USVI Tiger Kill - Rare and Sad

Having lived in and been diving the USVI (US Virgin Islands) and BVI for many years I can attest that sharks are just not part of the eco system in this Lesser Antilles chain as elsewhere in the world.

Finding a juvenile Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) in these waters is an exceptional and very rare event. Which makes the following video so sad to watch.

As a commercial shark diving operator I am frankly stunned at the treatment of this animal and the 1970's approach to filming and documenting sharks underwater. The death of this animal was unnecessary, ignorant, and a stark waste of a magnificent resource.

Ironically on exactly the same day this animal was being killed I was in the Bahamas with a Brazilian film crew (without cages) documenting the Tigers of Tiger Beach for an upcoming documentary about these wonderful animals.

We still have a long way to go to change minds and attitudes towards sharks:

Frank Solomon - Firing on all cylinders?

Apparently Frank Solomon thinks you can snorkel off shore in a chum slick with sharks and not come under some intense scrutiny.

Unfortunately that's not always the case, and Franks chum filled shark adventure was soon topside.

Videos show industry generated 'cruelty to sharks'

Commercial shark diving operations in South Africa are discovering the "industry media rule" first hand this week in a series of high profile media hits on baiting sharks and current S.A regulations.

"Thou shalt not allow or enable images and video that depict operations doing bad things with sharks"

Simple enough rule and yet too many industry members seem to forget that we live in a hyper connected media environment. An environment where videos and images of sharks smashing into cages, or worse, are transmitted around the world to waiting agenda based groups, and on to agencies tasked with providing the frame work and guidelines for our industries continued existence.

This weeks series of videos featuring white sharks thrashing against shark cages are another reason for operations to take a hard look at how they bait animals and why they are doing it.

Shark diving, done right, is a first class educational tool for thousands of divers worldwide. Additionally shark research efforts in tandem with operations helps the species with regional protections based on solid data.

Our industry has much to offer sharks in a time of profound shark crises. But only if operations can find their way past cheap stunt work with sharks and see the broader vision of sustainability.

STOP Shark Cage Diving - Target S.A

A new website is making the rounds with a familiar logo and a familiar theme.

Fear.

STOPsharkcagediving.com offers up a non scientific page of anti-shark diving hysteria with the help of a few industry generated videos from You Tube. A WHOIS search finds the owner(s) of this page have opted to remain anonymous.

Here's the homepage propaganda:

We as ocean lovers know sharks are not out to get us, we co-exist, and through conscious raising of awareness we will fight this pseudo-environmental practice making millions of dollars in the name of environmental research. We are not against research, we support boat-based shark viewing and free-diving, but we are vehemently against the cage and the taunting of these great creatures with bait to try get a good photo for your holiday album. Just watch a few of the cage-dive videos on YouTube and see for yourself, most people wouldn't even treat a large dog like that, taunting it repeatedly with food until it snaps. The only people who seem to support it are those who make a fat profit. Remember, us surfers and spearfishermen are the ones who remain in the waters daily, without a cage, and any change in behaviour is going to affect us, not you.

"Blood in the Water" A look at ill informed shark media

Why Current TV decided in 2007 to run with the Blood in the Water expose is beyond anyone's guess, suffice to say they stepped into an long standing global industry issue with a somewhat biased look at the industry in Hawaii.

Unfortunately this entire video expose falls flat when you realize this is a classic media hit piece designed to instill fear of sharks and commercial shark diving. From the choice of music, fun upbeat surfer music, to dark and sinister shark music, to the actual quotes by locals it is evident that Hawaii has a long way to go when it comes to understanding the global commercial shark diving industry.

Can we have a honest and open debate about our industry minus the sand box level of shark fright, moronic factoids devoid of in depth analysis, and video clips that serve no real purpose but to instill fear?

Research Note: Research data from the Farallones and tagged white sharks in that region off the California coast have shown up at Hawaii's North Shore exactly where Hawaii Shark Encounters ran into a much larger female several years ago. Where uniformed locals come to believe operators attract animals like these, research exposes the real story of generations long Pacific migratory patterns that are just now being discovered.

Blood in the Water is another in a series of ill timed, ill informed and hysteric anti-shark diving media pushes that fail to deliver substantive facts, data, and information to a public that needs it.

