Shark Heroes-Australia's Sea World Vet Team

You gotta hand it to the team from NSW Sea World who dramatically saved a shark after it had "swallowed" a fishing gaff...complete with embedded hook. The entire crew here at Shark Diver salute this team.

What transpired in Australia this week is perhaps the greatest shark rescue story in the past ten years:

Scuba divers snapped these photos of the gentle shark swimming near Julian Rocks in the Cape Byron Marine Park when they first thought the shark had attempted to swallow a broomstick.

"It was swimming along, it looked quite healthy and didn't seem to be suffering but it became obvious if that thing stayed in its mouth, it would be the death of the shark - it couldn't be eating too well," diver John Natoli said.

Full story with images and video.

Josh Lay-Found-Nice Guy Too!

Got a phone call at the office, this time from the real "Josh Lay".

You know the old saw "the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction?", well we pretty much proved that today.

Turns out Josh is a real person, and was really looking to book 3-6 divers to go white shark diving at Isla Guadalupe.

While we were wondering why the entire world was suddenly calling us looking for Josh-Josh was wondering why his new cell phone had gone dead and no one was calling him.

A perfect case of cellphone-itus, when new tech get's you when you least expect it.

Oh, and by the way Josh is a nice guy with a great sense of humor;)

Who's Josh Lay? We'll Take the Thai Massage!

This week we got a call from a "Josh Lay" wanting some information about a white shark diving trip for 3-6 divers to Isla Guadalupe. On the outset it sounded like an honest phone call, we gave him our standard sales pitch and closed out the conversation.

Here's where it went south. All yesterday, and part of today we have been getting phone calls asking for "Josh Lay". In fact a good buddy of ours from Main who owns www.sharkdiving.com
called us to say he had a hot lead for a party of 3-6...you guessed it "Josh Lay".

The number Mr.Lay left behind to contact him is 323.240.9xxx that number is linked to our home office number here in California, so when you call it you get us!

Amusing? Yes. Whoever this "Josh Lay" is, he knows all about call forwarding, and has a great sense of humor. We have spoken with half the fleet in South Africa, a small shark diving operation in Honduras and a crazy German from Thailand who's got some kind of shark diving and beach massage service...for our money the Thai operation sounds like the winner!

Live Giant Squid Dissection-Museum Victoria

You just know we can't pass up a giant squid story so when news broke that there was going to be a live dissection of one, we just about went all kaddywompus here at the office:

Scientists are hoping to learn more about a giant squid, when it is dissected in Melbourne tomorrow July 17. 2008

The 245 kilogram squid was caught by fishermen off the coast of Portland in May.

The giant squid will go under the knife at Museum Victoria.The procedure will be open to the public and streamed live on the internet.

Call us geeks, but this sounds like a a whole lotta fun. If the servers do not crash we'll see you tomorrow in Melbourne!

Illegal Shark Fishing Vessel Ho Tsai Fa No. 18

After months of hunting, two documented sightings, and a high seas chase the Ho Tsai Fa No. 18 has surfaced...this time buried into a reef-minus her captain.

Greenpeace reported this illegal longliner working off the coasts of Java and the hunt has been on ever since.

Locals scavenging the ship have discovered holds full of tuna and shark. The captain is also missing reportedly killed by his own crew.

June 2008 Commercial Shark Landings in Ecuador

The following numbers come from Instituto National de Pesca, Ecuador. These are the official reported numbers of shark Landings for June.

The actual numbers are much higher and do not reflect illegal shark fining where the carcass is dumped.

June 2008 :

Pelagic Thresher : 281,9 tons (t).
Silky Shark : 74,8 t .
Blue Shark : 53,7 t .
Smooth Hammerhead : 25,7 t .
Scalloped Hammerhead : 10,8 t .
Shortfin Mako : 3,0 t .
Carcharhinus spp : 0,5 t .
Thresher (Alopias spp): 0,2 t .
Brown Smoothhound : 0,1 t .
Bigeye Thresher : 0,1 t .

TOTAL : 450,8 t in the month of June 2008

Ref. : Instituto National de Pesca.

One country. One month. One total. 901,600 pounds of sharks.