shark diving folks.

The end result is Nantucket Shark Divers the place to be for shark diving in the USA off the East coast in the summer and fall:

Nantucket Island is home to many species of sharks during the warmer months of the year. From June through October species such as blues, makos, threshers, great whites and basking sharks call the waters off the island home. Nantucket Shark Divers has perfected the game of finding and interacting with these animals both above and below the water. With years of experience and a flawless safety record we are able provide novice and experienced divers alike a world class day of adventure on the water. Whether you are a professional looking for photographs or a beginner looking to get in the cage we have over 10 years of experience to make sure you get as much out of the day as possible. Our aim is to provide our clients with a first rate safe and successful wildlife experience. We also offer shark and whale watch viewing trips from the safety of the boat. For an experience you won't forget book a trip with us in search of sharks and witness nature at it’s peak. Sharks and whales are guaranteed on every trip.

We wish these guys the very best and good luck with the white shark hunt that kicks off in a few months from now, make the industry proud guys!

Diane MacEachern Firing on all Cylinders?

2012-01-31T09:33:00.000-08:00

Beware the Nurse shark encounter experts

As much as we dislike the current trend within the the shark conservation community to fabricate facts, inflate research numbers, and simplify complex issues down to the level of single celled organisms, we're no fans of those who take on the commercial shark diving industry either.

Enter Diane MacEachern, a blogger who dropped a stinker of an article onto the Internet this week with all the grace and finesse of a Hakapik wielding sealer on a Canadian ice flow.

The article is called Shark Cage Diving: Helping or Hurting? and it's filled to the brim with assumptions, non facts, and a quote from a guy who's selling a book:

“In general, people are intruding upon and disturbing wild animals far too much. We need to leave them alone and in peace far more than we do. Shark cage diving is a good example of how we are messing around with great white sharks too much, habituating them to people, having them associate chum (bait) with people, and drawing them to locations where surfers and divers are recreating.“

Yes, yes, we have heard this all before, but has anyone heard of the great pro-industry research data into white shark habituation from Australia? How about Isla Guadalupe?

The fact is articles like these, written by self avowed sharks divers (Diane's total shark experience was a fetid pool with a lone Nurse shark in it) do a lot of harm to an industry that we recently blogged about. One that suffers, three decades on, from an almost complete lack of regional and government/tourism support.

Globally our industry generates tens of millions of dollars and educates tens of thousands of divers, and remains one of the safest adventure sport industries out there. That's a fact. The rest of it, the assumptions that regionally our industry is responsible for shark attacks on surfers, divers, and little kids on inflatable dinosaurs is just, "pull it out of your ass media meat grinder material". There's nothing to back any of it up, not a single paper, no data, just good old fashioned hysteria.

Unfortunately it plays, and plays well, especially when Nurse shark diving experts, afraid of attacks, decide to get busy with blogs.

What our industry does not do well is handle mainstream media output. In terms of an international body we handle the few ridiculous industry videos, idiotic images, and industry/conservation messaging with the same care and preparation that a five year old exhibits with a set of overlarge paint brushes, three color paint, and small black and white images asking one to, "paint in the lines".

We need to do better.

In terms of a global industry, after 30 years, it is high time to create an industry body. One that works with regional government and tourism members for support, action, and one that handles the global media output. A few images and video, some shot years ago, are still being used today to malign an entire industry worldwide. These images appear for simplistic reasons, and no one is ever held accountable. But they do damage none the less.

It's an interesting thought, a global commercial shark diving body, and a bold vision, we wonder if anyone is up for a challenge?

Sustainable Shark Fishing? Starts With a Study

2012-01-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

Sustainable shark fishing? You need data first

A MURDOCH University PhD student will spend a year living among Indonesian shark fishermen to investigate their impact on shark populations and the effects of conservation efforts on fishing communities.

Vanessa Jaiteh hopes her project, beginning at the end of this week through Murdoch’s Asia Research Centre and Centre for Fish, Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems, will contribute to future sustainability of declining fish stocks in Indonesia that support thousands of villagers living in poverty.

“I’m trying to identify trade-offs between shark management initiatives and their impact on the livelihood, security, and economic welfare of remote shark fishing communities,” she says.
Ms Jaiteh’s 14-month field research involves her living in three or four remote fishing villages in the Maluku Spice Islands and West Papua for several months at a time, going on fishing expeditions and doing fish market surveys.

Once she has a feel for how they live she will conduct structured interviews and focus group discussions.

Ms Jaiteh will also assess shark numbers and sizes from fixed camera footage and onboard observations of captured sharks to gain some of the first significant data on Indonesian shark populations and uncover the effectiveness of conservation areas and how much fishing pressure it can sustain.

While Indonesia is the world’s largest harvester of shark fin, the industry remains largely unregulated with no legal framework beyond a 2006 national action plan of only a few pages that are not based on scientific findings.

However, Ms Jaiteh says marine management efforts “are often based on biological data alone, and therefore do not take into account the livelihood requirements of local fishers as stakeholders”.
“If fishers are not considered in management decisions, the result could be illegal fishing or greater poverty among fishing communities,” she says.

She says livelihoods are already under pressure due to Coral Triangle marine protection areas in traditional fishing zones forcing fishermen travel farther on increasingly expensive fuel.

Ms Jaiteh says a potential way to improve the situation would be to get villagers out of shark fishing and into aquaculture, especially as Indonesia wants to double its fishing productivity by 2014.

Ms Jaiteh’s research is made possible by the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Outgoing Postgraduate Award, which provides financial support for Australian postgraduate students to do research in Asia that works towards strengthening the relationships between Australia and Asian countries.

Complete story here.

Shark Diving Industry Thank You to Tourism Minister Gail Gago!

2012-01-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

Tourism Minister Gail Gago's new shark plane, this is how you do it folks!

Mention commercial shark diving and we'll show you years of media turmoil surrounding any particular site on the planet.

Except for Fiji.

Most of the media discontent is based on one simple fact.

Regional politicians and tourism officials are usually too timid to stand behind our industry.

In some places politicians even callously use our industry as a wedge issue, calling in and stoking what amounts to media air strikes on operations that have exhibited nothing but 100% operational excellence. Believe it, it happens.

But thankfully we have Australia this week to show the way.

Tourism Minister Gail Gago has unveiled a new, rare, and forward thinking partnership with regional shark diving operators and airlines to bring more tourists to where the sharks are in the form of a white shark cage diving airplane:

"Ninety nine percent of tourism is marketing, is selling a message. We know that people fatigue to messages very quickly, so the trick is to try to keep creating novel and clever, and new and innovative ways to get your message across", says Minister Gago.

We could not have said it better, and Kudos to Minister Gail Gago from an entire global industry this week.

Russell Easton...of all the sleazy shark divers

2012-01-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Russell Easton's stolen shark attack image?

The dive industry is a funny place.

For the most part folks are content to experience the wonders of the undersea realm, rinse, and repeat.

Then there are folks like Russell Easton who are a newer kind of diver, ones who are seeking to "make a name" for themselves.

You almost can't blame small minded shark divers like Russell. For the past decade a few within the shark world have schooled guys like him with a never ending parade of stupid stunts with sharks.

We have all seen the images and sadly the videos too.

These shark stunts get picked up by the mainstream press, usually to the somewhat hollow industry member howls of, "we didn't know the press was that bad!" and then broadcast all over the world.

Guys like Russell here are just waiting for their chance to be a media big shot.

And they get it from this gal, Alison Smith-Squire, who is a writer, journalist and media agent selling exclusive real life stories to newspapers, magazines and TV. She owns the Sell My Story website Featureworld.co.uk, which was set up to help ordinary people, like our friend Russell, sell their stories to the press for as much as $9000 USD.

Not bad stuff if you can get it.

Problem with this months mega viral "shark attack story" featuring Mr.Easton is the fact that he allegedly ripped the images of him getting mauled by a Tiger in the Bahamas from another diver who was there on the same dive. The one who took these images of Russell in the first place.

It's a bit of an industry blow out right now.

You have Tiger shark image sets that malign a perfectly good and safe shark diving site, the shark attack subject which makes everyone involved look like rank amateurs, and the fact images were allegedly stolen, sold to the highest bidder, and then regurgitated onto the main media stage like the stomach contents of an overheated Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus).

By the way Condors are vultures that feed exclusively on rotted matter so we thought the analogy was spot on.

Is there a solution to this?

Probably, if we can get past the howls of "we didn't know the press was that bad!".

We might suggest that Russell appear on some sort of Banned Forever Shark Diving List, his dreams of going to Cat Island should be crushed, and if he ever finds himself at at DEMA with a name tag that says "HI, I'M RUSSELL EASTON," taken out the back and dumped into the nearest trashbin.

Hopefully one that is packed full with the stomach contents of several overheated Andean Condors (Vultur gryphus).

You get the picture, and sadly for the rest of us, we get to clean up what Russell's picture left behind.

Frazier Nivens - Helping Out a Good Friend!

2012-01-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

Frazier Nivens in the center, celebrating the completion of another commercial production in the Bahamas, 2011.

For those who know him they know he's one of the last, truly, great guys in our industry. He's also extremely talented underwater and we have thoroughly enjoyed the time we have spent working with him in the Bahamas.

Unfortunately Frazier suffered a setback this month in the form of a detached retina and whopping medical bill.

The eye will heal and for an underwater cameraman shooting RED this is great news indeed.

The whopping bill is another issue all together.

If you want to help there's a fund that's been set up to help Frazier out. We're in, and with the help of friends, he'll fully recover this setback as well.

Online Benefit Donation Page

Or checks can be mailed to:

First State Bank
101433 Overseas Hwy.
Key Largo, FL 33037

Make checks payable to: Frazier Nivens Benefit Account

Sharks and the Global Supply of Oxygen?

2012-01-25T18:23:00.000-08:00

Dwindling sharks = no oxygen, the quote that will not go away

It started as a throwaway conservation quote a few years ago.

Completely devoid of any facts, empirical data, or even common sense, it has since snowballed into shark conservations most enduring media quote.

Much to the chagrin of serious shark conservation folks who would rather it go away - forever.

We're talking about the great non debate of Sharks and Oxygen, you know the one:

"If we lose the worlds sharks, we will run out of oxygen!"

The phrase was first uttered in it's most simplistic form back in 2008 during the promotion of the film Sharkwater (go to timeline 3.13). It has since taken on a life of it's own among those who trade in rumor, hysteria, and Facebook tribal gatherings where facts, common sense, and the twisted logic of gasbagging conservation statements are rarely considered.

But consider them we must, because the playing field for shark conservation has changed dramatically since the early days of 2008 and now we have an actual movement on hand, one that is being eyed at by big fishing interests and politicians.

It's a conservation nexus where words matter and facts even more so.

I would like to propose that we do away with or retire this poor excuse for a media quote:

"If we lose the worlds sharks, we will run out of oxygen!"

Perhaps to be replaced with something a bit more tidy?

Sadly, the gulf between those who are relevant in the shark conservation movement, those who get things done vs the loony fringe who cling to outdated media quotes seemingly designed and crafted by the Paul Watson School of Media WTF!? is growing on a daily basis.

Adopting a straight and universal media narrative for sharks is not only important, it is imperative, if the movement is to stay relevant and frisky into 2013 and beyond.

Brother, you got a good shark quote?

Last Stand for Sharks January 30th , 2012

2012-01-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Film: Last Stand for Sharks

WHEN

Monday, January 30, 2012

6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

WHERE

Embarcadero Center Cinema, One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level, San Francisco, CA 94111

Landmark Theatres

San Francisco, California

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

About Sanctuary: The Last Stand for Sharks
This film portrays the underwater world of sharks and paints a global picture of the threats they are facing worldwide. Globally shark populations are declining, but there is growing momentum to protect sharks. Many locations are recognizing that sharks are worth more alive than dead, contributing both to the economy and the stability of crucial marine ecosystems like coral reefs. Some countries have even established shark sanctuaries throughout the entirety of their waters.

A shark sanctuary is a place where sharks can live and reproduce without the threat of fishing. Since many shark species are migratory, the establishment of small protected areas or breeding closures is not enough to protect sharks that may leave the boundary of safety. Shark sanctuaries present an opportunity to protect sharks over a larger scale before it is too late.

About the Pew Environment Group
The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nongovernmental organization that works globally to establish pragmatic, science-based policies that protect our oceans, preserve our wildlands, and promote clean energy. For information, visit http://www.pewenvironment.org/.

About the Coral Reef Alliance
The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) unites communities to save coral reefs. CORAL provides education, tools, and inspiration to help local communities become passionate environmental stewards of the reefs. Together, we develop well-managed marine protected areas and sustainable businesses to benefit coral reefs and people. For more information, visit http://www.coral.org/.

Registration is required for this event. Use the link below to register. Please RSVP by Friday, January 27, 2012.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The Pew Charitable Trusts makes every effort to comply with federal, state and local government ethics rules when hosting events. Please make sure that your participation is consistent with applicable ethics rules.

Shark warning website planned - Cool

2012-01-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

Co-Direct of Sustainable Tourism Research and Development at Curtin University, Professor Carlsen is working on an interactive site which would post warning and then sent out that information by email.

Currently, around 100 people have signed up to both send and receive information about shark movements.

"I feel that if I had had some knowledge about the presence of the shark I would have exercised more caution before going into the water."

Do people have information, wonders Professor Carlsen, "particularly whether they're are able to tap into local knowledge and any local sightings".

At the moment, the site is in development, he says. The next stage is to prove the concept.
"We're looking for surfers to sign up to sharkwatch.info. I'm pleased to say we've just hit 100."
The site needs to be interactive and to get the message out in the most effective way explains Professor Carlsen. "At this stage, we're looking at email alerts.

"Further down the track, we could be doing all sorts of things like SMS alerts and dedicated web pages and links to popular sites that surfers use such as Coastal Watch and Sea Breeze and so on"
When the site is operation, people will be able to report a shark sighting and to have that sighting confirmed by others. Professor Carlsen is also hoping to provide maps to specify locations.

"Anyone that signed up and has nominated that beach as one of their local beaches will get an email alert about the sighting.

Complete story here.

Shark Diver in Afghanistan? Oh, Yeah!

2012-01-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

Right next to the bomb shelter, nice!

A good buddy at the Bagram airfield in Afghanistan, home to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing and several thousand of our hard working military decided to plant the Shark Diver flag week.

As you can see, once again, Shark Diver wins the award for appearing at the least likely and most remote places on the planet.

We now have Shark Diver awareness on two research submarines, on road signs all over Iraq, Bagram airfield, Cuba, and even on the back of a Taiwanese shark fishing boat somewhere in the South Pacific.

Just wanted to let those shark fishing bastards know we're watching them.

Thanks again to the Major, hope you liked the t-shirts we sent to you and your crew. Stay safe.

For Want Of A Shark - Brilliant Blogging!

2012-01-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while along comes some great shark blogging and this week it is our high honor to introduce you to some thought provoking stuff from Deep Sea News and rickmac.