Research on "shark risks" South Africa

With the anti-shark diving lobby in Hawaii now in "full hysteria mode," pushing shark attacks and a somewhat nebulous public safety argument - South Africa is quietly setting an example.

Missing from the Hawaii debate about commercial shark diving is definitive data. The anti-shark diving lobby has little interest in research and data, while in other countries, some might even suggest, more enlightened countries, the balance between sharks and man is one that will be decided by long term research and study:

WITH Nelson Mandela Bay positioning itself as the water sport capital of Africa, the municipality has given the go-ahead for research on sharks in the city.

This follows reports over the years of shark attacks at coastal towns around the country. At a sports, recreation, arts and culture committee meeting yesterday, councillors agreed the research was necessary to reduce the risk of attacks.

The committee agenda, signed by executive director Zolile Siswana, said “the objective of achieving the position of water sport capital of Africa could be threatened by the possibility of frequent shark attacks in the city”. “A single shark attack would have a negative impact on water, sports and tourism"

“This has prompted various interventions by the KwaZulu Natal Sharks Board and Cape Town Uni-City Shark Spotters programme. These efforts (shark nets and drum lines) reduced shark attacks tremendously.” Marine scientists in Nelson Mandela Bay do not have enough information on Great White sharks or data to establish the possible risk to the public and open-water events in the city.

They do, however, have information on shark populations, migration and behavioural patterns. According to Siswana, the economic development and recreational services shark contingency plan addresses the first-response aspect of shark attacks.

“This emergency plan is simulated regularly. As great white sharks are the biggest threat to the public, safety research would ensure a more efficient response time by our lifeguards and emergency services.” The municipality will commission a shark specialist and marine scientist to conduct the research.

Complete Story

Shark Diver

Hawaii Shark Diving - Meyer Study

Back in May we posted an update on the Carl Meyer study that looked into Hawaii shark tourism and habituation of sharks to chum.

The study concluded that existing commercial shark diving operations pose little risk to public safety.

This landmark study has come at a time when a virulent anti-shark diving effort has been pushing to have commercial shark diving banned in Hawaii's waters.

The relentless anti-shark diving campaign has culminated on the island of Maui, which has no commercial shark diving in its waters, proposing a bill to ban it.

There's still time to save two very good shark diving operations in Hawaii. Follow the media trail and make a few of your own. The major news media has grabbed on to the Meyer study (which makes for great reading) and have positively reported the conclusion.

The news of this study should be posted to every chat room, scubaboard, and social network site for divers as soon as possible. The anti-shark diving lobby plays one card and one card only - fear.

Without the fear of sharks commercial shark diving wins on the argument of sharks=tourism=economy.

Help Hawaii make the right decisions about the future of off shore (3 mile) shark diving.


Kohn2

Miami Herald

Honolulu Star

KITV ABC

Chumslick - Blogger, Activist, Poet/Warrior

We have been fans of the Chumslick Blog (written by an actual shark) for a while now.

Today the C.B jumped into the issue of commercial shark diving in Hawaii. Like us Chumslick understands the positive benefits of commercial shark diving encounters - done right.

Read the post.

If commercial shark diving in Hawaii is to survive the virtual onslaught of anti-shark diving sentiment being levied against it by a handful of islanders, politico's and malcontents, the following industry wide help will be needed.

1. 10 "30 second" pro-shark industry you tube videos featuring well known dive industry names

2. Letters from industry filmmakers and photographers to tourism Hawaii and government

3. Letters from wholesale and regional tourism companies who book Hawaii or the region

4. Pro Hawaii shark diving website that ties in all these elements

5. Pro bono distribution and op ed articles on scuba websites and industry news wires

This is not rocket science, it is Media 101. Hanging in the balance are two good shark diving companies with unblemished track records and thousands of satisfied customers.

As an industry member you can support these operations, without your support these operators future remains in grave doubt. What's a stake is the future of other sites when Hawaii closes down shark diving in their waters forever.

Movement to shut down shark tours in Hawaii grows

What began as a terribly executed commercial cage diving roll out in Hawaii just a few months ago has devolved into a government sanctioned witch hunt...with no end in sight.

We have been tracking ongoing developments in Hawaii as they happen.

