Anti Shark Diving - A Chorus of Noise Bytes

"If you're going to keep rewarding animals in the Pavlovian sense, they're going to associate you with food - which you never taunt, bait or feed a wild animal. It's one of the basic tenets of ecotourism and yet cage-diving flouts this all the time."

A recent quote featured in S.A by a member of the small but vocal anti-shark diving community.

It we had a nickle for every time we read this exact quote, regurgitated by hysteria mongers, we might have retired by now.

Why is it that the anti-shark diving folks fail repeatedly to drum up industry facts when the facts about baiting and sharks are readily available from a number of fresh studies?

Anti-shark diving folks like a good controversy but do not care about facts. To them each surfer attacked, each swimmer nibbled, and each diver chased back into his boat is proof positive that our industry is the root cause.

No mention of the myriad of individual reasons that sharks behave like sharks, and that sharks are fish. Not terrestrial mammals. Which is another mistake the anti-shark diving folks always make. Equating terrestrial tourism with aquatic tourism with this, our favorite of all sub quotes:

"you never taunt, bait or feed a wild animal. It's one of the basic tenets of ecotourism."

Our global $400 million dollar industry is not perfect by any means and it still has some evolving to do, but there are industry leaders who are seeking solutions and moving our industry in directions never before imagined, until recently. New research data on chumming from around the world is showing that sharks are far more evolved then the CW of "pavlovian responses" and we are not training sharks to attack people.

Sadly those that hate our industry will continue to do so, seeking ways to prohibit what we do with sharks, without any attention to the many first rate conservation, research, long term monitoring, and site preservation efforts that shark tourism brings to the world.

We could go on, but our industry record stands, the data is all there, all you have to do is get away from the small minded media bytes, and look.

Micronesian Shark Foundation - Good Idea

The Micronesian Shark Foundation, a Palauan based non-government organization, was established to facilitate the study of sharks both in Palau and throughout Micronesia. The Foundation, with limited funds and resources, was formed through the hard work and dedication of its founders.

Support from the government of Palau, especially from Koror State who has taken the lead in conservation management and protection, has been received from the start. The study of the sharks in Palau was initiated by the Micronesian Shark Foundation which formed a partnership with AIMS (Australian Institute of Marine Science), SOSF (Save Our Seas Foundation) who contributed to the shark research and The National Geographic Society, which contributed its advanced Crittercam technology to the project, under the guidance of Greg Marshall, executive producer.

Fish ‘n Fins, the first dive shop in Palau, has been supporting the foundation by contributing boats and fuel, equipment, staff, office support and a base center for the foundation. Throughout its years in business, Fish ‘n Fins has been involved in many local community activities and has hosted various workshops for environmental purposes.

Website.

Fiji Shark Conservation - Nicely Done

Da Shark is rightly heralding this latest Fijian Pro Shark PSA/Conservation piece like a proud father. This is mighty fine stuff, highlighting a small island nations, and their first rate shark awareness and conservation efforts.

If only Hawaii was so evolved:

The Last Blue Wilderness / Save the Sharks from Emma Robens on Vimeo.