Greenpeace-Managing the Message

When it comes to the "Eco- Message" there are those who flail around with bullet riddled flack jackets and those who get right to the point.

Kudos to Greenpeace...for getting right to the point.

Click image for full size and inhale.

Ach Laddie-That Shark Nay What Ye Think It Is!

Another case of shark "mistaken identity" by the always rabid U.K press. Today's news that a vicious shark rammed a fishing vessel off the coast of Scotland. The real story? Couple of jocks out for a laugh come across a completely harmless Basking shark...that just happens to glide under their boat.

It would seem the crowd at You Tube agrees with us (check comments)

BAN SHARK FEEDING,CAGE DIVING AND SHARK BAITING IN SOUTH AFRICAN WATERS!!!!! SAVE THE SHARKS!

The following is from a new "anti-shark diving petition" making the rounds on the internet. Clearly we here at UT are pro-shark diving, but it's always diplomatic to show the other side of things.

The problem we have as a shark diving company with the anti-shark diving lobby is the lack of information. Case in point:

BAN SHARK FEEDING,CAGE DIVING AND SHARK BAITING IN SOUTH AFRICAN WATERS!!!!! SAVE THE SHARKS!

The reason I have started this petition is because I am angered at the way dive operators and charters are treating an important and vital creature in the oceans that surround Southern Africa. The SHARK!!!!!!!

Shark feeders and baiters claim that they are conserving sharks. The reality is that dive industry-endorsed shark feeders and baiters are only in it to make a profit from so called "interactive shark tours". The truth is that they harm wildlife and compromise public safety!

Just because millions of sharks are slaughtered on an annual basis does not make shark feeding okay.

Manipulating sharks with bait to approach dive boats and "perform" or "model" for diving thrill seekers, tourists and photographers severely damages their natural defence mechanisims and significantly increases the probability that they will be killed by shark fishermen.

We need to wake up and smell the sea water guys. Without sharks in our ocean the ecosystem will go into disarray and our childrens' children are going to one day ask the question... What is a SHARK? The answer might very well be... " they are extinct, lets look it up".

Let's make a difference!

Shark Hot Spots-Korea?

One of the last places on the planet we would have thought was "sharky" would be Korea. No so, according to the latest news from The Korea Times.

Grab your shark cages-word on the street is they even have a few Great Whites lurking about:

By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Global warming has made the West Sea an ideal habitat for sharks but a dangerous one for beach goers.

A shark warning was issued over the weekend as rising temperatures will attract sharks over the next two months. ``The warning will remain in effect until temperatures in the waters drop below 11 degrees Celsius,'' Kim Jong-sup, an official at the South Chungcheong Provincial Government, told The Korea Times.

Sharks live in waters where temperatures hover between 11 and 22 degrees Celsius. He warned that sharks are likely to gather around coastal surface waters until late July. Scuba divers and ``haenyeo'' ― female divers who scoop up such lucrative crustaceans as shells, crabs and trepang ― are especially at risk from shark attacks, he added.

Six people have fallen victim to shark attacks since 1981, with the most recent taking place in June 2005.

``In-shore sharks are mostly seen by haenyeo,'' Kim said. ``People are obliged to report shark sightings to authorities immediately. Upon such a report, the government suspends any type of inshore fishing and other activities including scuba diving.''

Two Great White Sharks were reportedly captured last month near an island off the province, with six other man-eaters being found in the area recently.

From Russian News with...WTF!?

It's hard to know where to begin with this latest "Shark Opinion and Analysis" report coming out Russia's news agency.

Perhaps it's best just to post the whole sad thing.

Suffice to say 99% of this article is standard "Shark hookum and pseudo science" with much of the shark information presented seemingly gathered sometime in and around 1977.

So, without any further explanation, let us present to you one of, if not the worst, media biased shark reports of the year:

Have Sharks Gone Crazy?

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti commentator Tatyana Sinitsyna) - It seems that sharks, those cold-blooded creatures, have declared a war on the human race.

It is unclear what has caused this war, but a likely suspect would be shark fin soup, which is a much-wanted luxury in the finest restaurants of the economically booming East Asia. It pains one to think how many sharks have been killed to make it.

