Since a complete ban on commercial shark feeding and diving in Florida back in 2001, Florida has seen the loss of millions tourism revenue.Safe commercial shark diving is a viable bridge solution to sustainable management of species and a local tourism booster in terms of hotel stays, flights, and local restaurants.
Had Florida adopted and managed commercial shark diving in it's waters by now a minimum of 10 commercial operations would be taking divers from around the planet to safely interact with sharks. Florida is a scuba operation rich state, wherever you find success competition is sure to follow, perhaps a major factor for shutting down commercial shark diving back in 2001.
So, it was with some measure of satisfaction that we noticed at least one operation that was back ending the ban to realize "Shark Gold" in Florida waters. It begins with "one".
As the economy of the United States flounders and local states suffer their worst economic outlooks in the past 20 years it is high time to review commercial shark diving in Florida's waters again. As an "instant tourism resource" Florida has riches off it's shores waiting to be tapped while modern protocols for safe shark interactions have matured to a point where reliable and safe interaction with sharks are all but guaranteed.
3 comments:
Hopefully these operators are not in it just for the money...
It's a start. Any movement on the eco shark vs monster shark use in Florida is a step in the right direction. We wish him the best.
Underwater experience can be a pleasure and fun ride as well as inviting danger but it depends what your luck offers you and I loved the pictures a lot.
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