Institutionalized Bias? - Australian Commercial Shark Diving

With some alarm we watched the following ABC news piece this morning on Australia's white shark tourism industry. Well known for "doing things right," leading the rest of the global industry with initiatives that run the gamut from embedded research to advances in cage diving technology.

It would appear that Australian government scientists are now releasing data showing that white sharks are being impacted by these operators and that this data will be used to drop two operations from the area and reduce the number of days the last surviving operations can operate.

Is this institutionalized bias?

We tend to think so as we have seen this same brand of anti-shark diving creep before. Most notably at the Gulf of the Farallones islands off the coast of California where laws and regulations make it impossible to attract white sharks in any manner save static decoys and have enforced a 164 foot rule as of 2009.

Operations must now stay 164 feet away from white sharks at this site at all times.

We will be keeping a wary eye on events as they transpire in Australia as elsewhere with white shark commercial operations. Australia, with folks like Rodney and Andrew Fox remain beacons within an industry often maligned and attributed with all manner of institutional and media bias.

What happens in Australia resonates across the rest of the planet for our industry, and this weeks news is not good.

Andrew Fox - Great Industry Props

From time to time industry members engage in selfless acts of shark conservation that make the industry look good and show real leadership.

Andrew Fox from Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions is one of those members and this week was featured in Australian Geographic for his work in freeing a white shark trapped in a potentially lethal packing strap.

Andrew not only saved the animal but used the experience in the media to highlight the need for less plastics in the oceans. He has also created a sponsor page to channel donations back into ongoing sponsored research with sharks on his regions.

This is how you do commercial shark diving. Kudos to the original commercial shark diving clan for once again making the entire industry look good in the process.

Andrew Fox - Shark Hero

Facebook was center stage last week for a story coming out of Australia and Rodney Foxes operation. A white shark named Strappy became entangled in a packing strap which was slowly cutting the shark in half.

In a first rate PSA by the Foxes they highlighted the need for cleaner oceans by featuring Strappy and the damage being done to him by one industrial packing strap. There was some talk of trying to cut the strap off this animal. No mean feat, as white sharks are notorious for not wanting to be touched.

This week The Dorsal Fin blog has the update on Strappy and a rescue operation that was successful. As it turns out Andrew Fox manged to release Strappy from his confinement and it is hoped that now this shark will live for many more years to come.

Kudos to the Fox operation for:

1. Providing an oceans PSA using Strappy as cause célèbre

2. Helping this animal at great personal risk

This is first rate work by a commercial shark diving operator who has lead the industry over the years.

Studying tourism's bite on sharks

Very interesting article this week on a new shark chumming study being done in Australia.

Kudos to the Rodney Fox operation for being involved in this study which will inevitably benefit the entire industry worldwide.

Great industry quotes by Andrew as well.

Image Andrew Fox:

SCIENTISTS are circling cage-diving operators as they try to find out how regular visits from tourists are affecting the behaviour of great white sharks.

Shark ecologist Dr Charlie Huveneers, from the South Australian Research and Development Institute and Flinders University, is leading the study.

The study aims to ensure cage-diving is safe for both the tourists and the sharks because great whites are a protected species threatened with extinction.

He said both of the existing tour operators used berley - a mixture of tuna blood, mince and offcuts - and baits to attract sharks without feeding them.

Preliminary research, in Australia and overseas, suggests sharks lose interest over time.

"The shark seems to come close to the boat for the first three or four days," he said. "After that they don't seem to be attracted by the berley as much."

Complete Story.