Say It Ain't So Matt Rand!

What started as a rumor last week has been confirmed. Matt Rand is leaving PEW.

As a driver behind PEWS shark conservation program Matt has been a genuine force for good, in fact he's been more of a Tour de Force.

Name one successful shark campaign over the past few years and somewhere in that mix was the long hand of PEW lead by Matt and his team. Great stuff.

Matt is off  on "other adventures" and PEW has lost one of the finest examples of their organizations conservation leadership. Here was a guy who was more than a policy wonk, a front line conservationist who strove for conservation metrics vs conservation hysteria in his programs.

The kind of conservation programs that can be put in place today, ones that can measure success on a year to year basis vs emotional programs that look good to the media, but ultimately fail to translate in a meaningful way to the animals we all care about.

It's a real conservation distinction and one that Matt during his short tenure at PEW championed.

Matt and his team managed in a very short time to leave the world a better place.

The conservation community wishes Matt the very best, waiting in anticipation for Matt Rand 2.0

Good hunting on your next adventures sir, wherever they may lead you!


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Michael Reiser and Blue Sharks - Great Video

Michael Reiser is a new and upcoming underwater videographer who has been spending some time free diving with Blue sharks off Rhode Island this year with Joe Romeiro.

The results speak for themselves and this is as good as it gets:

NSW Grey Nurse Sharks - Recommendations and Plans

Over in Fiji, Mike, aka Da Shark has been following the issue of Grey Nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus) in Australia.

We covered some of the stunning policy details here.

Mike has penned a complete look at this issue from multiple sources, with some well thought and conservation minded solutions as well with the help of Mark Gray the award winning dive pro of Sundive in Byron Bay.

This is must read stuff, and industry leadership in full blossom.

Kudos.

Marlin Magazine Takes on Sharks - Leadership

Marlin is the premier big game sportfish magazine, and many kudos to the editors for taking on sharks and shark sportfishing over the past three years.

The Marlin sport fishing story is one of industry leadership spanning 30 years, with the realization that a once vibrant sport fishing industry and resource (Marlin) was in decline. Members of that community banded together to create, foster, and grow a first class catch and release ethic for the entire generation.

To see members of this community reach out and embrace sportfishing for sharks in a sustainable manner is real leadership and deserves notice.

This month Marlin highlighted Guy Harvey's efforts to bring sportfishing tournaments for sharks into the catch and release mindset.

This growing effort, while featuring the Guy Harvey name, also encompasses a small army of dedicated sportfishing industry leaders and enablers who have been the nuts and bolts of this industry shift.

Exposure by the folks from Marlin magazine is not only helpful, but it takes the conversation about sharks and sportfishing into an industry mindset and about good resource management.

For sharks, and the next 40 years, time will tell if the efforts put forth by many today will in fact slow the tide of loss enough to keep stocks from collapsing entirely.

Shark Tournament Change - One Clinic at a Time

We have been supporters of changes coming to shark tournaments in the USA for a while. After close to a decade of failed zero sum policy by many within the conservation community seeking to have all shark tournaments "shut down," the realization that we must inhabit a middle ground for successful conservation is dawning on many.

The middle ground is a two pronged approach by members of the tournament fishing community and forward thinking conservation members to embrace circle hooks, and catch, tag and release tournament models.

It's a conservation strategy that works with the fishing community instead of marginalizing them, embracing a multi million dollar sportfishing community by allowing leadership to make important and long ranging conservation decisions based on science and best fishing practices.

This week that conservation strategy is spreading to Ocean City and only good things can come of it.

The big news this year is that the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation has signed on as a major sponsor of the OC Shark Tournament Release Division. Through his foundation's involvement, Harvey hopes to provide an increased level of shark conservation while demonstrating to the fishing industry that release tournaments with large cash payouts can be both successful as well as a wise alternative to traditional events that result in dead fish to being brought back to the scales.

OCEAN CITY -- For a long time, most tournament directors relied solely on the weight of dead fish at the dock to determine the winners of their event. But today, as more fishermen recognize the need for catch-and-release fishing, many tournament directors are responding by increasing the emphasis on release categories in their events. But properly running a release tournament, or even just a release division, is no easy task.

For a release division in which no physical evidence of the fish will be brought in, there must be rules and procedures to ensure the validity of each catch. Winners need to be properly verified just as losers need to be assured that they lost fairly.

Equally important is the need for anglers who engage in catch-and-release fishing, tournament or not, to do so with due regard to the survivability of their catch.

There's not much point in releasing a fish that's going to die anyway. This is particularly true in tournaments that result in a sudden increase in the amount of fishermen targeting species of fish that might already be pressured from other sources.

Since tournament anglers will likely be fishing at the top of their game, the average catch-and-release rates per angler go up during tournaments and, therefore, the need for proper release techniques is important.

With all this in mind, on Saturday, May 21, myself and the other the directors of the 31st Annual Ocean City Shark Tournament will be conducting a shark release clinic on the docks at the Ocean City Fishing Center from 4-7 p.m.

Complete story.

GEERG Shark Observation Network

One of the better concepts for sharks to come along in a while from the fine folks over at GEERG.

This is smart conservation thinking in action and first rate eco branding as well.


Welcome to the Shark Observation Network

The Shark Observation Network (www.sharksonline.net) is a partnership of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG), the Shark Research Institute (SRI), and the BIOAPP.

The network supports the collection and organisation of data as well as the development and dissemination of information concerning the state of shark and elasmobranch populations and their worldwide distribution.

The information serves to support environmental awareness, assessment and policy making, and public participation at a global level. You can help us by reporting your own shark observations on a regular basis. This service is free and it is accessible to the general public at all times: www.sharksonline.net

If you would like to add an observation for a species that is not yet listed, please contact us and we will create a new file.

Go to the photo upload page if you like to make a contribution.

Southern Fried Science - Shark Finning vs Tourism

Another in an excellent series by the fine folks over at SFS last week:

Continuing the discussion about shark feeding dives started last week by Aleks Maljkovic, Eric Clua discusses the economics of this practice and concludes that a living shark can be worth much more than a dead shark.

PEW Trusts - Homerun Shark Media

Advocating for sharks, smart media. Well done to PEW Trusts for bringing the issue of shark conservation to the forefront using an unlikely media vehicle.

These outspoken advocates have the facts and do not "oversell" the need to protect sharks: