Messaging the shark diving experience

Slowly but surely, expedition videos and images are changing on You Tube and other media sites. Shark diving messaging is something the industry should encourage as a conservation force multiplier.

Here's one example:

"Human and shark, who is the real predator of the sea? Almost 100 million sharks are killed by human every year because of shark fining."

Ensenada Fish Market, Mexico Y.O.Y

This is a re post from an ongoing impromptu shark conservation effort we're doing in Ensenada, Mexico.

As the 2009 commercial white shark season begins (T-minus 3 days) we'll be spending time in Ensenada and the fish market to see if measures we put in place last season had any effect on the take of juvenile white sharks here.

Post 2008

We have been keeping track of the Ensenada Fish Market for the past three years.

The issue here is the sale of white shark pups as "swordfish". We have been documenting each and every trip we take down to this market with images of the animals we find on site.

Typically we are seeing a minimum of up to 5 animals for sale at any given time. We also enjoy the local Baja Fish Tacos (non white shark) while we're here...if you have not yet had a Baja Fish Taco in Ensenada, go here first.

Over the years we have uncovered one family who are the prime shark fishery here. These are hard working folks who know where to find sharks and how to fish them. For them it's a tough livelihood-they barely make a living.

Where some people see a travesty, we see an opportunity. Very little is known about young of the year in Mexican waters. Monterey Bay Aquarium is leading the charge along with TOPP's and a small group from Mexico working the Sea of Cortez.

One of the primary goals for this fish market should be DNA sampling of these sharks. As a ready made sampling site-this fish market is more than the final destination for white sharks, it could also be useful to research.

Is this a Great White? - Part two

There's a hushed rumor floating around the sport shark fishing community in New Jersey about a recent sport take of the Great White during last months 29th annual South Jersey Shark Tournament.

This image has been attributed to the tournament.

Is it a juvenile white shark?

NOAA Proposes Measures To Rebuild Blacknose Populations

Underwater Times News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- NOAA’s Fisheries Service is proposing several measures to end overfishing and rebuild blacknose sharks and other shark populations. Nine public hearings will be held on the proposal, from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, in August and September. “Our latest stock assessment found that the blacknose shark is depleted and the rate of fishing, both directed and incidental, is unsustainable,” said Jim Balsiger, acting NOAA assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “Blacknose sharks are vulnerable because they bear few young.

The proposed measures will help rebuild the species, an important part of the ecosystem in the south Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

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Declassified - Russian Navy UFO Records

We KNEW something was going on in our oceans but it took a recently declassified report from Russia to confirm it.

Attention people of earth, your oceans are filled with UFO's:

The records dating back to soviet times were compiled by a special navy group collecting reports of unexplained incidents delivered by submarines and military ships. The group was headed by deputy Navy commander Admiral Nikolay Smirnov, and the documents reveal numerous cases of possible UFO encounters, the website says.

Vladimir Azhazha, former navy officer and a famous Russian UFO researcher, says the materials are of great value.

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“Fifty percent of UFO encounters are connected with oceans. Fifteen more – with lakes. So UFOs tend to stick to the water,” he said.

On one occasion a nuclear submarine, which was on a combat mission in the Pacific Ocean, detected six unknown objects. After the crew failed to leave behind their pursuers by maneuvering, the captain ordered to surface. The objects followed suit, took to the air, and flew away.

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