Shark Feeding Zeitgeist Monday

We will be posting Wolfgangs industry observations about Tiger feeding today. In a case of Monday Sharky Zeitgeist Why Sharks Matter covered the same issue from a different angle.

Commercial shark diving and research. It is hard data that helps our industry counter the hysterical anti-shark diving sentiment that often finds its way into the media mainstream:

Bahamas National Trust - Shark Sanctuary?

If the folks from Pew and the Bahamas National Trust have their way the Bahamas might be declared a shark sanctuary sometime soon.

That would be a good thing.

What is the current value of shark tourism to the Bahamas?

An industry study done in 2008 revealed the value of shark tourism to the Bahamas was roughly $78 million per year with over 44 thousand safe human/shark interactions per year by dive industry members.

That's where this recent article by the Tribune and associated quotes that went with it had us concerned. Not one shark diving industry member was mentioned in it, and no statistics concerning our industry either regionally or internationally were mentioned.

The shark diving industry has a lot to do with the perception of sharks and to tourism in the Bahamas. In short, regional industry players must be front and center with this push to protect sharks.

Perhaps it is time for Bahamas operators to get quoted and get out in front of this issue?

Bahamas Shark Fin - Tracking the Players

The stunning news that a commercial Sea Cucumber operation in the Bahamas is considering moving into shark fin harvesting should have pretty much every single commercial diving operation in the regional and beyond in an uproar.

This is the worst news to hit the region for sharks in a decade.

Once shark finning begins it will be nearly impossible to stop and with the lack of fisheries enforcement in the region it will spread.

Currently shark fin retails for anywhere from $150-$1400 a kilo making this a top priority. Sea Cucumber also retails for anywhere from $40-$300 a kilo.

The company in question is SUNCO Wholesale Seafood LTD and has existing trade contacts in China with Shenzhen Fengyuhua Trade Co., Ltd via a shell company in New Jersey Yafee Inc.

A call to Yafee Inc this morning confirmed they are a dried seafood wholesale outfit.

Good News?

In May of 2010 a new seafood trade association The Bahamas Marine Exporters Association (BMEA) was formed in the Bahamas to manage sustainable lobster fisheries in tandem with outside help and guidance from NGO's.

The BMEA has an existing relationship with WWF in the region making WWF an additional point source to leverage fisheries contacts to begin the process of rolling back SUNCO's regional shark fin ambitions in tandem with The Bahamas National Trust.

Update: The Bahamas Commercial Fisheries Alliance is taking point on this issue.

Shark Week 2010 - Yes I Actually Liked This

Shark Week - You know it is refreshing, after two years of ranting, to actually like a show on Shark Week and this is one of this years stand outs. Is it possible to do mainstream shark productions without the hype?

Yes, yes it is.

This is smart shark television, well done Discovery, well done Stuarts Cove, well done sharks.

By the way anyone who says that commercial shark diving is not good for sharks should watch this piece, this is pro shark, pro industry messaging of the highest order.

Deadly pursuit: The moment diver comes face to face with killer shark

Only the Daily Mail could come up with a 1970's shark headline like this.

It might even sell a few more papers.

Kudos to underwater photographer Brian Skerry (we're huge fans) for getting in the shark conservation messaging he did and great quotes by Doc G talking about shark declines in the region.

Also continuing fantastic Oceanic White Tip images coming out of Cat Island (just a wild guess) in the Bahamas.

In all a balanced piece with a major media outlet seemingly biased towards selling shark horror and not the actual shark. While the article tries to paint sharks badly the images and direct quotes tell a different story.

Bimini Sands becomes Bahamas' first 'Shark Free Marina'

Bimini Sands is excited to announce that we are officially the first marina in the Bahamas to join the Shark Free Marinas Initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to educate the public about the importance of sharks in our marine eco-systems and promote 'Catch & Release' practices to our guests.

We feel that the harvesting of sharks for photo images or souvenir jaws is not in the best interests of the Bahamian people or the Bahamian tourism industry. By asking vessels not to arrive at our facilities with sharks, we hope to encourage responsible sport fishing, thereby ensuring a lasting and healthy population of sharks in Bahamian waters for future generations.

