Tiger Beach Tiburón 2011 Expediciones Diver

En la primavera de 2011 Shark Diver estaba de regreso en las Bahamas con buzos nuevos y que regresan en el remolque de una de las mejores temporadas de primavera de buceo de tiburones todavía no hemos encontrado.

Lo que tengo es el buceo increíble, lleno tiburones soplado, y buen clima durante seis semanas.

En el primer viaje de la temporada, un trío de buzos, Brad Bamford, Toft Jonas, y bajo el agua fotógrafo Michael Coughlin se unió a nosotros para una semana de encuentros simplemente increíble.

Captado por la cámara de Michael Coughlin, que las imágenes son algunos de los mejores que hemos visto en mucho tiempo, Michael logró capturar la gracia y la naturaleza simples depredadores de estos magníficos animales.

También atrapó uno de los 14 tiburones marcados por el Dr. Neal Hammerschlag y su grupo de la FAU en la acción (más sobre esto por venir), en fin esta primera expedición de la temporada de entrega casi todo un buzo gustaría, incluidas las visitas nocturnas Tigres del ambiente;)

Gracias a la tripulación del M / V Kate nuestra salida al buque en la región y el capitán Rob MacDonald, que sigue siendo uno de los controladores de tiburones más importantes del sector. Usted puede no saber Rob porque es uno de los "profesionales de calma" que no busca el centro de atención, pero pocos han pasado tanto tiempo con estos Tigres como lo ha hecho.

Si usted está haciendo los tiburones en las Bahamas, ya sea comercial o con producciones de cine y televisión, Rob es el hombre, y hemos tenido la suerte de trabajar con él ahora para los últimos 5 años.

Únase a nosotros este otoño ya que a cambio de los tiburones más grandes y excelentes condiciones de caída en las Bahamas, 2011 ha sido sin precedentes hasta el momento y no podemos esperar para volver.

Congatulations Dr. Frank Schwartz on 1000!

Dr. Frank Schwartz? Never heard of him? There's few within shark shark research community who have as many shark tags out or have spent as much time at sea in the company of our toothy friends.

This week we all say thanks Dr.Schwartz for the effort, the data, and the deep understanding of the east coasts shark populations.

Check out some of his work:

This data report presents information derived from the multi-year longline shark
sampling survey conducted since 1972 by Frank J. Schwartz of the UNC Institute of
Marine Sciences.

Gulf of the Farallones White Shark "Junior" - It's Official, Now What?

The resident Gulf of the Farallones white shark we featured last week called "Junior" was purported to be a shark that was badly hooked by a hybrid film and television/research production in 2009.

For the past week we have been seeking confirmation that these incredible images were in fact the same shark, returned to the islands in 2010 emaciated and with a terrific wound/tumor on the side of its face.

Today we got confirmation in post by Marine CSI, responsible for the research side of this hybrid project in California and Mexico.

At stake, a career, scientific gravitas, and many unanswered questions.

Foremost, why did Marine CSI researchers who have been sitting on these images since 2010 only come forward now to ultimately defend their work and put forward an ad hoc series of unlikely reasons for Juniors current mangled condition?

Additionally why did sanctuary management not update their initial independent review document which was released to the public on September of 2010 when one month later, in October of 2010, became aware of these same images?

What we Know

We know this animal was a healthy breeding aged animal in 2009. In 2010 after being badly hooked in the esophagus with 98% of the hook left inside its body (over two pounds of steel), the same animal returned, emaciated, with a massive wound on the side of its jaw.

How that wound came to pass and how this animal came back seriously underweight is a matter for conjecture and debate. What's not up for debate is this sharks condition as of October 2010, grave.

After reading the post from Marine CSI this week we would like to frame this debate.

This debate is about is "cause and effect" not "unfortunate circumstance" as Marine CSI might have it's readers believe. So let's start there, cause and effect.

Guy Harvey with PEW and BNT - Event

NASSAU, Bahamas -- The Bahamas National Trust are very excited to have as a guest speaker, Guy Harvey. Dr. Harvey has agreed to provide support for the BNT’s Shark Conservation Campaign that is being implemented in The Bahamas in partnership with the Pew Environment Group. In addition to his speaking engagement, Mr. Harvey has designed a poster promoting protection of shark and a special Guy Harvey T-shirt for the conservation campaign.

Guy Harvey is a unique blend of artist, scientist, diver, angler, conservationist and explorer, fiercely devoted to his family and his love of the sea. Growing up in Jamaica, Guy spent many hours fishing and diving with his father along the Island's south coast. He was obsessed with the creatures of the sea and began drawing pictures of the many different fish he observed. Guy captures marine wildlife animals in their natural environment with extraordinary detail and brilliant colors.