Hawaii shark diving operators now find themselves with an active opposition, on the wrong side of an obscure fisheries law, and facing an anti-shark diving champion in government.

What brought this negative tide was a skillful use of media by the anti-shark diving folks and a puzzling and very damaging media silence from the operators.

There's still time for the operators to roll out a sustained media campaign based on Shark Diving=Tourism=Economy. As each day goes by articles like this recent AP report just add fuel to the anti-shark diving lobby and seal the fate for the existing operators to the will of local and regional governments. Action taken early in an unfolding disaster can and will mitigate problems down the line.

The media tends to follow the story, that story can be shaped by either side of an issue but someone has to lead it. As each anti-shark diving lobby piece comes in two pro shark diving articles must go out. This issue, as far as politicians are concerned, revolves around who has the most votes.

The loss of Hawaii would be a blow to the industry in the western hemisphere. Already new rules and regulations for the Farallones now require divers, cages and vessels to be 140' away from white sharks at all times. Florida remains shut down to commercial shark diving after a 2001 decision there.

HALEIWA, Hawaii (AP) — Three women donned scuba masks and jumped into the waters off Oahu's North Shore, floating inside a submerged cage as about a dozen sharks glided toward bloody fish scraps tossed into the water by a tour company.

Tourist Kim Duniec said the experience of coming eye-to-eye with sharks was exhilarating. "Their eyes were scary, but they were still graceful, absolutely beautiful," the Beaver Dam, Wis., woman said.

Shark tours like this have become a popular visitor attraction in Hawaii, but a movement is gaining momentum to shut them down.

Some Native Hawaiians consider sharks to be ancestral gods and view feeding them for entertainment to be disrespectful of their culture. Surfers and environmentalists fear the tours will teach sharks to associate people with food — leading to an increase in attacks — while disrupting the ocean's ecological balance. Federal fisheries regulators, meanwhile, are investigating the tours on the grounds that they are illegally feeding sharks.

The anti-shark tour movement ignited when residents noticed a large metal cage mounted on a boat at a marina in front of a popular Hawaii Kai restaurant in March. They remembered Oahu's two shark tours used similar contraptions on the North Shore. The location of the tours helped fuel the opposition — Hawaii Kai is an affluent bedroom community on the other side of Oahu.

Full Story

Task Force Created To Ban Shark Feeding Tours

HONOLULU -- New efforts are under way to ban commercial shark feeding tours on the Islands.Hawaii Kai lawmaker Gene Ward on Wednesday announced the formation of a shark task force to eliminate commercial operations except those with educational and scientific purposes.

The group wants to enforce a state law that makes it illegal to feed sharks within three miles of shore.

The formation of the task force comes about two months after Hawaii Kai community members strongly opposed a shark tour in their area, which ultimately caused a planned operation in Maunalua Bay to be called off.

Study: Shark-cage dive tours safe on Oahu North Shore

Great news coming out of The Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and a two year study that refutes many of the "wild hair allegations" swirling around the anti-shark diving debate on Oahu:

HONOLULU — A scientific study has concluded shark-cage dive tours on Oahu's North Shore pose little risk for recreational ocean users in nearshore waters.

The Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology conducted the two-year study.It found sharks tagged during tours overwhelmingly stay far out to sea and don't follow tour boats back to shore.

The study also found the tours are frequented by Galapagos and sandbar sharks, which are rarely involved in attacks on humans. Marine scientist Carl Meyer said at an informational briefing at the state Capitol that when it comes to offshore caged shark-diving tours, there is no evidence of any risk to nearshore recreational users.

The tours have been operating since 2001.

What "You Tube" Does For Enforcement

Interesting news this week from You Tube and NOAA. Turns out videos posted on You Tube and other online media sites are being watched by enforcement officials - against illegal dolphin feeding.

As a case point to the commercial shark diving industry, we too are being watched. Video's posted to You Tube and other online media sites from South Africa, to the Bahamas and Mexico are being used in ways that are detrimental to our industry.

Viral video spreads faster than traditional media and is more effective in making a case for or against commercial shark diving:

Wildlife protection agencies have a new tool at their disposal - YouTube.

The video-sharing Web site allowed Al Samuels, a special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's office for law enforcement, to find a record of a Georgia shrimper and guests on his boat feeding dolphins near Tybee Island.