But sharks may have become aggressive for a different reason - aberrations in Nature are very often linked to changes in the climate. The temperature of oceanic currents is changing, forcing sharks to change their migration routes. This is how Mexican experts explain the massive appearance of sharks off the shores of the Mexican state of Guerrero, where they attacked two windsurfers, and "took a bite" out of one of them....

Konstantin Zgurovsky, coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Russia marine program, observed: "I don't think that sharks have become more aggressive. Of course, the changing current pattern could bring predators to new places. Or maybe the route of fish migration has changed, and they have followed it. But if Australians are used to sharks, in other places they are causing panic."

Apparently, this is what happened in Turkey. Dozens of beaches have been shut down and sea voyages prohibited off the western coast of Turkey because of sharks. Older residents say they have never seen so many of them there.

Some experts blame this strange conduct on oceanic acidification.

However, Dr. Vsevolod Belkovich, a biologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology, does not agree: "There is no simple explanation. It is not possible to say that the ocean environment has seriously changed. At the same time, stronger pollution directly affects all ocean organisms."

Dr. Belkovich thinks that man's increasing presence in the ocean is the most likely reason for the aberrations in shark behavior: "Navigation is developing; more and more people are swimming and diving. This is why they see sharks more often. The predators are getting nervous and irritated. But they are not so much protecting their environment as trying to take a bite. People are potential victims, more food - surely a delicacy."

Sharks have exactly the same attitude to anything edible. Well adapted to life, they are absolutely fearless. But aggression is caused not only by dauntless "courage," but also by permanent hunger. They are always on the go, and cover huge distances. They need food for energy. If they do not move, they will not receive enough oxygen through their gills - though the lazier ones are known to sleep on the bottom from time to time. Others act like nurses, looking after children.

Sharks charge at a trace of blood as a bull does at a red cloth. Confrontation with man is historic - people have been improving methods of hunting sharks and protecting themselves against them since they first went to sea. Sharks are extremely sensitive to smells in the water. Nowadays, "shark repellant" chemicals are diluted in the water to scare them off.

It would seem that sharks are almost ideal creatures - they have not changed in millions of years. Paradoxically, these frightening predators are themselves under threat because they are barbarously hunted to extinction. More than 20 species of sharks examined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group are about to die out.

6 Meter White Shark-South Africa

Let's run down the numbers here. For those of you, like us, who calculate our sharks in feet, 6 meters=19.6850 feet.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is one huge white shark.

The following story is naturally out of South Africa where nothing is small-and next to Australia, almost everything is out to bite, maim, or eat you:

A Six-metre great white shark was spotted by divers on Thursday about 3.5km off Durban after they had launched from uShaka Marine World beach. Aquabud Scuba instructor trainer Miguel Nunes said he had been invited to try out a shark diving experience by Patrick Voorma of Calypso Dive and Adventure at uShaka.

"We saw two black-tip sharks, but they disappeared very quickly,"said Nunes.

"Although we spent about an hour in the water the sea was eerily quiet". "There seemed to be no fish, nothing," he said. This was soon explained . . .

They had only been back in their boat for about 30 seconds after completing their dive when they spotted a huge, black shadow. Nunes said at first they thought it might be a whale shark, but the colours were wrong. "Maybe it's a Zambezi on steroids," he joked.

UltraMarine Magazine-Taking hobbies to a whole new level

Yeah, we know this has little to do with sharks, file this one under "Ocean".

We got introduced to this magazine last week, it's a glossy take on perhaps one of the world's toughest occupations...building and maintaining saltwater aquaria. This magazine is not your fathers "Tanks Unlimited".

Written with articles taken from an in water diver perspective coupled with amazing images. Here's the write up:

"The UK’s most in-depth marine fish magazine! Ultramarine Magazine released its first issue in December 2006 and is rapidly becoming the most comprehensive journal published in its field. We cover all aspects of the Reef Keeping hobby, from beginner subjects such as fish and coral choices, to more advanced articles - a selection of which can be seen on this website".