Brian Skerry Does Makos in 3...2...1

From the Global Explorers Blog this week:

"I was contacted by an underwater videographer named Joe Romeiro from Rhode Island. I had seen Joe's shark films and they were beautiful. He had a true artist's eye and his films were respectful of animals and brought viewers into their world for an intimate view. Joe was doing a fair bit of shark diving locally and invited me to join him, but as usual, my schedule simply never permitted me to do so. But finally last week, the day after I made my last blog post ("Thinking About Sharks"), I went diving again for sharks in New England."

2010 Shark Diving Report - Cage Diving at Guadalupe

For our divers 2010 has been the Trip of a Lifetime so far. Celebrated with email blasts to friends and Facebook posts to the world.

These lucky divers have met the most charismatic, studied, and filmed white sharks on the planet.

For newly minted Shark Diver Craig Reynolds, nothing but his own Great White Blog to recount his adventures this year would do:

Day 2 – NEW CHUMS – After loading the Horizon at 9pm, we are introduced to the Shark Diver crew and drown some seasickness pills with a Budweiser for the overnight voyage. “May cause drowsiness,” the label says. Then, just a quick stop-off to pick up some crates of fresh sardines.

There at the dock, a midnight circus ensues as the Pelicans, seagulls and seals all try to get in on the live action. After turning in for the night, we are rocked back and forth in our bunk beds below deck. For a while, it’s as if somebody is walking all over my waterbed. (If I still had a waterbed, I mean). The last thing I remember thinking is: this could be a very long night.

Morning arrives, and just like a kid on Christmas...

Complete Series Posts.

Ecuador sharks commitment to coastal and marine biodiversity

The national government of Ecuador during the next four years will launch a project to alleviate the pressures on marine and coastal biodiversity. The aim is to create an ecological network of marine protected areas and implement a Plan of Action for Shark Conservation in Ecuador (PAT-EC).

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will provide USD 4 million to implement this initiative, an amount that will be administered through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The Ministries of Environment and Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries have also funded USD 4.3 million.

The program consists of three components:

• Establishing a functional network of marine protected areas including intangible zones for multiple use, in order to preserve habitats and representative samples of marine and coastal ecosystems. The network elements are functionally connected and act synergistically to generate social, economic and environmental benefits to the country
• Implementation of PAT-EC, which will help consolidate the national government's efforts to protect shark populations. It will strengthen inter-agency cooperation and compliance with established standards, and promote decision making based on scientific data
• Awareness, support and participation of stakeholders in the management of marine and coastal protected areas and for the conservation of sharks.
  

2010 Shark Diving Report - Cage Diving at Guadalupe

For our divers 2010 has been the Trip of a Lifetime so far. Celebrated with email blasts to friends and Facebook posts to the world.

These lucky divers have met the most charismatic, studied, and filmed white sharks on the planet.

For newly minted Shark Diver Craig Reynolds, nothing but his own Great White Blog to recount his adventures this year would do:

Day 1 – CRAZY PEOPLE – When you tell people you’re going on a shark dive, you can almost guarantee that you’ll get a fairly similar reaction from most people.

“You’re crazy,” they’ll say. Well, yeah. I work in advertising, don’t I? Why do you think they have a show called Mad Men??

I mean, when you tell people you’re willing to parachute out of a perfectly good plane, they still look at you somewhat admirably, cushioning their judgment by saying something like, “oh, I could never do that.” But cage diving falls into a different category. When it comes to sharks, people have been conditioned to fear them for a long time.

I think we can all thank Stephen Spielberg for that.

Complete Series Posts.