The decision to support this initiative is not based on sensationalistic media reports, but rather the best available science that proves that sharks play a critical role in balancing the health of the ocean and, in fact, pose very little threat to people.

Shark Free Marinas, Bahamas

We are proud to announce the Bimini Sands Resorts participation in the Bahamas Shark Free Marinas Initiative. In the world of shark conservation there are "willing participants" and then there are those rare few who become invested in the success of a conservation endeavor.

Bimini Sands Resort is one of these. Taking the initial proposed sign design and adding some great modifications to it they have produced what we feel is the strongest message a marina can make in the Bahamas region against the killing for sport of sharks. With the spectacular death of a pregnant Tiger last year the timing could not be sooner.

Kudo's to them for this effort. A quick look at their blog tells the whole story this week.

Thanks to Duncan Brake who works at the Bimini Biological Field Station and who re-worked the graphic for the signs.

Shark conservation efforts always start with an "idea" but it take an organic effort to make the necessary changes in any region. Leading the charge in this region is Bimini Sands Resort.

Theater of the Grotesque-A Family Shark Kill?

We're still trying to drill down the "when and where" of this Tiger Shark kill and the images keep getting worse. We had seen some of these but not all. Kudo's to Trules Jemtland for finding this full image suite online. Nice bit of detective work.

If this is the Bahamas-which is likely, these images could still serve a media purpose leading the way for fisheries changes in the Bahamas. These,sadly, are the kind of images that do effect change and garner "sympathy for the devil".

On a personal note, this is a crime, made worse by the fact this was a gravid female. The pile of bloody shark pups is something we hope we never see online again.

Warning:These images are graphic.



TIGER SHARK MARCH 2008

Sharks-Taking a Leadership Position

This morning we read an astonishing post by a shark diving operation in Fiji. As we have come to learn "the hard way" the commercial shark diving world has a similar unsaid credo to that once uttered by Ronald Reagan-"Speak no ill of fellow shark diving operations". Or put less succinctly by those still in the 80's mindset to our industry,"Mind your own goddamn business".

Commercial shark diving has evolved from a few maverick shark divers, who showed the way back in the late 70's, to an actual $200 million dollar global industry. It's a hard fact few within our industry fully comprehend the magnitude of.

Unfortunately, our industry is also at point in time where our actions are inspiring an entire generation of up and coming operators and underwater photographers. In many cases they are being inspired to attempt animal encounters that will inevitably lead to spectacular and unfortunate events.

It has happened already and the perception of sharks when this happens dumps them back into stone age erasing years of positive shark messaging and pro shark efforts. It's a classic Catch 22. The desire by some for closer encounters with top predators to educate the public these animals are not killers, which inevitably leads to an accident or outright attack on a diver, which then destroys the animals reputation once again.

The two burning issues that most commercial shark diving operations fail to realize are the following:

1. Due to the nature of what we do we are high value targets for the media and for misguided wildlife advocates.

2. Regardless of where you have a shark operation your actions ripple through a global industry. This is a fact.

I have to hand it to Beqa Adventure Divers for taking the stance they have taken. We have been strong advocates for industry standard protocols with macro sharks like Tigers, Bulls and Great Whites. On the flip side the imagery taken by Amanda Cotton was stunning and one might argue several of her images will do great things to change peoples perception of sharks.

As we have said in the past there's a "line in the sand" between what we do as commercial shark diving operators with the general public and needs of commercial underwater photography. We covered this same issue last month.

What we do with sharks should be based first and foremost on long term sustainability not a "run of good luck".

Shark Free Marinas, Bahamas It Starts With "One"

We are proud to announce the first of 10 marinas in the Bahamas who have joined the Shark Free Marinas Initiative saying "no" to shark kills by educating the public to sustainable catch and release fishing.

Our goal is to have these signs and public education material at a minimum of 30 marinas in the Bahamas. Based on the initial response thus far it looks like we might just meet this goal.

For now please join us in thanking and supporting the Bimini Sands Resort Marina who, with the help of Katie Grudecki, have realized the need for sustainable shark management in the Bahamas and now stand as educational point guards against the taking of sharks for "images and weigh ins".

As we have long said in our industry and with shark conservation efforts worldwide:

One Blog. One Person. One Website.

Everything begins with "One"