"They had taken the bycatch and were using it to feed dolphins, and that was on YouTube," he said. "I got in touch and issued them a warning." Because the investigation remains open, Samuels could not disclose the name of the shrimper or any other details.

However, a video that fits the description was still posted Thursday on YouTube. The 18-minute clip shows a family on the boat holding fish overboard as dolphins beg and jump out of the water.

What looks like harmless fun is not, wildlife officials say.

Complete Story

The End of Shark Diving - Farallones?

The commercial and political winds of change are blowing again.

The Farallones Islands are one of the west coasts hot spots for simply titanic sized great white sharks. After years of legal wrangling the anti shark diving folks at the Farallones have succeeded in a series of new regulations guaranteed to all but kill this shark diving site - according to local news sources:

As part of the changes, great white sharks are now protected from people who want to get a closer look at them. There is now a prohibition against getting closer than 50 meters - or 164 feet - of a white shark within 2 nautical miles of the Farallon Islands. The rule also bans the practice of using decoys or chum to lure sharks.

"We have had cases where people in vessels come charging up to the sharks, scaring them away from food they have just caught," said Mary Jane Schramm, spokeswoman for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. "These activities threaten the health of the species."

"They have been working on the regulations for some time and put a lot of effort into it," said Terri Watson of San Rafael, executive director for the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association. "I'm confident they heard all the issues from all sides."

Sanctuary officials will work with the U.S. Coast Guard as well as researchers to help enforce the new rules. Violations are subject to citations and fines.

"There are many things affecting the sanctuaries: tourism, proposals for wave energy, invasive species, oil spills, they need to be better protected," Schramm said.

Regulations here.

S.A Shark Attack Rips Opens Debate(s)

Without a doubt the recent and horrific shark attack on a swimmer in South Africa last week ignited several wide ranging debates in the press about everything from shark culling, to raw sewage discharge, and even the controversial use of shark nets.

Herald Online reporter Dineo Matomela should be noted for his coverage which looked systematically into the causes, the sharks, and the over all shark situation in the region.

Makes for facinating reading and a template for non sensational shark journalism-tackling the issues of humans and sharks in a thoughtful manner:

A ZAMBEZI shark was responsible for attacking and killing a Port St Johns lifeguard at the weekend, Natal Sharks Board head researcher Geremy Cliff said yesterday.

He said warm waters along the Eastern Cape coast in summer attracted the sharks. Seasoned lifeguard Sikhanyiso Bangilizwe, 27, was attacked by the shark on Saturday afternoon while swimming with a friend at Second Beach.

He was bitten on the shoulder, right arm, back and buttocks. Cliff said an examination of Bangilizwe‘s body had established that a Zambezi (bull) shark had attacked him.

Complete Story

Image: Bull shark commonly know in S.A as Zambezi

Florida and Commercial Shark Diving

It's a commercial shark diving industry sore point we have harped on for a while now.

The ban on chumming and shark diving in Florida waters was poorly conceived back in 2001. This complete ban was conducted under a negative media storm by a well organized anti-shark diving lobby.

At the time a nascent US shark diving industry was comprised of just two operations.

Today Florida's waters teem with commercial shark diving species. An estimated 10-20 million dollar tourism industry sits idle as hotels and restaurants across the region shut down under one of the worst recessions in recent history.

Meanwhile, Florida's sharks are relegated to weekly news reports that do little to dispel the Jaws mythos with recent titles like "Shark Frenzy Caught on Tape" and the ever popular "Shark Alert". The state of Florida's-state of sharks-is at an all time low with an ever present perception that the waters of Florida are filled with rapacious predators waiting to strike.

The reality could be further from the truth and only the commercial shark diving industry can, if given a chance, work to dispel that media fabrication about sharks.

It is high time Florida reconsidered commercial shark diving operations off it's waters. Done right, with serious and lasting species interactive protocols, and even the threat of fines for industry infractions, Florida could ramp up a shark diving industry in less then two years that would feed local communities desperately needed tourism dollars.

If the ban on shark diving in Florida was in part done to stop the fear of shark attacks on humans, we would suggest the bans goals have failed. It is time to rethink sharks in Florida.

Anti-Shark Diving Efforts? Still There

Over the years the commercial shark diving industry has done a magnificent job with the media. Aside from a few recent stunning set backs for our industry, for the most part, shark tourism is still viewed in a positive light.

That is until the anti-shark diving folks start playing the media game as well:

Stupid Shark Feeders in S. Africa

Video Post: Stupid people in South Africa sell the chance to jump into a cage for a cheap thrill while they tease sharks from the safety of a boat. These idiots take tourist to ’shark alley’ and tease these majestic animals. Sharks are the top of the food chain, and the operator is a jerk to tease them. If this is somehow appealing to your ego I’d like to knock your lunch on the floor; see how you like it.

What happens to the next diver doesn’t feed the sharks? Now sharks expect man to show up with fast food which might be a human life. I’ll bet these jerks taste like fish.
Take a look at what happens in this video. I can only hope the government of South Africa takes immediate action against the exploitation of Nature’s most magnificent predator before the next attack happens to kill out of total frustration. Not if, but when that days comes you will see how the media vilifies the shark… again. Who is really to blame for that death? It’s coming, just a mater of time. Sharks are patient unlike man.

Dateline NBC had the perfect opportunity to condemn these money grubbing jerks, but not a word about how stupid this is, no out cry for antagonizing the animals, nothing about the exploitation, nothing about what losers these so-call dive boat operators are. Once again MSNBC and Ann Curry drop the ball. Grow a pair Ann or go back to soft news where you belong.

Close call? Not for the shark, it was just bad luck on that day. Maybe next time luck will change hands, after all that is what it will take to stop this madness. One more example of how selfish stupid people think; they somehow have the right to do whatever gets them excited, no mater what logic tells us. Who gives them the right to profit this way? This is wrong, nearly dead-wrong for these adrenaline junkies and I hope you will make your voice heard. Please use social bookmarks to spread the word.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Top 10 Found Inside Sharks-Times Online

We normally steer away from stories like these but the Times reporter did such a great job we had to re-post this. "Found" inside of sharks:

1. It just eats money
The first piece I could find dates from 1821, headed Singular Circumstance: a bored sailor, with more money than sense, decided to use dollars (coins presumably) as bait. He chucked one over the side then, finding bait and hook missing, tried another, and another. All with the same result. Four days and 300 miles later, someone else on the same boat caught a shark “which contained two of the hooks baited with two of the dollars. In about fifteen minutes after, a dolphin was caught, which contained the other hook and dollar.”

2. Plat du jour
1823 was a bit of a bumper year. First report was a news in brief, treating the shark’s contents as a nicely balanced dinner menu: "He was found to contain a sheep, a calf's head and feet, a horse foot (marine animal), a sea-owl, and several articles to serve as trimmings"

What on earth is a sea-owl - anyone know?

3. He’s not heavy ... any more
Next up, in the same year, was a macabre story from the West Indies, “Curious facts”: "On opening the shark the instrument struck upon an impenetrable hard substance in his stomach, which, upon digging out, they found to be a six pound cannon ball"

Fair enough, but why would he have eaten it? The report speculates that the cannon ball had been attached to a human body, to make it sink, and that the body had been digested.

4. Ship's papers
A deeply bizarre story, dating from the American War of Independence: sailors on a British ship caught a shark with a lump of pork. The thrifty captain ordered them to save the pork to use again, and when they opened up the shark they found a bundle of papers relating to an American brig, the Nancy, which was masquerading as a neutral vessel. Read the original – it’s straight out of Patrick O’Brien.

5. Best bib and tucker
This graphic report, from New Orleans in 1856, more or less says it all on this subject: "We have read many fish stories, and they are generally of that tenour that the very name inclines one to disbelieve them."
But of course, having said that, here is one story that absolutely can be vouched for:

Some days ago, the captain of a ship at anchor outside the Pass threw overboard a shark hook baited, not expecting in the least, as the captain himself says, to catch anything of the fish tribe. There was hooked, however, a shark of the spotted kind, and, as it afterwards proved, a regular 'man-eater' … His size and weight may be imagined from the fact that it took 11 men to hoist him in, with a double lift on the mainyard. The monster … had seven rows of teeth, three of the rows being almost hidden in the upper gums ... In his paunch was found the body of a man in a half decomposed state. So far as could be judged, the corpse was that of a well-dressed man, of medium size - shirt white, with pearl buttons, coarse silk undershirt, cotton socks, and shoes nearly new, of the Congress gaiter kind. The shark had also in his stomach several pieces of old canvass, such as are used by vessels on their rigging.