For Want Of A Shark

Causal relationships can be fiendishly tricky. Spend an hour watching any of Star Trek Voyager’s time travel episodes and you begin to understand why the show’s writers often resort to lines such as, “It’s better if we don’t talk about this too much.” Consider another example of causality. I’m hammering-out this post at home with a real doozy of a head cold. My sinuses are completely congested. I can feel a chest full of gunk as I breathe. And my body generally feels achy and sore. Retracing my steps, I might place contraction from surface contact or airborne transmission at work where one of my officemates was complaining last week of “a cold.” Or it may have been aboard the overheated, moist Petri dish of my commuter ferry. Or maybe it was from the plates, silverware, water, or food from any of the restaurants I visited last week.

Not having the Center for Disease Control’s Epidemic Intelligence Service activated at every case of the common cold, I will likely never know the ultimate cause of my dreary, mucus-filled weekend. But I can connect enough dots, enough small actions, to construct a few compelling transmission scenarios that might hold water. The more dots I connect, however, the more provisional and potentially implausible my scenarios might become. Causally, they may seem tenable. But at some point, the casual relationships become so tenuously hair-thin that it simply strains credibility.

Red complete post here.

Bahamas Tiger Shark Tagging Video

2012-01-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

Gotta say we like this video and the current work being done with Tigers in the Bahamas by this entire team. Dr. Mahmood Shivji with NOVA Southeastern University and Dr. Brad Wetherbee with the University of Rhode Island are tracking the animals as part of their research for the Guy Harvey Research Institute.

Shark Finning Bans by Da Shark

2012-01-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

Facts, deeper thought, reality, nooooo!

There's a few folks out there who have had some dim words as of late for Da Shark and his firebrand way of "telling it like it is". Covering a wide range of topics from commercial shark diving to conservation initiatives the reason we like Da Shark and his blog is the simple fact he brings thought to the process.

In a world now dominated with hysterical Facebook conservation postings that offer little in the way of hard facts and drill down analysis, his blog brings the deeper understanding and real world practicality to the issues of the day.

Case in point, this weeks post on shark conservation and shark fin bans. This is about as good as it gets and a great read that will undoubtedly get lost on many who would rather add their obligatory "like" to a picture of a dead shark or "click" a petition that is hard on emotional kick but short on hard facts.

We need more of Da Shark and we are getting it in the form of blogs like Office to Ocean but sadly these are now just "pets tourbillonnant dans les grands vents de la bêtise" in the wider non-discourse out there.

Like it or not, thought matters, as do blogs that spend the time on the issues. You may not like the delivery but for the record, we'll continue to "like" Da Shark and his blog.

Carl Safina, Dropping the Hammer

2012-01-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

What's all the fuss about this fish?

Read Carl Safina's regular blogs on Huffington Post because if you are not a fan yet you soon will be.

For readers of this blog and others on our blogroll you'll note a tendency for irreverent blog posts skewering many of the Titans of Media and the gasbagging program decisions that make up our wildlife programming media landscape these days.

Carl is on board and this week we found him harpooning, with the finesse and grace of Japanese Research Whalers, recent programming choices by National Geographic Wild.

In Carl's cross hairs this week a decision to highlight the take of endangered Bluefin Tuna in a new show called Wicked Tuna. Naturally this show has raised the ire of many in the conservation world, and not the simpleton Green Gotcha ire we recently witnessed with the pseudo anti-lesbian Rosie O'Donnell shark hysteria either.

This is good old fashioned main stream ire that only comes from poor programming choices by Nat Geo and a brand that has devolved in the form of Nat Geo Wild the ugly step child of the wildlife media stage.

Frankly it is refreshing to see this kind of smart, targeted, media push back and kudos to Carl for this post and others. Let's hope 2012 sees more of this from Mr.Safina because every street protest needs a leader out front defining the issues and Carl has a nice way with words.

Why shoot productions with sharks at Tiger Beach, Bahamas?

2012-01-19T11:52:00.000-08:00

Mythbusters 2009 Discovery Networks

Film and television productions have come to realize that Tiger Beach, Bahamas is perhaps one of the best sites to film shark productions on the planet, and for good reason.

Shark Diver has been involved with top rated productions for the past seven years at this unique dive site and we have listed just a few reasons to consider your next shark productions here.

1. Ease of Production

Tiger Beach sits just off the shores of Grand Bahama Island. With top rated hotels for talent and crews like the Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina as your base of operations and medium sized dive vessels for productions, from concept to shoot day this site has everything you will need. Additionally the Bahamas Film Commission is perhaps one of the most production friendly government agencies in the Bahamas and has gone to great lengths for every production they service to make things happen.

2. Multi-Species Encounters

Few dive sites on the planet can offer guaranteed big animal encounters with Tigers, and even fewer offer multi-species encounters all within a short distance of each other. From Reef sharks to Tigers and even clouds of Lemon sharks, Tiger Beach and the surrounding reefs offer shark filled productions in short order.

3. Dive Site Magic

At a maximum depth of 20 feet Tiger Beach offers an encounter space tailored for novice to serious talent. Visibility at Tiger Beach is 80% blue water, additionally the vast majority of Tiger Beach is white sand bottom allowing for additional objects and production development for larger commercials and product placement. Consider Tiger Beach a blank canvass for commercial productions that seek live sharks in the environmentally friendly environment they develop.

4. Cost Benefit

Most shark productions originate out of the USA. From commercials to documentaries flights, accommodations, and time are of the essence once you decide to do a shark production. With ease of travel to Freeport, Grand Bahama from multiple major airports in Florida the Bahamas makes the most production sense. We like to call this site a one-stop-shop for unique productions.

In 2010 Shark Diver was the driving force behind an award winning Gillette commercial at Tiger Beach, developing the site, building cage systems, talent choices and dive safety crews. In tandem with a top Los Angeles based commercial agency the following Gillette commercial set the bar for live action shark filmmaking and won a prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Where are you going to shoot your next shark production?

White Sharks vs Snappers - Great Video!

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

We have always said the easiest way to find a white shark is to follow the fishermen. It was how Isla Guadalupe was "discovered" many years ago and if you happen to be in Arno Bay, Australia this time of year, finding a white shark is as easy as snapper going fishing.

"A 4 metre great white shark circles the boat waiting for an easy feed as we have a double hook up of big snapper at Arno Bay"

Fisherman's gold: Shark fin hunt empties west African seas

2012-01-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

SAINT LOUIS, Senegal: Retired fisherman Sada Fall is upbeat. His two sons are returning from sea with a boatload of “gold”, as he calls shark fins, whose value has near-obliterated the ocean’s top predator in these seas.

Fall, 62, walks along the beach in this fishing village in the north of Senegal, his blue-grey boubou flapping in the dry, dusty wind, a bright red flowered umbrella shielding him from the scorching sun.
“This is the great shark cemetery,” he says waving his hand dramatically across the beach where dried hunks of shark meat are piled up, filling the air with a musty, acrid odor as suffocating as the heat.

Colorful painted pirogues line the beach where children play and sheep wander around. A giant pelican is curiously tethered to one of the crumbling houses. Saint Louis is one of the biggest shark landing sites in Senegal and one of scores along the west African coast where the predator is quickly disappearing.

Fall’s sons have been gone for two weeks deep into Mauritanian waters for a voyage which, including food, water, fuel and salt to pack the fish, can cost more than 500,000 CFA (750 euros/$1,000).

Spurring these fishermen on is the insatiable Asian appetite for shark fins, which make their way onto ostentatious dinner tables in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. “The fins don’t stay here, they are worth a lot of money,” says Fall. He explains that when a boat lands, amidst the chaos of bartering and buying shark meat to be dried, smoked and sold in the region, the fins are swept away by intermediaries to Dakar, and treated very carefully.

“The fins are gold, sometimes we keep them in our own living room – with the air conditioning on,” he laughs. Often the intermediaries will meet with Asian businessmen in a Dakar hotel to hand over the booty. “You bring the bags, go into the hotel, hand over the bag, they hand over the money.” Mika Diop, a biologist and coordinator of the Sharks sub-regional Action Plan (SRPOA-Sharks) says that depending on the size and species of the fin involved, they sell for up to 100,000 CFA (150 euros) per kilogram (2.2 pounds).
But it is the men further up the chain who benefit the most, as many fishermen don’t realise exactly how valuable their product is. Some restaurants charge more than $100 for a bowl of sharp fin soup. “We catch them, but I couldn’t afford a small bowl of soup,” says Fall. ‘Mercenary mindset’- many fins are also exported fraudulently through normal channels classified as dried fish, says Diop.
In West Africa, shark fishing began in the 1970’s, booming in the nineties due to rising demand from Asia for shark fins, according to a report entitled “30 Years of Shark Fishing in West Africa” co-authored by Diop in 2011. Since 2003, shark catches have plummeted. This is not good news but a sign that there are less to catch. These days fishermen can spend up to 20 days at sea, heading as far west as Cape Verde or south to Sierra Leone in search of their gold, with what Diop bemoans as an often “mercenary mindset”. Diop explains that sharks are particularly vulnerable because it can take more than 10 years for them to reach sexual maturity and their fertility rate is very low, making recovery from overfishing all year round near impossible.

“On average the weight of the fin represents only two percent of the total weight of the animal, so you can see the massacre needed to keep up with the demand for shark fins,” he tells AFP.
In Saint Louis, Fall finally gets a phone call from his pirogue. Days of bad weather have hampered fishing and even the good days have yielded no sharks. The boat is now expected the following day. A fisherman for more than 30 years, he has seen first hand the worrying drop in shark numbers. “We are obliged to catch small sharks. We know its not good but if one person doesn’t, the next will… “It brings in a lot of money, so we don’t see the importance of the shark.

We earn and we will keep on earning until the sharks disappear,” he says sadly. The shark fishing report talks of days when hammerhead sharks up to six metres long (20 feet) and one-tonne sawfish were caught in these waters. The sawfish-printed on the back of Senegalese bank notes-hasn’t been seen since the early 1990s in coastal waters from Mauritania to Sierra Leone, except for Guinea-Bissau.

According to the report, the value of sharks landed annually in 2008 in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde is estimated at 8.5 million euros ($11 million).
Diop’s shark project has published an identification guide for fishermen and has helped west African nations put legislation in place, most importantly to ban “finning”. In Senegal this legislation is still in the pipeline. Finning is the practice of cutting of the shark fin while at sea, and tossing the rest of the shark back into the ocean to face a cruel death by suffocation or blood loss. Despite the laws, it still continues.

If shark-hunting, in Senegal and the world over, is not brought under control, Diop and other experts predict dire results for a marine ecosystem regulated by the predator for some 400 million years. A report by the Pew Environment Group in June 2011 estimates some 73 million sharks are caught annually and 30 percent of species are threatened with extinction.

The fisherman Sada Fall becomes anxious and harder to get hold of. The “big shark guy around here”-his distributor-has left back to Dakar after hearing the fishing trip has not gone well. Three days after the boat was supposed to land it reaches shore just after midnight. With no sharks caught, it quickly refuels and heads out again for several more gruelling, and expensive, days in search of fisherman’s gold.

From PRI.

Mercury bioaccumulation in elasmobranchs? Study

2012-01-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

Conservation sources have been waging a war on shark products for the past five years saying that shark fins and meat for human consumption are loaded with mercury. Here's another first rate study that backs those assertions up.

Nicholas Kutil and David L. Taylor.

ABSTRACT:

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic environmental contaminant that bioaccumulates in fish tissues,
including numerous marine species. Cartilaginous fish of the subclass Elasmobranchii are important ecological constituents of marine ecosystems, yet the fate of Hg contaminants in their body tissues is largely unknown.

In this study, four species of elasmobranchs: little skate (Raja erinacea), winter skate (R. ocellata), smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis), and spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias), were collected from the Rhode Island/Block Island Sound, and the Hg content (ppm wet wt) of white muscle tissue was analyzed using automated combustion atomic absorption spectrometry. Diet and feeding habits for each species were also assessed by stomach content and stable nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C)
isotope analyses. Mean Hg concentrations differed significantly among species, with highest
levels measured in smooth dogfish (mean Hg = 0.680 ± 0.107 ppm, n = 15), followed by
spiny dogfish (mean Hg = 0.312 ± 0.034 ppm, n = 44) and skates (mean Hg = 0.110 ± 0.008
ppm, n = 78 and 0.069 ± 0.005 ppm, n = 56 for little and winter skate, respectively). The Hg
concentration of skate muscle tissue did not vary by body weight, suggesting that Hg does
not bioaccumulate in these species.

Conversely, smooth and spiny dogfish bothbioaccumulate Hg with respect to body size, although smooth dogfish have a higher Hgcontent relative to spiny dogfish. The elevated Hg concentration of smooth dogfish may beexplained by their higher trophic level status, as determined from δ15N signatures (meanδ15N = 13.29 ± 0.88, 11.82 ± 0.60, 12.33 ± 0.65, and 12.12 ± 1.06 for smooth dogfish, spiny dogfish, little skate, and winter skate, respectively). The enriched δ13C values of skates and smooth dogfish indicated benthic foraging (range of mean δ13C = -16.39 ± 0.32 to -17.42 ±0.46), which was further confirmed by the dominance of decapods and crustaceans in the
stomach contents. Conversely, squid and butterfish were the principal prey of spiny
dogfish, and the contribution of these pelagic prey was reflected in the depleted δ13C
signature (mean δ13C = -21.97 ± 0.83). Future work includes researching the effect habitat
use and prey Hg to better understand bioaccumulation patterns in these species.

Presentation at the 2012 Winter Meeting of the Southern New England Chapter (SNEC).

January 26, 2012

University of Rhode Island
SOURCE and PDF-DOWNLOAD

Is Tourism Good for South Africa’s Great White Sharks?

2012-01-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Gansbaai, South Africa — Sharks have taken a big hand in the fortunes of this fishing village on the southernmost coast of Africa.

Fishing used to be the lifeblood of Gansbaai (meaning Goose Bay), and to an extent it still is. But nowadays some of the smartest boats slipping out of its rudimentary harbor at high tide in the morning bear tourists who want to experience the thrill of close-up encounters with sharks, particularly of the great white variety.

Shark cage-diving has become big business, luring visitors from all parts of the world. It is also carried on along other parts of the South African coast. But the reason for Gansbaai’s success in particular is that the bay it overlooks is claimed by marine biologists doing research there to have the world’s biggest year-round concentration of great white sharks.

Complete story here.

Shark Diving, Why Choose Sharkdiver.com?

2012-01-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

There are two types of vacation seekers. Those who are content with the ordinary, the explored, and the predictable.

Then there are the vacation seekers who look for the extraordinary. The unique off-the-beaten-track adventure experiences that create lasting vacation memories.

This is who we are. This is Shark Diver, and for the past decade we have prided ourselves in offering destinations and guaranteed big shark encounters that attract real adventure seekers.

Our newly minted Shark Divers are unique in so many ways, but they tend to share one distinct feature, they are the people that you meet at parties, backyard BBQ's and friends houses, the ones you always say, "I can't believe you did that!"

Yes they did, and each year we enjoy reading the flood of trip reports that come back from our boats and from our first time Shark Divers.

2011 was another banner year for us and we have chosen a just few of our diver trip reports for your review. Written by our divers in their own words you can begin to understand why so many people are beginning to seek extraordinary travel destinations.

Maybe 2012 will be your year, or maybe after reading these trip reports you will add one more item to your bucket list. Either way we'll be here when you decide that this is your year for extraordinary adventures:

Sarah Fuller 2011 - Living The Dream

Michelle M 2011 - Bucket List Scratched

James Woodhead 2011 - From U.K to Mexico

Bev Downie 2011 - Sharks and More Sharks

Tammy and Wayne - Getting Their Shark Groove

Helen Sykes, Making Sense of Sharks

2012-01-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

Bahamas Tiger, commercial shark diving

Great article this week from Fiji and the value of live sharks. The international media is slowly adopting this valuable storyline and its first rate articles like this one that "kick the can down for road" for sharks in ways that open minds and spur debate :

A NADI resident who has been closely following the Shark Sanctuary Campaign was disgusted to find that the bodies of mutilated baby sharks are regularly on sale at the Nadi fishmarket.

Lavenia Mataitoga had been made aware of the issues with shark fishing in Fiji through The Fiji Times Save the Shark Campaign and the screenings of the Coral Reef Alliance documentary Shark Hope.
The dive operation she works for, Reef Safari Diving in Port Denarau Marina, also has an active environmental education program for all its staff led by marine biologist Maddy Carse.

Consequently when Ms Mataitoga encountered juvenile whitetip reef sharks and endangered hammerhead sharks in the market, she was outraged.

Complete article here.

Brother, Can You Spare Some Authentic Cuban Food?

2012-01-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

Authors Note: Cuba today is a country of deep social, economic, and politicalcontrasts. Trying to get a handle on Cuba in ten short days of travel is akin to tryingto explain the Superbowl to others while viewing it live through a sheet of paperwith a single pin hole in it. I am sure we missed much in Cuba on this firsttrip, but what we did see made us curious for more.

Part Three - Brother, Can You Spare Some Authentic Cuban Food?

If youwant to see a great, if not slightly sanitized expose on Havana, look no further than Anthony Bourdians show No Reservations one of the best travel/food shows on television right now. On our last night in Panama before we jetted off for Cuba wewatched his show in our hotel room. It was an eye opener and an instantbucket list builder because we both fell in love with the bar Puerto de Sagua, skip to timeline 5.40 to see the place.

Oh yeah, the Mojito drink source!

Sometimesya just gotta track a place down and on our third day, tired of government barswith notoriously overpriced and horribly weak mixed drinks, we went on amission to get drunk on real Cuban Mojitos at Puerto de Sagua.

Quick notehere, I am a stone cold fan of the Mojito. As a drink there are few cocktailsthat match its crisp freshness and powerful kick. I have been seen heroicallytackling 64 ounce Monster Mojitos in South Beach, Miami but a simple well madeMojito is my drink of choice on any given day.

Puertode Sagua is not too hard to find. Hail a horse drawn carriage at Central Parkdowntown and say "take me to the train station" the bar is on theleft about a block away and features a 1945 art deco style building painted inCaribbean style blue complete with porthole style windows with fish tanks in them. At night this place isan atypical 40's watering hole with glowing tropical fish windows and one ofthe last working neon signs in the entire city.

Havana today

When youopen the door take a last look at the street with the vintage cars going by andyou are transported back in time. Cuban time travel is a pretty neat thing whenyou hit a bar like this one.

If youare lucky you'll meet Raul who was the bartender on duty for Anthony's show. Wewere lucky and apparently the first who have seen the episode to enter his barand recognize him. After explaining he was famous in America Raul treated us toseveral vintage Mojitos (with lots of rum) and we settled in for an afternoonof lazy conversation in a wood paneled bar that was very much the same as whenHemingway dropped by for a drink or two back in 1956.

Yes, dammit, apparentlyHemingway hit this bar as well.

Kudos toAnthony's production staff because theyfound the only real gem of a bar in all of Havana and if there's only one thingyou do in Havana it's go to Puerto de Sagua and say hi to Raul.

Hot Tip:The drinks get stronger if you mention you saw Raul on American television.

Street food with a side of fly?

Anthony'sshow also featured Cuban food but finding real Cuban food in Cuba is hard thesedays. It's all about the ingredients. Iencountered the same thing in China in the late 90's as a tour guide. TheChinese agricultural system at that time was wrecked so the food we ate athotels was sub par at best inedible at worst.

Cuba is going through the samething right now so if you are looking for a Miami style Cuban meal in Havanaforget about it. I don't care if you are Gordon Ramsey, if you give a chef tworocks and some salt and pepper to work with the results will inevitably beculinary crap and we found most of the meals outside our hotel to be the same.

Maybeafter Cuba opens and produce flows into ports from around the world we'll see aquick return to the sumptuous Cuban flavors that made this country famous. Butas long as locals have to pay 3-6 pesos for a pound for locally grown secondrate tomatoes on a monthly average salary of just 20-90 pesos that's not goingto happen anytime soon, which was o.k by us, because the vintage Mojitos in ourown out of the way time warp bar went down great.

Next:Valedero, Ship in a Bottle Tourism

Holy Cow! When it's this good...

2012-01-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

Perhaps some of the best white shark and freediver footage on the planet today...from this duo would you expect anything less?

Ford Commercial, White Sharks and 'Lupe

2012-01-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

Latest commercial work, hats off the all the guys on the M/V Horizon who busted a serious hump for this little Ford commercial. Not the biggest production in the world but they got it done in a single day in November. For anyone who knows 'Lupe, ya gotta have some pretty big balls to pull off a production in one day at the island in November with our notoriously cranky female whites.

Special nod to Cary for the pole cam work.

Viva La Funky Old Revolution - Part Two

2012-01-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

Typical street scene in Havana

City Sized Descriptions

For thepast couple of days I have been trying to come up with two words to encapsulatewhat we have been experiencing in Havana - living decay.

Iunderstand that's an oxymoron but trust me that's Havana in a nutshell.

At firstlight my wife and I joined an informative three hour city tour on a Chinesemade tour bus. As an ex tour guide I am usually loathe to join any kind ofguided bus tour, especially if its on a Chinese Yutong bus, but if you're goingto visit Havana do the city tour to get your bearings and before you even enterthe country read the book The Sugar King of Havana. John Paul Rathbone authorsthis rich in depth historical tome that rockets the reader though 300 years ofSpanish rule into the American years and seamlessly through to Castros Cuba.

Trust meyou'll be happy you did.

HavanaToday

The placeis a wreck. 53 years of communism and embargo have left Havana a tangleddisaster of falling down buildings, iconic American cars from the 1950s, horsedrawn carriages with an infrastructure that makes Mogadishu look like theFrench Rivera.

Everythingin Havana has that feeling of twice used duct tape, bits of random string,and the kind of glue that used to bemade from horses hooves. You have to be a product of the American school systemand over 40 to understand that last bit.

A family lives on the third floor

There'sno getting around it because Havana hits you with both a left and right ofurban decay the second you leave your hotel, and that's the utter charm of theplace. The Living Decay of Havana as ordinary Cubans full of life, music, andbusy with their lives move about in this extraordinary city sized vintage timecapsule. The layers of decay are awe inspiring because you have 300 years ofSpanish architecture in the mix prior to the 1930's and 40's retro look. For 300 years the Spanish, flush with millions of dollars in gold and silver fromLatin American mines built a huge and architecturally stunning city unlikeanything ever seen outside of Spain.

Most ofthese old buildings take your breath away even if there's a tree growing out ofthe second story balcony. Like many places in Cuba mixed in with the decay aresmall bright spots of revival like the Central Park Hotel restored to itsformer glory and open for business and a few buildings downtown declared byUNEXCO as world heritage sites. Evidence of the Cuban spirit of revival, justsprinkle investment dollars as liberally as water to an indoor plant and watchCuba grow.

Detroit's53 Year Old Cuban Stimulus Plan

Cubans takegreat pride in their ancient metal behemoths from Detroit and seeing theseiconic vehicles everywhere adds to the surreal experience not just in Havanabut in all of Cuba. Ordinary Cubans are fanatical about their machines.Fortunately you can take as many pictures as you want and ride in almost anycar because Havanas current economy feeds hungrily on side money and tips.

The cars showcase the entire country

Most ofthe vehicles in Havana are now privately owned under recent relaxations by theCuban government. Cab drivers have leeway with how much they charge to get fromplace to place and if you are not rolling in a mint condition 55 convertibleBuick you just are not having an authentic Havana experience. Always get theconvertible because closed cab cars often have exhaust systems tied directlyand inexplicably into the air vents so unless you want to finish your ridelight headed and slightly nauseous convertibles are the way to go.Usually youcan track down a driver who speaks passable English and who will take you to alocal bar that has something to do with Ernest Hemingway.

ApparentlyHemingway the writer was also a prolific bar hound while in Havana and imagesabound of him at every drinking hole in the city. Like Che Guevara and Castro,Hemingway holds an almost mythical status in Cuba. Hemingway drank here,Hemingway ate here, Hemingway fathered six children on this couch. For worldtravelers like us icons sometimes get a bit tiresome, apologies to theHemingway estate in advance but we just don't care for his current tourismstatus in Cuba.

There is actually such a thing as too much Hemingway.

Cuba is still a Communist/Socialist country and one of the last on theplanet, so very few people actually own anything like a business or a house,hence almost everything you see for sale goes to the government who then dosomething with it for the people, at least that's the idea. It makes for strangepricing in this city, at some places a dinner might run you $50 convertible pesos at others $10.00. Of course we didn't know this first hand as beingAmericans and not wanting to break Americas embargo or run afoul of the Trading With The Enemy Act we didn't spend any money in Cuba, a nice couple from Canadatold us about their financial transactions instead.

CommunistArt and Venezuelan Oil

There's a huge art market at a converted and crumbling portfacility in Havana Harbor. On the other side of the harbor is a Soviet era oilrefinery feeding on Venezuelan oil which makes for another in a series ofstrange scenes in this fantastically weird city. Inside very talented youngCuban painters and wood carvers hawk oil on canvass originals and hardwoodcarvings while across the bay massive refinery gas flares stab at the clearblue Caribbean sky leaving behind a dark black wavy line of spent hydrocarbons.

Original signed art, and yes Hemingway drank here too!

Original art runs about $60-100 convertible pesos and areworth every penny spent according to our Canadian friends.Unlike many globaltravel destinations where locals flog made in China crap on street cornerseverything you'll find for sale in Cuba is Hecho en Cuba a refreshing changefor wary travelers like us. You can also find Cuban rum and cigars atinternational prices but be careful of big cigar purchases in Cuba. Unless youknow who you are buying from you may be getting knock off products certainlynot the Cuban cigars of legend.

HorseCarriages and Cuban Politics

For 20Convertible Pesos you can ride around the old city in a horse drawn carriagewith a driver. Ours told us candidly of life under Castro and after a few stopswith watery Cuba Libras (rum and coke) he told us that along with most Cubansthey have had enough of the current state of affairs. He had to be carefulthough as we quickly discovered all of Havana is under the watchful eye of thegovernment. Along the way he pointed out the 10 or so video cameras mounteddiscreetly on tumble down buildings, "we are being watched all the time" heconfided in a low voice. We soon became adept at spotting cameras and tookgreat pleasure in photographing them. With the ordinary Cubans we spoke with atlength there's a real sense of guarded optimism you do not find anywhere elsein Latin America. Cubans want change, they look towards the future and like somany other places I have traveled, China in the mid 1990's still reeling fromits experiment with Communism and Vietnam Nam in 1998 they are dreaming of anew life.

Playing "spot the police state"

Cubanscan sense the end of a terrible social experiment is near, but after 53 yearsand an entire generation used to just making do, most are trying to figure outwhat's next for their country and what an open Cuba might look like. Thegovernment is also looking towards the future and they are allowing a few smallexperimental businesses to open.

You see afew independent restaurants called Paladars out of houses on the street andvegetable sellers on ramshackle carts in the avenues, a slow and careful starton the road to some kind of hybrid social system. If China and Vietnam are anyexamples it will not take long for Cubans to realize their potential as minibusiness entrepreneurs and then the game will be on.

Anotherreason we are here, right now, at this pivotal time in Cuban history.

Next:Brother, Can You Spare Some Authentic Cuban Food?

Americans in Cuba, A Time Travelers Guide

2012-01-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

Classic image set up in Havana, yes Che is everywhere.

Part One,Random Travel

When youtravel like we do you never pass up the opportunity to change plans in midstream.Once I was misdirected in Australia by huge and unyielding saltwater croc whohad taken up residence in the middle of the only road leading to a localairport.

Thatlittle adventure lead to the missing of a flight and my subsequent discoveryand wonders of diving on the great barrier reef, a life changing side trip.

So it wason Christmas day 2011 while the rest of the planet were opening gifts broughtto them by a mythological Norseman my wife Jeanne and I were being entertained by the rich travel stories of Cuba our Panamanian hosts told over a lavishbreakfast.

It didn'ttake long for us to decide to change flight plans opting out of our previouslyarranged adventures in Costa Rica, apologies Lonely Planet Travel Guide, for avisit to Castro's Cuba before this mysterious country opens, as it willinevitably, to an embargo lifting USA. After all how angry can 80,000 expatCubans in Miami be almost 60 years later?

For thoseof you wishing to see Cuba before the onslaught of mega corporations, big billboards,golden arches, and star-lattes I documented our travels in a series of blogposts to help guide you along the way.

I see today's Cuba through the lens of East Germany when the wall came down inthe late 1980's. If you were within 100 miles of that historic event and did not makethe effort to go see it and mingle with the people, shame on you. There'sordinary vacation travel and then there's brief moments in time whereextraordinary events change the course of history, Cuba is on the threshold ofthose changes now.

GettingThere and "The Man"

Outside the old Romeo y Julieta cigar factory in Havana

Gettingto Cuba is as easy as booking a flight, as long as it does not originate fromthe USA and while we're on that subject lets talk embargo. For folks like me inmy early 40's the USA embargo on Cuba seems almost quaint when you measure itagainst other world actors like Iran, North Korea, and al-Qaeda.

Seriously,Cuba is still a threat?

None theless the State Department guided no doubt by a few dusty sitting Senators whohave been in politics far too long have denied Americans direct access for thepast 53 years. Seems the American government knows better then the citizenrywhen it comes to travel choices. Yeah, right.

Fortunatelythis will not stop you from traveling by third country to Cuba, the minor detailis a missive from the Department of State and the "Trading With The EnemyAct" which categorically forbids ordinary Americans without specialpermission from the US to be in Cuba and spend money there. For example you cantravel and spend money in Cuba if you happen to be part of a major UStelecommunications business:

"Employeesof a U.S. telecommunications services provider or an entity duly appointed torepresent such a provider traveling incident to: 1) the commercial marketing,sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing of authorizedtelecommunications-related items; or 2) participation intelecommunications-related professional meetings for the commercial marketingof, sales negotiation for, or performance under contracts for the provision oftelecommunications services, or the establishment of facilities to providetelecommunications services".