Harvey has traveled the globe to observe marine live and is passionate about its conversation. The BNT are thrilled that he has agreed to speak and support the Shark Conservation Campaign and hope that many of you will join in for what promises to be an exciting evening.

For the past two years, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University have been sponsoring and conducting an ongoing project to tag and track tiger sharks in the western Atlantic. The goal of this long-term study is to gain a better understanding of the migration of the tiger sharks in this region and to use that data to aid conservation efforts. Dr. Harvey will be speaking on the tagging and tracking process that has now been expanded to the Bahamas in an area known as Tiger Beach In Grand Bahama.

Space is limited to 300 persons for this event, therefore all members please RSVP by February 28th if they want to have a seat. Call 393-1317 or email sharks@bnt.bs

Dermal Denticles, Cristina Zenato, and Anti-Bac?

This week CBS news (not known for pro-shark coverage) was in the Bahamas with the First Lady of Shark Diving, Cristina Zenato, to discuss sharks, dermal denticles and researchers use of simulated sharks skin for new anti-bacterial efforts in the lab and beyond.

It's nice to see pro-shark media coming from the Bahamas especially when a critical push to make the Bahamas a full fledged Shark Sanctuary is in the works by many of the regional stakeholders including for the first time shark diving operations.

Image by Christy Fisher.

Complete article here.

Cristina Zenato - First Lady of Shark Diving

In the world of commercial shark diving there is only one Cristina Zenato.

She is the First Lady of Shark Diving having shepherded the commercial shark encounter program at UNEXSO in the Bahamas for years making it her own.

Today she is the head of diving at UNEXSO and this week it was announced that Cristina will be inducted in The Women's Divers Hall of Fame.

As far as we're concerned, this honor could not have happened soon enough.

For those who do not know her, Cristina is one of the most dedicated shark handlers on the planet. She is also a long time shark conservationist as well.

Kudos to Cristina. If you're lucky enough to meet her or get to dive with her you'll soon come to understand why she will be inducted into The Women's Divers Hall of Fame along with other industry luminaries like Dr. Carole Baldwin, Dr. Ann H Kristovich, and Capt. Diann Karin Lynn.

Today was a good day for the industry.

Matt Rand from PEW - Bahamas Shark Tourism PSA

If you are wondering why so much attention is being directed at shark conservation in recent times Matt Rand, Director of Global Shark Conservation of the PEW Environment Group says it is all becomes of an Asian obsession with shark fin soup.

"Unfortunately, because of their value in a bowl of soup, up to 73 million sharks are killed annually, just so their fins can end up in soup. It is a luxury item, it is not a food item. And what this is causing very rapidly is a global depletion of sharks. Right now 38% of shark species that are in the world's oceans are threatened, or are near threatened with extinction; and those are just the ones that we know. We also know that that statistic is actually short," said Rand.

This global decimation of the shark population is now having a negative impact on the ecosystems of many oceans, but Rand says but for a country that has tourism as its number one industry, potentially there can be a more devastating outcome.

"Here in The Bahamas, shark tourism activity actually brings in $78 million into the economy annually and reef sharks here are actually estimated to be about $250,000 each for shark tourism and shark related activities here in The Bahamas. So it is an important economic driver and it's a sustainable situation. If you leave the sharks in the water, keep them healthy as you currently have them, and keep the ecosystem healthy right now then you will have this resource for future generations to come, so that the kids will actually be able to see a healthy ocean environment as well," continues Rand.

Complete Story.

Shark Declines - Visual Data

Recently the AFP news service posted an online tutorial on global shark declines and shark fining (click image).

Using available data from PEW Trusts they have produced a very easy to understand PSA that can be used in the fight to conserve sharks.

Too often shark conservationists with good intentions run with wild sound bytes that have little to no basis in hard facts.

One of our personal favorites:

" 70% of the worlds oxygen comes from the oceans, if we kill all the sharks we will not have any more oxygen to breathe"

The battle for the hearts and minds of the general public and of those in Asia often disregard the fact that the people shark conservationists target are savvy customers.

As 2011 dawns for the next round of shark conservation efforts let's stick to the facts and leave the hyperbole behind, as the facts are grim enough without the added and unnecessary doomsday scenarios thrown in for good measure.

New research plan provides a blueprint for addressing shark issues in the western and central Pacific

Good reading for anyone who's in the shark conservation business.

If international commercial fisheries have no solid idea what regional shark stocks look like, how do we begin the process of evaluating effective conservation initiatives and sustainable fisheries?