6. So good, they ate it twice
OK, now we’re in the realms of the seriously silly: the steamer Jutland, of Hull, was caught in a storm and a goose, belonging to the second engineer, Mr Tate, was washed overboard. The goose, of course, had a label tied round one of its legs carrying its owner’s name and address, so when it was subsequently found inside a shark by the captain of a fishing smack, it could be returned. Mr Tate was delighted, and had it cooked up for his dinner the next day.

7. Catching crabs
More mundanely, this monster specimen from the South Pacific, caught in Moreton Bay, Brisbane, contained a miscellaneous collection of eats, “among which may be mentioned a sheep skin and an unusually large crab”

8. Made for swallowing
This rather bald report just records, Shark caught at Fiume: "The stomach contained a pair of human feet with boots on them"

9. Turtle soup, nearly
Great story from 1922 about a giant turtle which, amazingly, survived being swallowed and was rescued and taken to the New York Aquarium where, “recovering from cuts and shock”, he was christened Jonah

10. Fingerprints still legible
Back to the macabre, in fact could this be the only murder evidence retrieved from inside a shark? A shark was caught in Sydney harbour and transported, alive, to an aquarium whereupon it was sick, quite reasonably. One thing that came up was a tattooed human arm: "From tattoo marks and finger prints, the arm was identified as belonging to James Smith who, police believe, was murdered and thrown in the sea"

That’s ten, but here’s a bonus, a proper old sailor’s yarn:
1922: A shark and The Times "The shark, 14 feet long, was hauled on board, and on cutting it open a copy of The Times was found in its stomach". The explanation was that a "mail steamer had passed a few hours before, someone had thrown overboard his Times, and a shark following the ship had swallowed it"

And you could still read it. No smudgy ink in those days

When Shark Tourism Works-SharkDiver.com

We got a nice surprise last week in the form of a USA Today travel article on sharks featuring a shark diver from many years ago Jupp Kerckerinck zur Borg and his daughter Philipa. They both joined us in 2003 at our Isla Guadalupe white shark dive site.

Jupp has gone on to become a world class shark diver with over 120 shark dives to his credit and is the driving force behind his own shark conservation website.

Done right, commercial shark diving inspires others to raise awareness about sharks and conservation. Thanks Jupp!

He was in over his head — and loving it

I learned scuba diving at the request of my daughter Philipa when I was 60 years old and fell in love with it. As a thank you, I invited her on a cage dive to see great white sharks at the Pacific island of Guadalupe, Mexico, with sharkdiver.com. Standing in the cage, I saw my first shark swimming by, so close that I could almost touch him. I was 64 years then and I never imagined how this trip would give my life a totally different direction.

When I sold my ranch in upstate New York a couple years later, I started to book dive trips where sharks were included. My first shark dive without a cage was in the Bahamas. Jumping into the ocean, knowing that there were at least a dozen Caribbean reef sharks down there, was a bit weird. But I jumped in anyway.

The sharks were inquisitive but never aggressive. I fell in love with those beautiful, amazing and highly developed animals. I started to read every book I could find and started my own website, sharkprotect.com. I am now an avid shark protector and am now on the Board of Trustees of the Shark Research Institute in Princeton, N.J. I give presentations about sharks in schools and colleges to tell as many young people about the importance of sharks in our oceans.

After 120 shark dives, I am still in love with sharks and take every opportunity I get to dive with them.

— Jupp Kerckerinck zur Borg, Millbrook, N.Y

You Tube Marketing-3 Million Views

Shark Marketing 101

The question we asked in late 2007 was "How powerful is You Tube as a marketing and branding tool?" The answer almost one year later is very powerful. For example a campaign to get 3 million similar branded viewers using traditional Google Ad Words at a mere .10 a click would have cost us $300,000. The guys from 689design.com a L.A based marketing and consultancy group put the spot together with the help of Luke Tipple diver operations guru.

The end result, as we have come to discover, is that web based "organic marketing" works. It's also not a far stretch to assume that a web based organic shark conservation program would be as successful. As we have come to realize there's more than one way to get messaging out...you just have to know what you are doing: