Kicking the Shark Diving Industry

Interesting. A chop shop comes up with two iterations of a new shark show concept called either "Shark Divers" or "Shark Business". They are both posted on You Tube to see who's interested and what, if any, ensuing media hits these two concept shows get.

Sounds familiar? It should we invented the idea.

The problem with this is that what you are watching is damaging our industry and whoever is behind this cares nothing for the many hard working operators worldwide who are trying, on a daily basis, to show our industry in a positive light. These operators care about sharks, they support research, and work tirelessly for local and regional shark causes.We spoke with Mike Lever (featured in "Shark Divers") owner of Nautilus Explorer today who has no idea how these videos came to pass - quote:

"There's no way we would do this kind of televised crap, we agree that divers should remain in cages, those are not our divers outside the cages at Isla Guadalupe"

That's it. While Hawaii decides the fate of two operations in their waters, Mexico continues to debate having shark operations in their waters, and the Bahamas has the fate of Tiger Beach in committee - one misguided media chop shop decided, alone and all by themselves, it was in the best interests of our 100 million dollar commercial shark diving industry to show the entire planet its worst face.

What a difference a "few clips" can make to the perception of a global industry.

Tunisian White Sharks?

Try even finding Tunisia on a map. Yet, according to recently a released video here is an unmistakable 12-13 foot male white shark. Thanks to Helmut Nickel for the video discovery:

REQUIN A CHEBA
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What The!? - Isabella Rossellini

Hide the dog and take the children out of school, the world as we know it is about to end in 3 seconds. You can thank actress Isabella Rossellini and her 6 foot long paper product whale penis:



Editors Note: The crazy blogger at Chum Slick broke this one, not us!

Conservation Long Game - Seals

For the seal conservation folks out there this was a good year indeed. After almost 30 long years of protests, marches, letter writing campaigns and in depth work with lawmakers and NGO's the European Parliament voted this week to ban most seal products from the European market. This ban will eliminate a primary source of revenue for the world's seal hunters re Canada. The legislative resolution was adopted with 550 votes in favor, 49 against and 41 abstentions.

An exemption is allowed for indigenous communities. The legislators exempted those seal products resulting from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other indigenous communities, which may still be imported and marketed into European Union countries.

Otherwise, the import of seal products is permitted only where it is of an occasional nature and consists exclusively of goods for the personal use of the travelers or products that result from by-products of hunting conducted for the purpose of sustainable management of marine resources on a nonprofit basis, the measure provides.

The Catch?

The European Parliament's ban on commercial trade in seal products will become law if it is adopted by the European Council of Ministers, which represents the member states.

Stay tuned, after 30 years of protests the final resolution still may be a ways off, but the end is near and that for conservationists is a real win.