If you'relike us though and anyone asks, you didn't spend a dime, we didn't.

Ourflight originated out of Panama on COPA Airlines, but you can get them out ofCancun, or even Nassau Bahamas with a number of travel companies.

We flewover a cloudless Caribbean sea and arrived at the outskirts of Habana as thelocals call it about two hours later. The local airport is fairly modern withjust a whiff of soviet style architecture. There looks to be new constructionin the works with several plastic wrapped arrival gates ready for new terminalsto be built. For now we were treated to an old fashioned tarmac deplaning. Iwas surprised to see made in the USA Dell computers being used at passportcontrol complete with mini cams for taking pictures and a sophisticatedMicrosoft empowered program for tracking visitors. Our entrance into Cuba was abreeze and after a quick paperwork inspection the smiling passport control galwaved us through to baggage and on to the main terminal.

It seemedlike she was happy to see two War Mongering American Imperialists which was notnecessarily the response I had imagined.If she wasn't we were going to be thelast to know about it. She also didn't stamp our passports which as Iunderstand is a wink and nod for Americans who travel to Cuba.

Locals interested in iPhones

Let mefirst say I was half expecting to see ragged clothed locals suffering under 53years of a failed Communist revolution, instead I was greeted by a Miami SouthBeach looking crowd of healthful looking Cubanos. In fact everywhere we wentwell dressed Cubans greeted us, this is a country that may not have water youcan drink without boiling it first, but the locals keep up appearances as apoint of pride and have very clean streets.

We got atransfer to the Melia Havana Hotel on the main tourist drag and discovered oneof Cubas monuments to tourism. The Melia is the Great Pyramid of Giza ofhotels, it's well appointed rooms and Stalinist block architecture wassomething to behold.

FranklyI was not expecting this place. I washowever fully prepared for the congestion at the front desk, confusion with therooms, and the 100 or so Europeans flanked by the two or three Armani couturedflight crews from Italy who were in the middle of creating a mini UnitedNations crises of voices, accents, and tired pouting that only comes from 17hours in the air.

Our room(when we got it) was huge and faced the ocean so every night we were serenadedto bed by the waves crashing on the rocky beach outside. Excitement andanticipation ruled the day so we wasted no time at the hotel and quickly racedto a local cab and off into the night to go and try some local Cuban cuisine.

HootersCuban Style

Dinner is served at the "Zona Oficial"

To getaround the US embargo after the sudden vaporization of soviet aid Cuba hasfallen into tourism, by all accounts it's a work in progress, at least inHavana. There are a few state run restaurants where tourists are taken en masslocated in special zones but we were looking for something more authentic.Sadly our cab driver misinterpreted our desires and drove us through the darknight in Havana to an out of the way place he said had "better food". What he took us to was Cubas first Hooters.

YesHooters, there I said it.

Insidewhat was once a massive warehouse for storing tobacco back in the 1800's was across between an Argentinian Steak House complete with flamenco dancers andlong hair guitar playing boleros mixed in with dozens of Cuban Hooters girlswearing white see through miniskirts, push up bras and, wait for it, santahats.

To makethe scene even weirder in the background between sets American music blareddown on the tourism mass, mostly from Europe, with songs like "Jagged Little Pill" and "Gangsters Paradise". Meanwhile a very buxomwaitress asked us/told us what we'll be eating tonight and we settled in withtwo watery Sangrias seated next to a table of jacked up Australians recountingtales of drunken adventures all over Cuba with their tired looking tour guide.

The santahats really threw me off and I wondered in the middle is this bizarre scenewhat Castro thought of this new, hybrid Cuba. This was a man who once railedagainst the big American Casinos of the late 1950s calling them bourgeois.While I am not a bourgeois aficionadoby any stretch this looked and smelled pretty decadent to me and I wondered ifCastro for all his revolutionary zeal saw this new Cuba in the same light asthe past, present, or future.

That'sthe funny thing about a political construct like communism or even capitalism.

You canget folks to go along for just so long before their very human nature starts tobreak apart the mold you set the human spirit into. At least for this smallpiece of Cuba hoovering up tourist dollars with watery Sangrias, mediocrefood, and santa hats perched on top on young waitresses dripping sexualinnuendo tonight "viva la revolution" seems a long time ago.

Next post"Viva la Funky Old Revolution"

Dear Shark Conservationists, Lay Off Rosie O'Donnell

2012-01-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

After 25 days being offline enjoying the joys of random travel from Panama to Cuba I finally powered up my iPhone at the San Francisco airport to get caught up on some shark news.

2012 will be a pivotal year for new initiatives and I was keen to see how many of the groundbreaking efforts of 2011 were shaping up for the new year.

What I soon discovered was a group of rabid and misguided shark conservation loons going after talk show host and comedian Rosie O'Donnell over pictures of her taken three years ago with a dead shark.

Three years ago, really? And you call this conservation? So much for 2012.

Rosie caught the sharks under the tutelage of Mark the Shark a well known Florida based shark fisherman who likes to goad the shark conservation world, and a few special individuals in particular, into foaming at the mouth indignation over dead sharks on docks.

The mainstream media is having a field day with this non story and Facebook, sadly, is in its usual righteous fury of images that have nothing to do with the Rosie O'Donnell of today, or even the news that as of 2012 Tiger sharks and Great Hammerheads are now protected in Florida waters.

Lead by You Tube video sensation, "Mr. How To Speak Australian" Erik Brush, an overly passionate under-informed shark gadfly who, when not on You Tube with his starkly creepy basement videos, can be found hawking his second rate book about the end of the planet. The rabid shark conservation community is joyously shooting themselves and the shark community at large in the foot.

It is time to stop.

Like a bad smell emanating from the sewers of a slow news cycle, shark conservationists are latching on to this ridiculous story with the ferocity of a ragged street dog in Latin America who has found something rancid in the gutter to eat.

Images from three years ago do not make for a news story and I am pretty sure that the serious shark conservation world could do without side shows like this one that make Sea Shepherd and Paul Watson's brand of "make it up as we go along" media output look like University of California - Berkeley's School of Journalism.

We can do a lot better in 2012. We have to, because this was a piss poor way to start the year.

Shark Diver Happy Holidays 2011

2011-12-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

We will be in Panama, Costa Rica and Cuba for the next several weeks taking a well deserved rest from all things sharky.

Actually that's not entirely true as we plan to do some shark diving along the way.

You just can't take the shark outta Shark Diver, you can try, but after a decade it's in our DNA.

To all those who touched our lives this year and made it a better place with your laughter, good will, and sense of adventure we say "thank you" and very Happy New Year.

2012 will be one of the best years ever if 2011 was any indication so let's go shark diving!

Image shot by Christy "The Shark" Fisher featuring Shredder in 2006.

Anderson Cooper for the Sharks?

2011-12-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

Would appear so in this in depth look at healthy reef systems and our toothy friends in the Bahamas(?). Kudos to Anderson and his crew for the expose, unfortunately this is only a taste of things to come you'll have to wait until Sunday to see the rest.

Let's go shark diving!

Holiday Gift Giving Shark Style 2011

2011-12-15T15:54:00.001-08:00

The Island of the Great White Shark is an award winning documentary, the first and foremost of it's kind on Isla Guadalupe. It features an in depth look at commercial shark tourism and the now internationally recognised white sharks of Isla Guadalupe, Mexico.

Filmed by renown underwater photographer Richard Theiss this documentary remains the only comprehensive look at this unique island, it's inhabitants, and the current threats to the white sharks here.

For those who have seen this magnificent island for themselves and wish to relive the adventure and excitement of white shark encounters, or for those who will be coming to the island soon this DVD remains a hot stocking stuffer for the sharky set.

If there are any left in stock you can find them here.

Look for three of the islands most recognized sharks Bruce, Shredder, and the long missing Fat Tony in this remarkable DVD. Fat Tony's appearance in this DVD is the last time we saw this amazing heavyweight at the island.

Enjoy and have a Happy Holiday!

The Wacky Gods of Mormonism and Mitt Romney

2011-12-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

Jumping right in here for a moment. A lot has been said about the current GOP field and a lot has been said about Mitt Romney the man with the Presidential hairstyle. Frankly I like his hair which goes to show you just how far I have evolved as a voting prospect in the 2012 race.

I am also vaguely aware that Mitt Romney is a Mormon, slapping that religious construct in with the Amish, nice folks who believe in an all knowing deity with a white beard and a fluffy cloud.

That was until I saw the following video, made by Mormons, for Mormons, to explain their religion.

Seriously? Space Jesus? Star Base Khola? Endless Celestial Sex? UFO's? Negroes?...Negroes?

Far be it for me to say that folks cannot believe what they want in their own homes, or within their own church. But as we all know religion tends to shape folks perception of the wider world in which we live, as in George Bush's famous quotes "God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did."

Mitt Romney's take on the wider world? After watching this video, you don't even want to know:

Travel Channel and Sharks in Fiji

2011-12-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

Rumors of this show have been circulating the community for the past three years with an initial show treatment that was passed around for review.

Today this unique concept is a reality and we have to say, we like the premise:

A new show on the Travel Channel is airing this Sunday (9 PM EST/6 PM PST) and it has a novel premise: send a team of high-end Hollywood photographers to a series of remote locations and recreate a professional photography studio underwater. To this end, the team has pioneered new camera rigs, shooting platforms and lighting equipment that supplies the kind of high-voltage illumination normally reserved for the cover of high-fashion magazines like Vanity Fair.

In their first shoot in Fiji, Mike Muller and his team descend 70 feet where they find and photograph over 8 varieties of sharks. One of their goals is to finally put a face on these elusive creatures who in many regions are struggling to survive with increasing pressures from shark-fin hunters, overfishing and changes in ocean temperature.

Kudos to Mike Muller and good luck with the show.

Greenpeace And Palau Bust Pirates In Palau Shark Sanctuary

2011-12-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

The next phase for protected Shark Sanctuaries has begun and we like it, kudos this week to Greenpeace.

It's has surprised few within the shark community that Palau has an ongoing shark problem in the form of outside illegal shark fishing fleets that routinely drop into protected waters to harvest shark fin, even though Palau declared all their waters a Shark Sanctuary in 2009.

We have blogged about the immediate need for millions of dollars to enforce declared Shark Sanctuary gains and to support ongoing shark conservation in the past.

All that has come to a very media worthy head this week as Greenpeace, in tandem with the only Coast Guard vessel Palau owns, busted Taiwan based shark fishing vessel - Sheng Chi Hui.

Unfortunately this great news made the rounds and vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. Hopefully the folks at Greenpeace can raise the bar on this vessel capture and turn it into long term funding.

As a conservation leader Palau has set the bar globally causing other nations to follow suit for sharks. The last three years for Shark Sanctuaries have been the "golden times" but all that hangs in the balance of effective Shark Sanctuary enforcement or lack thereof.

It's an issue that remains the most pressing shark conservation issue on the boards right now.

"The lack of resources available to effectively patrol the waters of the Western and Central Pacific, the unregulated nature of the high seas, and the inconsistent and unreliable nature of monitoring all make it far too easy for illegal activities to take place out here. These serious loopholes need to be closed and pirate fishing needs to be eliminated."

Shooting Sharks - New iPhone Housing

2011-12-11T19:20:00.001-08:00

This fall I joined our Shark Diver crew and a private yacht for a unique late fall Time of the Titans Expedition to Isla Guadalupe. Late November is when the really big 18+ sized female white sharks prowl the waters of Point Norte looking for unlucky seals.

As luck would have it within two hours we were visited by a simply titanic animal and witnessed something amazing. The underwater footage was being shot by an award winning DP, Kenneth Corben, who was at the island three weeks prior shooting a Ford Commercial with us.

He brought along his latest creation a "bullet proof" underwater housing for iPhone that I got to try out and can tell you it's probably the best underwater housing on the market.

Shark tested at the worlds foremost white shark site, get yours today.

For divers joining us at Isla Guadalupe in 2012 there will be several of these amazing underwater housings for you to try on board. It's as easy as place, snap, and shoot.

Let's go shark diving!

All I want for Christmas is...a Fez!

2011-12-11T09:10:00.001-08:00

Back in 1933 Laurel and Hardy Rocked the Fez in the classic film Sons of the Desert.

It's of of their best films and a personal favorite of mine, but it has left me asking, "what happened to the Fez?"

As hat wear the Fez is as appealing as the Cubano Porkpie, a fashion that came roaring back into the public's style consciousness after a nearly 40 year hiatus.

Alas the Fez as a style choice seems to have died out with Laurel and Hardy in 1933 and I say it is time to bring the Fez back.

In fact I am willing to stake my entire Christmas wish list on it.

This is the kind of hat wear that commands attention, standing tall above a sea of baseball caps, Porkpies and others, and I want one, nay, I deserve one.

As the CEO of a commercial shark diving company I believe it is my solemn duty being in the public eye to set early trends and "Be The Penguin."

"Be The Penguin" you ask?

Yes. We have all seen the Nat Geo doco's of the massive ice shelf with thousands of penguins milling about looking down into the ocean. None of them want to be the first into the sea, that's today's baseball cap wearing crowd. Suddenly one penguin pushes his (or her) way to the front of the pack and leaps.

Your Fez wearing penguin.

The end result is an avalanche of black and white bodies spilling into the sea, a veritable tidal wave of ornithological joy. As an analogy for life in general I have always believed it is better to "Be the Penguin" and several decades later that basic philosophy has proven wise.

So that's my Christmas wish list, hint, hint and hint to bring back the Fez and to celebrate joy with everyone in the Fezzes aura because unlike ordinary hat wear the Fez casts it's own celebration everywhere it goes. Otherwise Laurel and Hardy would have worn top hats, or cowboy hats, they knew back in 1933 that the Fez was truly something special and unique.

Happy Holidays everyone, here's to a Fezzy 2012!

Cheers,
Patric Douglas
www.sharkdiver.com
www.sharkdivers.com
www.sharkfreemarinas.com
415.235.9410

Wind Up White Sharks - Marc Montocchio

2011-12-10T20:09:00.001-08:00

About as good as it gets for Isla Guadalupe shark images and after 10 years on this site we would know. Kudos to Marc Montocchio who shot a simply stunning expose with our favorite friends at Isla Guadalupe:

"She came within a few feet of the cage with as much effort as it would’ve taken me to form a benign thought. The sunlight rippled across her gray sandy back like the spotlight reserved for a great queen or empress. Her right eye looking straight at me she was simultaneously acknowledging my presence and assessing my place in the world that surrounded her. The eye was not the empty black hole I was expecting. It was shades of brown—an almost amber disk with a bright ring surrounding a smaller inner pupil."

The image we featured is a rare one, what Marc captured is the exact moment a white shark is "wound up" for a powerful high speed maneuver. Either this male (Shredder) was being challenged by an off screen rival, or he had become startled. This is the exact moment these magnificent animals show to the world the grace and power that is Carcharodon carcharias.

For those in his wake you'll never forget the experience.

Great stuff and hat tip Mike for the find.

Tintorera! The Movie That Just Won't Die

2011-12-09T16:27:00.001-08:00

Tintorera!