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) has taken a major step toward addressing concerns about shark populations with initial approval of a three-year Shark Research Plan by its Scientific Committee.

The plan will be led by the Oceanic Fisheries Programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, and will contain assessment, research coordination and fishery statistics improvement components. The overall aim of the plan is to evaluate the status of blue, mako, oceanic whitetip, silky and thresher sharks in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) and to establish better datasets to support future assessments. Following its recent endorsement by the Scientific Committee, the Shark Research Plan will be presented for full Commission approval at its annual meeting in Hawaii in December.

This article outlines the background and context of shark issues in the WCPO, introduces the key species and previews the forthcoming assessment work.

Sharks are among the species to be managed by regional tuna fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) but little has been done worldwide by these organisations to manage shark catches. In fact, because so few national fisheries catch reporting systems record sharks, RFMOs often lack sufficient data upon which to draw conclusions about the status of shark stocks. At the same time, there are increasing concerns about fisheries targeting sharks and about continued growth in the shark fin trade. In the WCPO, two species of sharks are categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as globally endangered and another sixteen as globally vulnerable and it is not difficult to predict that catch limits may, in future, be required to safeguard some stocks. The current challenge facing the WCPFC is to find the proper balance between shark conservation and utilisation, given the considerable uncertainty regarding the current status of stocks.

Complete Research Plan.

'Shark Brothers' join Mote to test Gulf sharks for oil

SARASOTA - Sean and Brooks Paxton, known to some as the "Shark Brothers," have dedicated themselves to marine and wildlife conservation.

And a few weeks ago they added Mote Marine Laboratory research team to their bios.

"I'd say it was like going on the greatest field trip ever," said Sean Paxton, 44, about the five-day trip the brothers spent with a Mote crew the Gulf searching and sampling for signs of oil impacting marine life, with a special focus on sharks.

"They're (sharks) feared, but they're also a threatened species, so they do need our help," Brooks Paxton said.

Mote used Brooks, 40, and Sean's expertise in catching and releasing large sharks.

"The first animal was a tiger shark in excess of 10 feet, a beautiful male specimen," Sean Paxton said.

The brothers also filmed some of the trip. The footage shows that big tiger shark slamming his jaws shut as Sean headed toward him on board the research vessel.

"The other animals we encountered in the world of sharks were silkies, a scalloped hammerhead, a mako," Sean Paxton said.

Bob Hueter, who is the director of Mote's Center for Shark Research, led the research trip.

"Yes, the fish can look healthy, but inside the liver, inside the blood, reproductive organs, for example, we can find residues of the contaminants of the oil," Hueter said. "Or their behavior changes and they don't go to the right places to feed and possibly shifting not only populations but the whole ecosystem out there."

Complete post.

Save Our Seas Deepwater Telemetry Project

Scientist Edd Brooks with the Bahamas Shark Research and Conservation Program is a busy man.

His recent project could not be more timely with the recent push to make the whole of The Bahamas into a shark preserve.

Expedition Report:

The initial success of the deep water pilot project previously reported before has continued. So far 32 individual surveys, resulting in eighty animals from nine different species: Cuban dogfish (Squalus cubensis), Roughskin dogfish (Centroscymnus owstoni), Smoothound (Mustelus canis insularis), Gulper shark (Centrophorus granulousus), Taiwan gulper (Centrophorus niaukang), Silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformes), Bluntnose sixgill (Hexanchus griseus), Bigeye sixgill (Hexanchus nakamurai) and the Sawtail catshark (Galeus springeri).

However, the catches have been dominated by the cuban dogfish and the gulper shark.

Perhaps the most exciting news is the deployment of pop-up satellite archival transmitters (PSATs) on gulper sharks (Centrophorous granulosus) and the Taiwan gulper shark (Centrophorous niaukang), which will provide the first movement and habitat use data for these animals. Seventeen individual gulper sharks, comprising both male and female ranging in size from 52 – 105 cm and four Taiwan gulper sharks ranging in size from 130 – 156 cm have been captured. With one X-Tag deployed on each of the two species of gulper sharks, the team anxiously awaits the pop off periods of 30 days and 5 months.

Until the recent development of the X-Tag by Microwave Telemetry, Inc. there was not a PSAT small enough to deploy on a smaller species like the gulper sharks. The X-Tag weighing only 40g and pressure rated to 2500m is roughly half the size of the original archival pop-up tag which opens new possibilities for research on a variety of deep ocean sharks, many of which are under 1m in total length. Twelve more X-Tags are planned for deployment on the gulper sharks throughout the duration of the pilot project.

Complete Post.