It's the kind of film that will have you alternately cringing with it's 1970's vintage hyper sexual liberated Mexican vacation scenes while at the same time rooting for several poor unfortunate Tiger sharks that were press ganged into appearing in this god awful film.

The Tigers and the films gory shark attacks are pure nonsense but technically challenging from an underwater filmmakers point of view. This was the 1970's, so pay close attention. The dive team behind this film were pushing every shark boundary there was at the time and no number of Cojones dipped in Patrón Platinum tequila will ever truly describe this dive teams first few raw encounters with Tigers in Mexico - circa 1977.

Kudos to the late great Ramón Bravo for being the man.We all walk in your footsteps sir.

This is great underwater work, if you can get past the fact all the sharks in this film were harmed. Kinda reminds us of a recent chain wrapping event in the Bahamas as of late, but hey, that's film and television with sharks for you.

Fast forward to the 1980's and the other famous underwater Tiger scene with Fonzi et al Happy Days and you see the pure genius that was the DP's work with Tintorera!

We're also impressed that the main paramour in this film, a very sweaty bearded Hugo Stiglitz, managed to channel the onscreen energy and look of another well known television character the "Manah Manah Guy" from Sesame Street.

Whether this is a case of crazy 1970's zeitgeist or in fact the Muppet's creator Jim Henson was a stone cold fan of the film Tintorera! we will never know. Unless you track down Mr.Stiglitz who rumor has it is still alive and well at the ripe old age of 70 in Mexico City.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueler?

If you need more Tintorera! analysis and discussion you can find it because this film has lit a small fire under the shark bloggers. Must be the vintage shark footage, alcohol, and sex, and David Diley has the complete scoop on Tintorera! for you this week. It's a must read.

Tintorera! is the film that "just will not die", thanks largely in part to bloggers like us, You Tube, and a growing fan base perhaps nostalgic for real cocktail glasses on unspoilt Mexican beaches and a time where you could vacation to Mexico without fear of two dozen headless bodies showing up with your vacation luggage courtesy of some local drug gang.

Looking back on it, Tintorera! is a bit of a time warp, and what a weird and wonderful time machine it turned out to be.

Mark Tipple's "Underwater Project" released on App Store

2011-12-09T12:50:00.001-08:00

World renowned and award winning photographer Mark Tipple brings his Underwater Project to iOS devices. Just in time for the holidays and 2012 a new season of underwater magic.

Check it out here

“The underwater portraits of Mark Tipple have an otherworldly look and lighting that no studio could match.” ~ VisualNews.com

As featured in

✎ The Telegraph (UK)
✎ Australian BodyBoarder
✎ The Dive Photo Guide
✎ The Australian (AUS)

"The most powerful images in documentary photography projects are rarely the ones on the surface of the issue, they’re the ones that go deeper. Australian documentary photographer, Mark Tipple, has taken this concept quite literally in a new series called “The Underwater Project”.” ~ ChaseJarvis.com

ABOUT THE PROJECT

A haze of smashed blues and whites, the bright sting of sunlight and a briny hit. The wave rolls onwards, lurching forwards with a power that seems so benign from afar. It throws itself in a powerful lunge, crashes down and topples everything in its path – but for the ocean swimmers who know that to survive a wave is to dive deep.

Visionary photographer Mark Tipple brings his world renowned and ongoing photographic series to the iPhone, iPod and iPad. With regular new releases and weekly visual updates you'll always have new experiences and images to discover.

Try the app with full functionality for free and be amazed by the imagery. You may also unlock dozens more images from the series with a one time in app purchase of just $1.99.

APP FEATURES

✔ 20+ Images from each released series
✔ Browse, zoom & explore the shots
✔ Landscape and Portrait image view
✔ Slideshow viewer w/ custom effects
✔ Create your own custom slideshow
✔ Slideshow never goes dark
✔ Music player in slideshow
✔ Read the UWP Blog
✔ HD iPhone 4.0 Retina Display
✔ Supports iPad native resolution

Official Site: http://www.theunderwaterproject.com

Commercial Shark Diving - Can it Save Sharks?

2011-12-09T08:35:00.001-08:00

Talking a bite out of fisheries with sustainable commercial shark diving?

"Data provided by Pew Environmental Group highlights the economic value of live sharks. Belize, for example, rakes in almost $4 million annually from whale shark tours. Shark diving in the Indo-Pacific region generates an estimated $40 million annually, and Spain’s Canary Islands get $24.7 million each year from shark diving. Sharks and shark-related tourism have earned the Bahamas more than $800 million in the 20 years since the country banned long-line fishing."

All that data is well and good but are sharks being saved globally in the balance between sustainable commercialization of sharks and the non sustainable kind that sees sharks reduced to component parts?

I am going to run out on a limb here and say no - not yet.

I don't think we have reached a point as a commercial shark diving industry where we have the ability to partner with mainstream resorts and developments to create commercial shark diving sites globally, and we need to, soon.

To do this we need to partner with an NGO that has the reach and the heft to scale up commercial shark diving in areas that currently have no shark diving at all. Think of this as a string of pearls with dive sites linking each other under a global umbrella, each one creating it's own local set aside area for sharks that are monetized.

An NGO like PEW with Matt Rand would be an excellent choice.

PEW fundamentally gets commercial shark diving, and done right, it's positive ripple effects for regional shark fisheries are undisputed.

Those within our industry who are invested in sharks sustainably work with conservation to preserve their resource. We have seen this from Isla Guadalupe, to Honduras, to great effect. But these efforts are still a drop in the bucket compared to the many millions of sea acres that contain the right matrix for commercial shark diving:

1. A solid tourism infrastructure, with regional hotel partners and government buy in

2. Accessible dive sites, snorkel sites, and or long range boats

3. Accessible "marquis species" sharks from whale sharks to great whites

4. Set shark diving protocols for safe encounters

Our industry, thanks to many early trailblazers, enjoys several shark diving models with different species, all of which have proven to offer safe encounters over time. We need to scale these models up and offer the incentives for regional interested parties to begin their own commercial shark diving operations in their own backyards.

For the less inventive of you out there saying, "this is impossible" we say, not so.

One of the primary problems for small regional shark diving operators is marketing. How do you tap into a global audeince, how much does that cost? With today's Internet we might propose an umbrella site wherein all the small scale shark dive sites were listed in detail with video, images and contact information for prospective shark divers. Think of this site as a planning site and a partner like Travelzoo.com, or Lonely Planet might offer the marketing reach and platform for this.

It can also be built as a stand alone site and marketed as such.

Having an NGO like PEW push governments to sanction shark diving and provide backing for government sites would help scale this effort.

As a decade long veteran of commercial shark diving and having seen our industry grow and mature over the past decade I believe we have reached the point where scalability is not only the right thing to do but the inevitable thing.

If we really want to help sharks and change the way people see them, put two decades of operational knowledge, marketing, and if possible government sanctions behind an effort to bring commercial shark diving to the world in a way that is visionary, safe, and an investment in the future.

It's not rocket science, but it is a science and we can do this, the question is, does anyone want to?

Cheers,
Patric Douglas
www.sharkdiver.com
www.sharkdivers.com
www.sharkfreemarinas.com
415.235.9410

Wolf in the Henhouse - Costa Rica?

2011-12-09T08:18:00.001-08:00

What happens when you appoint a fisheries agency in bed with regional commercial fishing interests to "analyze the management of the country’s marine resources?"

You get the oft bizarre world of Latin America fisheries. In this case
the Costa Rica Fisheries Institute (Incopesca) long known for pro-fisheries "look the other way" management styles.

Fortunately there's a plethora of NGO's and regional media folks who are watching this development and keeping the world informed and educated.

Keep your eyes on this one as it develops, hopefully the folks over at Incopesca with choose leadership over business as usual and regional shark species will get a break.

Complete story.

Shark Jobs? PEW is looking for someone

2011-12-08T09:22:00.001-08:00

The Pew Global Shark Conservation Campaign is looking for a communications expert. Pew is the leader in global shark conservation having supported efforts to end the commercial fishing of sharks in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. The job posting is online. Follow the link to apply. The position is based in Washington, DC, United States.

Overview:
Organization: The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today's most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life

Department: The Pew Environment Group – The mission of the Environment group is to promote policies and practices that protect the global environment, preserve healthy forests and marine ecosystems. For the past two decades, the Environment group has been a major force in driving conservation policy in the United States, and increasingly internationally. The group’s work is focused on reducing the scope and severity of three major global environmental problems:
Transition to a clean energy economy from one based primarily on the burning of fossil fuels.
The erosion of large wilderness ecosystems that contain a great part of the world’s remaining biodiversity; and,
The destruction of the world’s marine environment, with a particular emphasis on global fisheries.
Position Overview: The communications officer will work on a daily basis with programmatic campaign staffs, and will assist and advise Pew Environment Group (PEG) campaigns on outreach to journalists, web content, and all aspects of public communication. While supporting issues relating to PEG, this position reports to the head of communications for PEG within the central Communications department.

Pew’s global and highly visible shark campaign is seeking full-time communications support. The ideal candidate will have a passion for shark conservation, keen ability to shape and pitch stories, strong writing skills for preparing press materials, fact sheets and web content and the ability to translate dense information into compelling visuals [emphasis mine].

Responsibilities:
Facilitate the development of concepts and strategies for crucial projects;
Advise and coordinate with PEG Communications and PEG campaign staff on energy, oceans and land issues;
Develop and support Pew’s use of “new media” and social media outlets for the campaigns’ messages;
Participate and advise in the drafting of campaign-related communications tools and web content;
Work with PEG Communications staff on support and promotion of the organization’s brand;
Develop and maintain news media contacts to be used by all campaigns;
Provide support for PEG related communications as needed.
Requirements:
A minimum of eight years in advocacy communications. College degree required.
Must have excellent oral communications, writing, editing and research skills, and proven ability to frame and develop cogent messages.
Skills associated with completion of an undergraduate degree program in communications, journalism or related major required. Graduate degree preferred.
Must demonstrate understanding of media and news organizations, particularly broadcast media and web-based outlets.
Must be flexible, creative, consistent and assume high accountability for all areas of responsibility. Must demonstrate strong collaborative spirit and leadership ability.
Ability to think strategically, handle multiple priorities, be extremely well-organized, manage time effectively and identify resources for projects required.
Aptitude for understanding organizational structure and working through administrative systems preferred.
Must be able to work in groups and individually to meet goals.
Passion for achieving goals to protect the environment.
Travel
Domestic or international travel may be required.

Compensation
The Pew Charitable Trusts offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits package, including a generous 401(k) plan, four weeks vacation and flexible benefit options.

Shark Diver is now...Really Good Beer?

2011-12-05T19:07:00.001-08:00

In stores today the all new Shark Diver IPA (India Pale Ale).

It's the culmination of a several month long project with a small independent brewery and your friendly neighborhood shark diving company Shark Diver to produce "Conservation Brands."

It's an idea we have been tossing around for a while, creating a long term money making venture for shark conservation with 100% of the profits going back into projects for sharks worldwide.

The idea is not new, thanks to the Cayman Islands Beer, who give back a small percentage of profits for shark conservation efforts.

We decided to give back 100% and this weeks launch of the Shark Diver IPA at select test market stores should tell us how the market reacts to the brand and the beer. It is really great stuff and many Kudos to the brew team who have made the Shark Diver IPA a small but interesting reality in the nationwide micro brew market.

Drink well and be sharky.

We'll be posting a list of stores in the coming weeks where you might discover your own Shark Diver IPA, keep your eyes peeled and let's go save some sharks.

A Room Full of Naked Emperors - Epic Rant

2011-12-02T08:17:00.001-08:00

The wise industry sage sez, "good stuff"

We have been blogging about our industry, conservation, the heroes, the idiots and just about everything you might want to read in the shark world for the past three years.

It's been an amazing run with a readership that tops 25k a month celebrating over a million unique pageviews last month.

That's right, one million people stopped by to read what we had to say, agree with it, or become angry and emailed over to their particular clan grouping for dissection. These brilliant posts were then ripped apart with a creative and sometimes unusual assortment of interesting international put downs. South Africa currently holds champion status for, "ways to say things about your mother."

It's all good.

But nothing we have written to date comes close to an Epic Rant by David Diley this week who distilled conservation facts and efforts to re-brand sharks by some down to the basics.

If you do not possess the following abilities, do not read this expose:

1. The ability to detect nuance

2. The ability to understand multisyllabic wording

3. The ability to detect dark and intuitive humor

For the rest of you, the majority, our fan base, enjoy.

David hit a home run this week, and good on him for swinging for the fences.

How to attract sharks and influence them

2011-12-02T07:56:00.001-08:00

Papua New Guinea. Apparently rubbing a plastic bottle to create vibrations is a something you can do to attract sharks.

Knowing that you can attract sharks is one thing, doing so with no plan for the sharks arrival is something else altogether.

Folks, we have said it before and we'll say it again.

No matter how many times you see commercial shark diving people interacting with sharks, never, NEVER, think to yourself, "hey that's easy I can do that".

Especially at 187 feet where in the event of a bite you would most likely suffer an embolism on your frantic race for the surface:

Micro Bikini's and the Politics of a Vote

2011-11-28T17:57:00.001-08:00

Girl with the 30 million dollar bikini sez vote!

It has come to this. The venerated Shark Diver blog offering up jewel clad string bikini images to capture the last few of you out there who have not yet voted for David Shiffman.

Who's David you ask?

Only one of the smartest ocean science bloggers out there and oh, so close, to winning a much needed $10,000 blogging scholarship so he can continue to be innovative and science-y.

You want David to win this scholarship because he has promised to invite all of us to Miami for an all expenses paid weekend to his new tricked out Science Blogging Crib on Miami's South Beach with a one of a kind flowing Cristal Olympic Swimming Pool and 24 hour lectures on Cephlapodia.

Actually we made that part up, but, you can do your part by voting here today.

Takes but a minute and there's $10,000 great reasons why David should win this award.

Seriously vote, today!

PS: Hope this post will do David. You have no idea how hard it is to blog from 36,000 feet, they say they have Internet, but try and load up an image or two, oh and suffer the disgusted looks from the nice Mormon family across the way in seats 42 CDE who think you're looking at porn.

Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson - Lords of the Documentary

2011-11-26T14:02:00.001-08:00

When it comes to amazing in the documentary field two names stand out, way out. Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson have come back with some of the best underwater footage we have seen in a while.

Kudos to the entire team for this unique underwater expose shot near Little Razorback Island, close to Antarctica's Ross Archipelago. About as good as it gets:

Shark-Free Marinas and NBC Miami

2011-11-26T13:35:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Dr.Neil and to NBC Miami for this great little pro-shark conservation media hit with the Shark-Free Marinas Initiative this week.

Growing one marina at a time with the focus this year on Florida, thanks to everyone who has helped this initiative save sharks and educate the public from Fiji to Panama and now Florida:

View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

Australia - No to cull, yes to text?

2011-11-16T13:56:00.001-08:00

Shredder says "thanks mates!"

Just when you thought the voices of reason had fled Australian politics and the Fox News "Shark Attack Media Machine" had dealt another blow to our favorite shark species, a reprieve, and some good news.

As it turns out and after some soul searching done at the end of a double barrel of worldwide outrage regional politicians in charge of a proposed white shark cull have walked back their position opting instead for a $14 million dollar pre-emptive shark warning system that also includes a SMS system that would alert ocean users of tagged sharks movements.

Is this a good plan?

Hell yes it is, and some kudos to be sent to the many emaillers, letter writers and media placers who gave those with the pen in government an earful.

Protected sharks need to stay that way, and if you want to stop shark attacks, stop humans from using the places where white shark congregate, like, um, Rottnest Island during certain months of the year.

Just our two cents in a debate that has already enjoyed enough coinage for one year already.

Carcharhinus longimanus to get a break? Fingers crossed one more time

2011-11-15T08:58:00.001-08:00

The Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC);

Noting the Scientific Committee’s concern about the steep declining standardized catch rates and size trends of oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) in longline and purse seine fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean and the Committee’s recommendation that the WCPFC consider mitigation measures for the species at its eighth regular annual session;

Recognizing the resolution of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) on oceanic whitetip shark and desiring conservation and management measures that are consistent with those of the IATTC;

Adopts the following measures in accordance with Article 10 of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention):

1. Members, Cooperating Non-Members and Participating Territories (CCMs) shall prohibit vessels flying their flag and vessels under charter arrangements to the CCM from retaining on board, transshipping, storing on a fishing vessel, selling or offering to sell from on board a fishing vessel or landing any oceanic whitetip shark, in whole or in part, in the fisheries covered by the Convention.

2. CCMs shall require all vessels flying their flag and vessels under charter arrangements to the CCM to release any oceanic whitetip shark that is caught as soon as possible after the shark is brought alongside the vessel, and to do so in a manner that results in as little harm to the shark as possible.

3. CCMs shall estimate, through data collected from observer programs and other means, the number of releases of oceanic whitetip shark, including the status upon release (dead or alive), and report this information to the WCPFC in Part 1 of their Annual Reports.

4. This Conservation and Management Measure shall enter into force on January 1, 2013.
Source: Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)

Baited Shark Diving - The Controversy

2011-11-14T09:14:00.001-08:00

One of the better looks at the controversy surrounding commercial shark diving. Wherever you have commercial shark diving you will also have those who do not understand it, or who feel negatively impacted by it.

But at the end of the day, done right, commercial shark diving delivers a suite of positive results for sharks in any given area, it's all on how you look at it:

Calling All Film Makers - Dugongs Calling

2011-11-12T08:10:00.001-08:00

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) would like tocall for tenders from qualified and experienced film makers and producers whocan offer their services to provide a documentary on the Pacific dugong.

Thesuccessful applicant will need to provide a completed documentary by 31December 2012.

Please read Attachment Annex 1 for full requirements for tendersubmissions.

Deadline:Wednesday, November 16, 2011

======

Lui A.J. Bell

Marine Species Officer

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme(SPREP)

PO Box 240

Apia

Samoa

Phone: Direct-+685 66281; +685 21929 Ext 281

Fax: +685 20231

Website: www.sprep.org

Brazil Tiger Shark Values - Jaws and Fins

2011-11-12T07:27:00.001-08:00

Called a "Flat Head Shark," residents of the coastal town of Juréia, Brazil quickly take apart this Tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) for its most valuable parts - jaws and fins.

We might suggest a third value for this animal, commercial shark diving, as commercial Tiger sites like the Bahamas benefit greatly from sustainable, live Tigers and other shark species:

Just ol' Timey Shark Porn or Conservation?

2011-11-11T07:12:00.001-08:00

Over at the Fiji Blog Mike has thrown down the gauntlet after observing several folks and a well known shark organization that profess shark conservation and positive shark media - going off the rails.

At hand the very definition of Shark Porn and a few within the shark conservation space who not only play on both sides of the fence, but are seemingly hell bent on redefining Shark Porn and shark conservation as we know it.

Apparently you can have it both ways in this new paradigm.

You can be a celebrated "hard core shark conservationist" and work with an organization that that pushes for shark media enlightenment with the following website media commandments:

Be heard. Blog, write articles, appeal to media outlets and help dispel the myths. Don’t support media outlets that demonize sharks. Sharks aren't evil re-incarnated.

And, no matter where you live, the myths about sharks as bloodthirsty man-eaters are being perpetuated – dangerous mis-truths standing in the way of their conservation. Think sharks are evil re-incarnated?

And then you can turn around and do major prime time hit piece on sharks and no one cares as long as you throw in the word "myths." In fact your star may actually rise within segments of this relatively new shark conservation community who have become de-facto eco chambers for what positive shark media is with television shows like this months Shark Attack Experiment LIVE:

Swimming vs. floating. Does floating listlessly or actively swimming make humans a more attractive target?

Color, contrast and shiny surfaces. Do certain colors, bright jewelry or diving equipment attract or provoke sharks to attack

Bodily fluids. We know a shark can detect minuscule amounts of blood, so will human blood or other fluids like urine signal that a tasty meal is at hand?

Bare skin. Does exposed human skin, like bare feet, bring them in for the kill?

Time of day. Does cover of darkness or daylight increase the likelihood of a shark's attacking?

Panic and fear. Do our involuntary reactions to stress, like an elevated heartbeat, ring the dinner bell for sharks?

Perhaps it is time to define Shark Porn once and for all as a community.

Stunt work with sharks will always be stunt work with sharks and inherently there's nothing wrong with it as long at is it not couched as anything but what it is - and it is not shark conservation.

Experiments with sharks in prime time make for great television, and even help sell razors, but is it shark conservation?

We don't think so, but the bigger question looms - can we have both?

Battleground for sharks Western Sahara?

2011-11-10T14:32:00.001-08:00

Shark Fishing in Africa circa 1876

The shark population in occupied Western Saharan waters is under threat by Moroccan and European fishing. That is one of the many disturbing conclusions of the independent post-evaluation report on the EU's fish deal with Morocco.

Through targeting sharks, rays and skates, European vessels fishing in Western Saharan waters have adopted the same exploitation strategy as the Moroccan vessels, says the evaluation report from Océanic Developpement - an independent consultancy firm hired by the European Commission to review the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA).

The Moroccan fleet has long-time held a special interest for sharks. Up to 4.000 tonnes are landed each year to accommodate the demands for shark of the Asian markets. Particularly the deep sea species are targeted, as their large liver makes them interesting for the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry.

Deplorably, the EU fleet is not lagging behind. No less than 70% of the total catches of the three Portuguese vessels active in Saharawi waters, consists of sharks, rays and skates. That's well above 450 tonnes of endangered species. This is said to be the findings of the independent study written for the European Commission. The report mentions that one single Spanish vessel fished about 60 tonnes of sharks and rays, equalling 30% of its total catches.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers sharks, rays and skates to be in danger of extinction. These species are highly vulnerable in terms of reproduction, and are as a consequence in danger of extermination when exposed to over-fishing. And that is precisely the case in Western Sahara: the EU's evaluation study concluded that the fish stocks of both Moroccan and Saharawi waters are either fully exploited or over-exploited.

In order to protect sharks and rays, an International Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks was adopted by the FAO in 1999. The catches of sharks, rays and skates by European vessels are furthermore in violation of the EU’s Action Plan on Sharks, adopted in 2009. That same year, the Moroccan government issued a set of guidelines to reduce the fishing impact on sharks, but the evaluation report found no information as to whether and how these measures have been implemented.

Since sharks, rays and skates are already in danger of extinction, continued fishing will have detrimental effects on all ongoing attempts of conservation. Three out of ten sharks captured by the EU fleet are of types that are considered 'vulnerable' by the IUCN, meaning that their population has already been reduced by 80%.

Report.

Gulf Oil Spill Research "Cornucopedia?"

2011-11-10T09:31:00.001-08:00

What do you get when dozens of researchers from a variety of oceanic disciplines drop hundreds of pages of fresh research content on the Internet representing thousands of hours of field work...all in the space of a week?

Why that would be a veritable
"Cornucopedia" of study material, and folks it is time to get busy with the answers to many of the questions we have been wondering about concerning the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010.

Of course the big answer, "did the oil spill have an impact?" is here in stark black and white.

Yes it did.

If you ask a BP rep/lawyer/evil incarnate baby eater the same question the answer will be vastly different and that, people, is why we have scientists to break it down for you.

But this work is absolutely no good to anyone unless it is read, dissemintaed, and talked about and that's where you come in. Now if you're some of the folks we know in the shark biz, forewarning this link contains big words and some numbers that go as high as 12, as in 12 pack beer. So you might want to wait until others have posted on Facebook pages with big glossy pictures of oiled seabirds so you can get angry, otherwise you'll just get lost with this stuff.

OK?

If you're the other folks we know in the shark biz, the majority, read on, and pay close attention to the next few months with fresh papers coming out concerning Whale sharks in the Gulf.

We hear tell this is going to be some interesting stuff. Then again we have been watching closely since this event broke in 2010 helping to drive the media where we could in response to these magnificent animals who, at the time, were migrating right through bands of oil.

For these animals it would appear they suffered greatly.

Tagging Tigers Guy Harvey's Clan Returns Home

2011-11-10T07:19:00.001-08:00

Three tiger sharks tagged off the coast of Grand Cayman as part of a collaborative research project have returned to local waters after almost a year travelling around the Caribbean. Although Tina was last tracked off the coast of Jamaica, Coco is in the deep water off Grand Cayman at present and Luiza, who was last heard of off Honduras – Nicaragua in the summer, has come home for a visit and officials are watching to see when she will leave again on her voyage around the Caribbean. The three sharks were given satellite tags as part of an extensive survey of the sharks around the Cayman Islands, which has revealed information on what species there are and some of the threats to Cayman’s large marine animals.

The project is a joint effort between the Department of Environment (DoE), Marine Conservation International (MCI), the Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) at Nova Southeastern University and the Save Our Seas Foundation.

Studies elsewhere have shown that where large sharks have been fished out, the resulting catch of desirable fish for the fishers has drastically changed and reduced in species and numbers. The current study will provide information on the situation in the Cayman Islands and help to prevent such a disastrous situation for our waters.

The long migration paths of the three tigers show the sharks use a large part of the Caribbean Sea. Dr Mauvis Gore from Marine Conservation International said the tracks show the extensive areas that the tiger sharks need to patrol for food and in turn help to keep a balance in the seas.

Despite their precarious situation, there is no law to protect sharks in Cayman waters but hopes for the species have been raised in the region following the ban on shark fishing by Belize, Mexico, St Maarten, Honduras and the Bahamas. Timothy Austin, Deputy Director of the DoE, welcomed the ban by neighbouring countries. “This will give a boost to the health of the marine environment for the Caribbean,” he said.

A boost to shark conservation has also come from the Cayman Islands Brewery, which is donating five cents to the project from the sale of every can of its new award winning White Tip lager.

You can watch the Tiger tracks here.

Could tilapia help save endangered sharks? Market driven solutions

2011-11-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

The most popular farmed fish species in Taiwan may soon help save endangered sharks.

It turns out that the caudal fins of Taiwan tilapia -- a hybrid of Oreochromis mossambicus and Oreochromis niloticus niloticus -- can replace shark dorsal and pectoral fins in the highly sought-after shark fin soup, said Wang Yi-feng, general manager of the Kouhu Fisheries Cooperative in Yunlin County and a Taiwan tilapia expert.

Just over a year ago, Wang began studying how to turn tilapia tail fins into something very similar to processed shark fins. Tilapia fins are already on the market as a substitute and their increasing popularity could lower the demand that has been driving the overfishing of sharks, Taiwan Today reports.

“Caudal fins of Taiwan tilapia are a perfect stand-in for shark fins because they have the same appearance and texture,” said Wang. “Most importantly, the fact that Taiwan tilapia is a farmed fish guarantees stable supplies of the delicacy, which could prevent sharks from being wiped out.”

Just like shark fins, tilapia fins are made up primarily of cartilage, which is flavourless but has a desirable chewy consistency, Wang explained.

As opposed to shark fins, which can be extremely harmful due to the high levels of mercury accumulated by sharks, Taiwan tilapia fins pose no threat of heavy metal poisoning, he explained.

Founded in 1997, the Kouhu Fisheries Cooperative is made up of more than 200 fish farm operators from three southern Taiwan counties with a combined pond area of 2,300 ha, and represent a fourth of the country’s total tilapia farming area. Wang specified that the cooperative is Taiwan’s largest exporter of frozen tilapia fillets and also runs in compliance with European Union (EU) food standards while offering traceable product resumes.

Notably, shredded fins cost around USD 120 per kg -- one-quarter the cost of shredded shark fins. However, tilapia fins can only be used shredded because they are much smaller than shark fins, Wang pointed out.

The product is becoming increasingly trendy in Hong Kong, Japan and many five-star hotels in Taiwan.

Currently, the Tilapia fins’ monthly output stands at 1 ton, but this is expected to double or triple by next year to meet growing market demand now that the manufacturing process has matured, Wang said.

“I believe there is great market potential for tilapia fins and I’m confident that consumers will love them,” he added.

Wang is now researching the use of hyaluronic acid extracted from the crystalline lens of the Taiwan tilapia eyes to create cosmetic products.

Content source FIS.

Dive Sentry - See it. Report it.

2011-11-06T17:22:00.000-08:00

Dive Sentry - See it. Report it.

1.2 million active divers from around the world are the eyes and ears of Sanctuaries, set aside areas, and Bio-Spheres.

In the beta testing phase.

The main two elements of this initiative will allow divers to anonymously post fisheries violations from around the world to a central RSS media site which in turn allows the major media, conservation groups, and secondary media (blogs, You Tube) free access to all images, content, and video of violations.

The second element will automatically email regional authorities submitted violations including images and video in english and the native language. Reports will automatically be paired to Google Earth coordinates for ease of tracking.

Dive Sentry is fully integrated on primary social media platforms and has a beta iPhone app that allows divers to upload video, content, and images automatically.

Dive Sentry enguages the major media with fresh global conservation content daily.

Dive Sentry provides a timeline and archive for regional repeat violations in a public format.

Dive Sentry engages regional agencies responsible for fisheries protections and mgmt automatically.

Dive Sentry - See it. Report it.

CNN Sharks: From predator to prey

2011-11-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Shark Diver was asked to help CNN this summer with an investigative report into the state of sharks.

The team, featuring CNN's Kaj Larsen, was introduced to the sharks of the Bahamas by Luke Tipple the Director of the Shark-Free Marinas Initiative. The Bahamas remains one of the most forward thinking governments in the Caribbean when it comes to sharks, conservation, and commercial shark diving efforts.

This is why we do conservation pieces for sharks and when it comes to shark conservation media it doesn't get much better than this. Kudos to everyone who worked on this piece:

Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research and Jeff Corwin

2011-11-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

NAPLES -- Shark research at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) will have the national spotlight tomorrow in a segment of Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin. The new production, launched jointly by the Georgia Aquarium and Litton Entertainment, is part of the Litton Weekend Adventure Saturday morning three-hour educational programming block on ABC. The shark research episode, featuring RBNERR’s fisheries biologist Pat O’Donnell, along with Mike Hyatt and Paul Anderson, PhD., two of the other researchers involved in the study, is scheduled to air tomorrow Saturday, Nov. 5.

“We are thrilled that the Rookery Bay is being recognized in this production,” said Rookery Bay NERR Manager Gary Lytton. “Millions of TV viewers nationwide will have a great opportunity to learn more about sharks and the importance of mangrove estuaries as shark nurseries through our collaboration with Corwin and the Georgia Aquarium.”

Five years ago, Rookery Bay NERR’s long-term shark monitoring program caught the attention of Florida Aquarium veterinary staff working to improve captive shark handling techniques. Subsequently, Rookery Bay NERR entered into a cooperative research effort with the Florida Aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium and Shedd’s Aquarium in Chicago. The collaborative shark stress response project required access to wild-caught sharks, such as those encountered monthly in RBNERR’s project.

As production plans got underway at the Georgia Aquarium for Ocean Mysteries, the Rookery Bay shark capture project became the perfect opportunity to put Corwin in close contact with wild sharks. Filming took place aboard a Rookery Bay NERR research vessel in the Ten Thousand Islands in August 2011. The crew encountered four sharks: two lemon (Negaprion brevirostris), a bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo) and a blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus). While the cameras rolled, the sharks were measured, weighed and had other data recorded before being tagged and released with Corwin’s assistance and enthusiastic explanation of their significance to the ocean ecosystem.

Programming times vary during the Saturday morning Litton’s Weekend Adventure on ABC. Check your local listings.

Shark Fishing with Shotguns?

2011-11-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

Yup, once more You Tube has provided us an ugly window into the grunt filled world of lower organisms and the manner in which they fish:

Hagfish vs Shark - Cool Video

2011-11-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

So we all know the Hagfish as a disgusting relic of the Devonian era. They are basically the critters who will consume your mortal remains should you be unfortunate enough to perish at sea.

But there are other deep water critters who also vie for that honor as your mortal remains sitting down at 2000 feet represent a veritable cornucopia in the desert like environment of the cold dark deep.

To combat this underwater arms race and to not become part of the movable feast, Hagfish have developed a unique slime that until very recently researchers didn't know a lot about.

The following video aptly reveals the Hagfish defense mechanism when a deep water shark shows up and thinks it will make an easy meal of the eel like critter it has just discovered at a research bait station.

Great stuff and kudos to the team behind the video from Australia:

North Shore pro surfer Jamie O’Brien needs a media team - and a condom

2011-11-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

Raising awareness?

I wish you could make this stuff up but sadly you cannot, and thus begins today's lesson about wildlife, media messaging, and stupid animal tricks.

Folks, we have said it before and will say it again, there's something wrong with the media message out there.

First a bit about this image.

Pro surfer Jamie O’Brien is trying to get folks to understand Fibropapillomatosis which is causing an epidemic amongst sea turtles.

Fibropapillomatosis is most likely caused by a herpes-type virus.

He chose this image of him engaged in a sex act with a turtle, no wait, he was just riding the turtle, no, it's a sex act, to convey the conservation message.

Really?

This is on par with, if not as moronic as, recent media hits that were meant to convey important conservation messages such as:

1. Playing a guitar underwater while crooning to white sharks in a protected Bio Sphere Reserve. The message was, "white sharks are not dangerous." Since that video there have been 6 fatal white shark attacks and 11 non fatal predatory events on surfers and divers worldwide.

2. Holding up pizza box lids with lip stick on them to convey complex messaging about shark nets in South Africa. Since that media image over 2000+ sharks have been killed in shark nets all over the world.

3. Placing billboards at recent shark attack sites with the message, "Payback is Hell". We're not even going to go there.

The list goes on.

It's not like we don't know media messaging and complex conservation management. We have been involved in it for the past decade and while images like this one with Jamie O’Brien elicit giggles, web traffic, and a bunch of kudos from your particular tribal group, they don't last, and ultimately they are not effective.

You want to save turtles? This is not the way to do it.

But that does not stop folks from trying. Media messaging is as complex as the issue you are trying to get across and you have to play to a much wider audience than just the folks who reside in your smart phones contact list. It's a point that seems obvious but far too many within the conservation community miss it time and again.

Hits on a You Tube videos do not translate into conservation laws. Quasi-sex turtle images do not translate into grants and funds for long term studies. Awareness is not worth a dime unless it translates, and translate into something that will actually help.

Conservation messaging needs to be done without the "stupid pet tricks with wildlife."

We can do better than we are with smarter messaging that actually translates into conservation gold.

Highlight the issue. Create the solution. Translate into action.

Himalayan Griffon Vulture vs Russians

2011-11-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

You know, occasionally we break format here at the Shark Diver Blog to bring you something that defies description, fortunately for you there's a video.

Welcome to Russian para-gliders vs Himalayan Griffon Vultures, a smack down that will leave you wishing you understood Russian swearwords:

Barry Bruce and Russell Bradford CSIRO Industry Study

2011-11-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

The effects of berleying on the distribution and behaviour of white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, at the Neptune Islands, South Australia, August 2011

Research Summary

A study by Barry Bruce and Russell Bradford of the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources South Australia

Cage diving at Neptune Islands

Seas and sealions (pinnipeds) form part of a white shark’s annual diet, and sharks may spend from days to months per year at pinniped colonies. Between these visits they travel to other locations seeking other sources of prey. They can swim thousands of kilometres, from temperate to tropical waters, and across the open ocean during these annual travels.

Pinniped colonies that are regularly visited by white sharks can be ideal for shark-viewing tourism. White shark cage diving activities are established near to such pinniped colonies in South Africa, Mexico, California and Australia.

In Australia, white shark cage diving occurs only at the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park (60–70 km south of Port Lincoln, South Australia) comprising the North and South Neptune Islands.These islands host Australia’s largest pinniped aggregation.

Commercial tour operators involved in white shark cage diving must be licensed under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 and, if berleying to attract sharks, must have an exemption under the Fisheries Act 1982.

Berleying practices

In South Australia, shark cage diving provides an opportunity to view white sharks in their environment.The sharks are commonly attracted to the viewing vessel through the use of berley (chum), a mix of chopped or minced fish and fish oil. Berleying attracts sharks that are already present in the area to the shark cage-dive vessel and increases the chances of a shark being seen.

Increased frequency of berleying

The shark cage diving industry has worked under a Code of Practice since 2004 to ensure that its operations minimise negative impacts on sharks. Permit requirements also restrict the type of berley than can be used to fish-based products only and these products must be kept refrigerated prior to use.

Days of berleying activity in the SA shark-cage diving industry had remained reasonably stable at an annual average of 128 days from 2000 to 2007. However, the number of days of berleying activity at the Neptune Islands significantly increased after 2007, reaching 270 days in 2009–2010. Berleying activity increased over this time both within the main bay at North Neptune Island and at a second site outside of the bay.

This increase in berleying activity has caused some concern as wildlife tourism that attracts or rewards the target animals, such as through provisioning (feeding), can cause changes in behaviour.Worldwide experience suggests that such changes in behaviour, if they occur, can often have negative consequences for the target animal.

Increasing interest from potential new operators to enter the SA shark cage dive industry combined with concerns regarding the potential for negative impacts on sharks from berleying operations, prompted the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Primary Industries and Resources South Australia (PIRSA) to set research on the impact of berleying on shark behaviour at the Neptune Islands as a high priority. Such research was also consistent with objectives under the National recovery plan for white sharks as a listed threatened species under Australia’s Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

White shark research at the North Neptune Islands

The North Neptune Islands is a key site for many white sharks in Australian waters and have been the focus of CSIRO-based research on white shark movement patterns, behaviour and habitat use since 1993.

Sharks tagged with electronic tags (satellite, archival and acoustic) have been tracked from the Neptune Islands to Exmouth in north-western Western Australia and to Rockhampton in central Queensland. Sharks tagged with other (non-electronic) tags at The Neptune Islands have also crossed theTasman Sea to New Zealand.

A 2001–2003 CSIRO study at the North Neptune Islands found that the level of berleying at that time had a localised and short-term effect on the distribution and behaviour of sharks and that the effects were concentrated in the bay of the main island where most berleying and shark cage diving activities occurred. Having the results of this initial study provided an opportunity to examine if white shark behaviour had changed at the North Neptune Islands since the 2007 increase in berleying effort.

Acoustic monitoring study: 2010–2011

The purpose of the 2010–2011 study was to see if there had been any changes in the amount of time (residency) white sharks spent at the Neptune Islands since the previous study in 2001–2003 and if there had been any changes in their movement patterns or behaviour.The 2010–2011 study observed the movements of 21 tagged white sharks ranging from 2.8 metres to 4.8 m. The sharks were tagged with acoustic transmitters each of which produces a unique signal that can be identified by moored acoustic receivers.

The presence/absence of individual tagged sharks was monitored by arrays of acoustic receivers at both the North and South the Neptune Islands from December 2009 to April 2011.These receivers were removed at the end of the study so that the data they collected could be examined.These were complemented by monitoring data from a single satellite- linked acoustic receiver maintained inside the main bay at the North Neptune Islands since 2008.The satellite linked receiver automatically sends information on sharks present in the bay each week to researchers at CSIRO in Hobart. Daily logbook records of shark cage dive operator activities from 1999–2011 were also used in the analysis to identify when operators were present and to monitor the number of sharks sighted each day.

Acoustic receivers identical to those used in this study also form a network of stations around the Australian coast as part of the Commonwealth Government funded Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).The acoustic receivers form part of the Australian AnimalTracking and Monitoring System (http://imos.org.au/aatams.html) and allow researchers to monitor the long- term movements of tagged sharks after they leave the Neptune Islands.

The tagging procedure

Acoustic tags were attached to a small stainless steel arrow head by a short tether. Sharks were attracted to the vessel using fish-based berley and tags were attached externally to each shark as they swam past by using a tagging pole.

What did the monitoring reveal?

General shark movements

As seen in previous research, white sharks tagged during the study were found to be temporary residents of the Neptune Islands. Despite berleying, sharks continue to arrive and leave the Neptune Islands. As in previous years, the number of sharks present at any one time was highly variable.There were some periods when no sharks were present.These patterns are probably driven by differences in the ocean conditions between years and seasons.

Increased berleying has not led to sharks taking up patterns of permanent residency and sharks left the Neptunes Group for other destinations across their Australian range during the study period. For example, three tagged sharks were detected by acoustic receivers moving through south-western Western Australia after leaving the Neptune Islands during the course of the study.

When resident to the Neptune Islands area, some sharks made return transits between the North and South Neptune Islands which are 12 km apart. This occurred regardless of berleying activity and appears to be normal behaviour for sharks in this area.

Changes in shark behaviour

Despite sharks continuing to arrive and depart the Neptune Islands during berleying periods, the 2010-2011 study identified some significant changes in shark behaviour at the North Neptune Islands since berleying effort and regularity increased in 2007.
These changes in behaviour were not observed at the South Neptune Islands where berleying effort has not markedly changed since 2007.
The study found the following changes in the way sharks used the Neptune Islands:

The average amount of time (residency period) that individual sharks spend at the North Neptune Islands has increased from 11 days in 2001- 2003 to 21 days in 2010-2011.
The average number of consecutive days (visits) spent at North Neptune Island during residency periods has increased from 2 days in 2001-2003 to 6.5 days in 2010-2011.
The average number of sharks seen by operators has increased from 2.2 per day prior to 2007 to 3.4 per day after 2007.This does not mean that the abundance of sharks has increased but reflects that they are staying for longer periods and that each individual is seen more often.
The daily movements of sharks has changed to more closely match the arrival and departure of shark cage dive operators, so that now sharks arrive in the berleying areas at about the time operators arrive and leave the area after the operators leave.This pattern now occurs on days where operators are present and also on days when they are not present.

Why is it important to take notice of these changes?

These observations all suggest that berleying operations have changed the way sharks use the environment at the North Neptune Islands.

At present, there is no evidence to suggest that these changes have been harmful to the sharks or that they may lead to changes in their behaviour at any other location. Many of the sharks also visited South Neptune Island and their behaviour at that site was not significantly different to the behaviour of sharks in the 2001–2003 study.

Understanding the impacts of such changes is complicated because each shark is only a temporary visitor to the Neptune Islands and thus is only exposed to berleying for the short time they are there. Also, although berleying provides an attraction for sharks, by itself it provides no reward in the form of food. Small ‘teaser’ baits used by operators to lure sharks closer to the vessel offer some form or reward but this is small compared to the source of natural prey in the area.

Research in other areas of the world has identified that a variety of problems can occur where marine wildlife has been attracted for tourism purposes. For white sharks and their environment at the Neptune Islands, this may include increased aggression between sharks if more sharks remain on site, distraction by tourism activities resulting in fewer opportunities to feed on seals and sealions, changes in predation pressure on seals and sealions, sharks provisioning on a food source (teaser baits) that is not as nutritious as their natural prey and increasing the abundance of fish life that can feed on the small particles that make up berley. These problems can lead to unintentional impacts on the overall health of sharks and to changes in the ecology of the area.

White sharks are a listed threatened species and protected in Australian waters. Minimising identified impacts on them and the environment within which they reside is important, particularly when the implications of such impacts are unknown.

In the case of shark cage diving, all parameters measured in this study suggest that berleying operations have changed the way sharks use the area at the North Neptune Islands. Reducing the impacts of these operations on sharks is thus important to ensure that there are no long-term negative effects on sharks visiting this area or the marine ecosystem of the region.

The challenge for government agencies and the SA industry will be to reduce the impact of shark cage diving on sharks and the ecosystem while maintaining a world-class diving experience that contributes significantly to the local economy and provides a platform for education, research and conservation. Achieving this balance has the potential to provide a benchmark for managing cage-diving tourism worldwide.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The study makes the following recommendations:

Reduce berleying/provisioning effort

The current level of berleying should be reduced, or at least capped, to minimise further behavioural changes.‘Teaser’ baits should be of a minimum size required to be effective and all reasonable efforts should be made to minimise the number of baits taken by sharks.

On-going monitoring of shark behaviour

Shark residency periods, duration of visits and daily patterns of movements should continue to be monitored to evaluate the sharks’ response to any mitigation actions and enable feedback to managing agencies and industry to ensure such actions are effective.
The most cost-effective monitoring approach would be to maintain the satellite-linked receiver at the North Neptune Islands and to continue to tag sharks with acoustic tags. Additional satellite receivers should be installed at the second berleying site at the North Neptune Islands and at South Neptune Island, (the latter to compare shark behaviour).

Education and awareness program

The shark cage dive industry in South Australia should be provided with educational material for clients that explains:

shark ecology, movements and conservation
the risks posed to sharks by excessive berleying or provisioning;
the importance of minimising the impact of shark cage diving on sharks
the industry and management actions used to achieve this.

Edwar Herreno Great Stuff - Baitball Video

2011-11-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hat Tip: The folks over at the Guy Harvey Blog for bringing this video to our attention, nature at it's finest and rawest, a video by Edwar Herreno:

Shark Conservation Media - Busy Month for Shark Diver

2011-11-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy month rolling out positive shark media around the world with hits from CNN, Casa Grossa in Brazil and this months Futureal Magazine in Toronto, Canada talking about shark finning.

Toronto just went shark fin free this month so the article and quotes were timely.

Positive shark media is something we just do, it's a service to the sharks we make a living from and we have been doing it since our inception back in 2000.

At the time I was acutely aware that sharks didn't have a voice - and they needed one, badly.

In fact back in 2000 we were still in the "dark ages" for shark conservation. Few if any commercial shark diving operations really considered sharks beyond the commercial side. All that changed in 2007 with the "shark conservation movement" which is now in full bloom.

In 2008 I penned one of the most read articles of our blog with 300,000 uniques and counting, it was titled Shark Diver Noblesse Oblige, it was call to action for our industry worldwide to act on behalf of sharks.

Today you'll be hard pressed to find a single operation that is not engaged in the shark conservation movement in some way or form. It's been an amazing revolution.

This weeks barrage of media hits from Shark Diver closes out another amazing shark diving season for us both in the Bahamas and Mexico.

We still have a few more weeks of white shark diving operations in Mexico and will be the only commercial vessel operating at the island this late in the season as all the other operations will soon be ending white shark diving for 2011.

Our last few expeditions to this unique island allow us some quality time with the animals we have come to know, understand, and love over the past decade and there's not a single day where I do not consider ourselves fortunate to be able to work with these unique sharks year after year.

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,
Patric Douglas CEO
www.sharkdiver.com
www.sharkdivers.com
415.235.9410

Getting Crusty With Quotes - GrindTV

2011-11-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

"On Saturday a surfer was bitten by what is believed to have been a large white shark just north of Monterey. He sustained moderate injuries to his arm and neck and the shark tore a 19-inch chunk from his board."

Today I added a rather crusty quote (according to a long time friend) for Grind TV and Peter Thomas's article on a surf contest in San Francisco.

Top notch surfers from around the world are gathered in SF this week to compete off Ocean Beach in the shadow of the Farallon Islands and in the territory of the white shark.

Does this make any sense to me as a commercial shark diving CEO?

No it does not.

If Kelly Slater thinks it's o.k to surf at the peak of white shark season off the California coast that's Kelly's decision. Having the major media on site, 100-200 fans on the shoreline, and an actual sighting of a white shark fin during the competition is a recipe for a disaster not of a white sharks making.

Fact is there's a whole lot of good folks worldwide, including many surfers, who are trying to change perceptions about the white sharks away from the 1970's JAWS stereotypes and into a broader understanding. Why would we want to set up a white shark at the peak of the habitual shark season with a man made media frenzy "if" a top rated surfer was to have a negative interaction with a white?

I am a huge fan of Kelly Slater by the way and not singling him out, rather I believe that competitions like these and the promoters who set them up are the responsible parties, or should be.

The white sharks off the California coasts are survivors, the few and last of their kind and I believe we should defer to them more often then we do. Every attack resonates around the world, every bitten board sends an unmistakable message, and in every instance the shark is not at fault, we are.

Is it about time to give the white sharks of California their due? Or are big dollar surf contests ruled by chance encounters and the hope that wildlife will not mistake the participants?

I think we can do better. In fact I know we can, all crusty quotes aside.

Cheers,
Patric Douglas CEO
www.sharkdiver.com
www.sharkdivers.com
415.235.9410

Protected White Sharks Targeted in S.A?

2011-10-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

Riaan Engelbrecht has been a very busy South African white shark fishing machine going back to 2009.

He's also the owner of South Africa's Extreme Fishing.

Targeting white sharks in South Africa his Facebook site reads like a one man ecological disaster for animals that are supposed to be protected in his home waters.

As the owner of Extreme Fishing you might think that Riaan is aware of the protected status of white sharks. Perhaps he is, or perhaps the four images he recently posted of different white sharks stranded on local beaches with his smiling face are just a fluke, an accident, and not a targeted trophy fishery.

We have been here before, last month, when the conservation world became outraged at the sight of another white shark harvested by trophy seeking locals with little regard to the health and welfare of the animals they sought.

It's officially a problem when you discover a guy like Riaan Engelbrecht who posts four white sharks with the title "Tight Lines" on his Facebook site with no media backlash, no government intervention, and no conservation push back.

We said it last month when the first locally white shark was caught and photographed, a rally call for local shark conservationists.

Here is our post again and perhaps this time these images can motivate those who claim to love sharks into action:

Wolfgang Leander, the wizened sage of the shark conservation movement, has been raising awareness about the tragic S.A shark disappearing act for several years now and yet it still happens, and now we have the visual proof to back his many blog posts up.

So before one more so called shark conservationist in S.A stands up to cry about sharks, before we are subjected to another pretty You Tube video from S.A featuring a bimbette riding the fin of a now dead and poached Tiger shark, let's get real about shark conservation.

It starts with this guy and a call for prosecution, the ensuing media madness, and a follow through to see that it is done. This cannot stand.

We understand that S.A is a world away from conservation norms, but to those who would claim that they are the leaders of any conservation movement with sharks in S.A we say "show us what you got".

It's your backyard and this guy just took a great big dump in it.

For these many white sharks at least - time has run out.

Update: The South African Shark Conservancy is on the case and looks like they know a range of illegal fishermen, fishing groups and websites promoting illegal white shark catches in South Africa. Their Facebook site has all the details, if you can support or help their ongoing investigations in any way please contact them it is time to put an end to trophy white shark fishing in S.A and it starts with some media pressure.

I am not part of the problem, proud to be 3,553,227,618!

2011-10-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

With some relief today I discovered that I am number 3,553,227,618.

In case you're wondering what your number is you can check here.

"The Number" is how many people were estimated to be on the planet when you arrived.

Your date of birth.

For me I just squeaked under the estimated range where humans, with all of our glorious machines, dependency on oil, modern agriculture and commercial fishing practices were in balance with the planet.

Any damage 3 plus billion people did was absorbed by our planets great biomes.

Our oceans could sustain us, there was enough wildlife to go around, habitat could rebuild.

Hooray for me.

That means all my fellow 1968 brethren are in a secure place knowing that the ecological problems the planet faces now at 7 billion people are not our problem.

We're not the ones wrecking the planet people.

Gorillas vanishing in the Goma? Not our problem.

Bluefin tuna going extinct? Not our problem.

Amazon rainforest's being burned? N.O.P

These are issues for "the others," anyone born after 1968 who have been using up our precious resources like they had something to prove. You know, the roughly 3.5 billion extra mouths, the extra users of oil, those damn Bluefin tuna eating nouveau riche types who have been cramping our style since 1969.

The great problems of our planet can be squarely placed on the wide, corpulent, and resource hogging shoulders of those extra 3.5 billion who are wrecking the place with abandon.

How the hell did they get here anyway? I didn't invite them.

In 42 years 3.5 billion others snuck under cover of darkness onto our planet.

Where's the fence? I mean shouldn't we have erected some sort of fence?

The only good news here is that I don't have to lift a finger to right the ecological wrongs the other 3.5 billion of us are perpetrating on this fine planet of ours. I was born with a "planet bank" the unwritten understanding that this planet would always provide for me no matter what my footprint was on it.

All of that has changed and will change again as we pass 7 billion and in a few years reach 9.

My suggestion?

A planetary pyramid scheme. "The others," those 3.5 billion who came after me, can get busy with the global solutions to restoring the planet back, and you better save my Bluefin dammit because that's one tasty fish.

For labor? They can tap the next 2 billion of us who are scheduled to arrive by 2040, and what a labor force, 2 extra billion workers who can move mountains or replace them as needs be.

In summation I am proud to be 3,553,227,618, or lucky, as the numbers go because I will be dead and gone by the time 10 billion of us discover that there really are no resources left, and the planet has gone about as far as it can to provide for a population that should have stopped in 1968.

It's a big deal people, and this month it just got bigger.

More here from Da Shark.

Cheers,
Patric Douglas CEO
www.sharkdiver.com
www.sharkdivers.com
415.235.9410

Shark Diver and CNN Preview

2011-10-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Check out tonight's CNN Presents with Kaj Larsen and the crew of Shark Diver who were tapped to provide the background for this terrific pro-shark, pro-industry media expose.

Luke Tipple, the Director of the Shark-Free Marinas guides Kaj through the world of sharks, shark conservation, and shark fishing tournaments explaining the Shark-Free Marinas concept and its success along the way:

CNN and Shark Diver Airs Sunday Oct 30th

2011-10-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Got the following email this week from the fine folks over at CNN.

This fall we were asked to help with a pro-shark conservation piece covering shark fishing and Shark-Free Marinas.

Over the past year we have done four such programs with various media outlets from the US to Brazil in hopes that positive media for sharks helps folks understand the many complex issues sharks are facing.

With our always ready A-List shark crew we headed out to the Bahamas to highlight a place that is doing shark conservation right and shot reef sharks over two days with their show host.

Luke Tipple was gracious enough to carve out some of his busy conservation and filming schedule to guide CNN around sharks and the Shark-Free Marinas. For the past two years Luke has been the Director of the SFMI and the heart and soul of the program. You not going to find a better media spokesman for sharks, delivering sound bytes and hard facts without the hype.

Thanks to Scotty from Blue Iguana, MoonDog, Capt Rob and the rest of the crew for making this important show work under tough local conditions and chum that was peeling the paint off passing cars.

Thanks as well to Old Bahama Bay Resort for once again providing top notch hotel accommodations to wayward film crews from the mainland.

The story airs Sunday, check it out if you get a chance because this is about as good as it gets for mainstream shark conservation footage and analysis.

Also check out Richard Theiss from RTSea Productions who shot footage for the plastics segment.

Hi Pat,

Hope you're well.

Our shark story premieres this Sunday at 5; 8pm PST.I'm very happy with the story...only wish I had more than 6 minutes to workwith!

All is good here. Rich and I just returned from Belize. We went back todive the reef off Placencia...large scale development going on and it isstarting to trash the reef.

Best,
Heather
CNN

Commercial Shark Fin Sales and TradeKey.com - Update

2011-10-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Shark fin for sale under another name?

In 2010 TradeKey.com, an online B2B vendor and the second largest in volume to Alibaba.com, declared that they would stop selling shark fin online.

The move was lauded by the shark conservation community who posted the TradeKey press release and moved on.

Since that time no one has gone back to TradeKey.com to see if they had removed shark fin from their massive B2B listings.

We did, and what we found today after a brief search was shark fin for sale (sourced 10.26.2011) including the image of a dried shark fin from sources in India, Maldives and Mexico.

These sources sell up to 10,000 kgs of shark fin at a time.

But it goes beyond these overt commercial ads on TradeKey. In fact many sellers of "dried fish products" or "fish maw" sell shark fin and TradeKey has no mechanism in place to stop potential buyers from "asking about" dried shark fin from vendors.

In fact TradeKey offers no alerts or internal guidance that we can find at all regarding shark fin, the sales of shark fin, or the trade in shark fin on their site.

As conservationists we cannot be satisfied with partial solutions to the online sales of shark fins, we have to dig deeper and adopt the mindset of the buyers. Shark fin sales are a multimillion dollar global enterprise and the trade does not just vanish because of "a promise and a press release."

It needs to be monitored.

We will say this, TradeKey.com has pulled the vast majority of shark fin ads from their site but that does not make them partners in the war on shark fin sales, more like unwilling conservation participants.

For the dead shark featured in this weeks TradeKey B2B ad from India, that partnership has not fulfilled the promise and TradeKey.com needs to do better.

They can start with the following:

1. Internal guidance for dried ocean product sellers listing the items that cannot be sold on the TradeKey site with a fine or banishment if they are discovered breaking the rules.

2. A "smart search program" that watches internal emails between sellers and buyers for keywords like "shark fin," and an auto email sent to both parties warning them of TradeKey policies.

3. A revocation of all monies for transactions done with shark fin.

4. A public banned list on TradeKey for companies that break TradeKey policies.

The technology and web programming to completely banish shark fin, educate millions of buyers and sellers, and become an online B2B conservation leader exists - and it's cheap.

Additionally TradeKey could consider adopting a top tier conservation partner like Oceana or PEW to develop out long lasting internal shark policies and forward thinking outreach.

TradeKey are not the bad guy here, they just associate with folks that indiscriminately kill sharks for fins. In a global climate where sharks are rapidly becoming protected and even admired, the ongoing sale and trade of shark fin on massive B2B sites is something we all need to pay attention to.

In summation TradeKey has two options, adopt a strong conservation leadership position or continue with their current and "partially effective" effort to stop the sale and trade of shark fin on their site, which as we have seen this week is not meeting up with the press release and conservation hype.

Barry Bruce on Shark Culls - Video

2011-10-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Berry Bruce deep inside his subject matter 2009

Barry Bruce, never heard of him?

Well you should as he's one of those quiet industry types who does great work with white sharks, shuns the limelight, and occasionally comes forth in the media to knock a few homers out of the park.

In short our kind of white shark biologist.

This week Barry jumped into the political morass of recent shark attacks in Australia with the latest happening at Rottnest Island.

A world on Rottnest if you please. It's no secret that white sharks inhabit this island in the months of Oct-Dec and later each and every year. White sharks have been known in these waters going back to the late 1800's.

We posted this video back in 2008 of whites at Rottnest.

So, we're asking why dive boat operators are dumping divers into white waters in the first place? It's a question that NO ONE has asked and should be asking instead of baiting long lines to kill animals that are just "doing their thing."

Anyway back to Barry, his latest media foray has been picked up by the shark blogs, namely The Dorsal Fin and Da Shark and Andrew Fox and we would like to add our voices to the collective as well. This is great stuff and it's unfortunate that we don't have another three or four dozen Barry's out there to help turn the political tide back from the "kill order" for protected white sharks to a broader understanding that perhaps, just perhaps, during certain months we should just leave the hell alone and not put non caged divers into the world of the white shark.

"We Don't Wanna Hurt Ya" - Cute, Virally So

2011-10-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

If cute had a name, it would reside here with this little video. Thanks to Amanda Cotton for the video discovery and to the 7 year old who came up with this concept.

We're seeing a Shark Emmy for this one:

Exploring the limits of biochemical madness, one bubble of CO2 at a time

2011-10-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Shark Diver Labs 2011 TM

Here at the Shark Diver Labs we have been tinkering with biochemical frontiers.

You might think that that sounds "a bit wonky" coming from a shark diving company but ever since our foray last year into big biochem and the Gulf Oil Spill the basic tenants of biochemical reactions and what they can do for us has stuck around.

This month we're tinkering again with "fundamental creation" and producing what we think might be a hit on the West Coast. What it is we cannot say, just yet. We can say that the basic reactions are happening, all the right elements are in play and this week we watched the first bubbles of creation burst forth.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Like the guys at the CERN reactor in Europe, they don't know what they are doing either, but they have the equipment, the theory, and the drive. We do too and hopefully we'll have something groundbreaking to report in a few weeks from now: