French - Bon or Damn Fine Film

If you got 40 minutes this week you could be spending it in the company of sharks in Fiji:

For The Record

Fine Shark Television - BAD

South Pacific is a simply gorgeous piece of underwater film making, shot by the BBC and producer Jonathan Clay.

Naturally you do not shoot the entirety of the South Pacific without a visit with sharks - and the good folks over at Beqa Adventure Divers provided the site, animals, and adventure for this crew.

South Pacific is currently airing in the U.K in an 8 part series to rave reviews.

Keep your eyes open for this glorious piece of underwater eye candy as it makes the rounds to a high definition, 80 inch flat screen, with surround sound, near you.

If you have been waiting to acquire an 80 inch flat screen consider this fair warning. Kudos again to BAD for being involved in this shoot.

Shark Diving Industry - Another Voice

In regards to our industry post today.

Thankfully there's some reasoned support from the guys over at BAD, in Fiji. All controversy aside someone has to stand up and start talking. If the conversation starts with "Patric is an SOB, but he has a point" then so be it. Industry leadership starts with someone taking a stand for what is ultimately right.

You say you love sharks? Start showing the leadership:

I've got to hand it to Patric, he's a brave man!

He just wrote a post that will put him in no end of trouble with many of his peers and probably, with a good part of the principal Shark media as well.

Contrary to us here, he's completely immersed in the Shark Diving Industry and I'm sure that he must have spent quite a few anxious moments pondering what effect this would have on the businesses he operates, Shark Diver and Shark Divers.

I first noticed his Blog when the Groh accident exploded in the media and although my call on the matter was somewhat different, he earned my respect and my admiration for always trying to look beyond the mere daily occurrences, for putting things into perspective and for saying it as it is, without regard for anything and anybody but the plain truth as he sees it.

Once again, he does not disappoint.

Regular readers of this Blog have noticed that we often reference each other and mostly agree about our call on the Industry.

Yes much of what we say may be controversial and we also don't shy away from pointing the finger at what we perceive to be developments, and people that are detrimental to the Industry as a whole and to us as a consequence.

The way I see it, it's part of a robust dialogue in an Industry that will hopefully self-regulate in the same way the Diving Industry has already managed to do. The alternative to that would be having the Authorities slap on a set of regulations - and unfortunately, there are already plenty of examples of how that would look like: the closure of sites and the demise of the operators.

Especially in the USA!

With that in mind, I welcome the upcoming controversy. Patric is of course spot on and 99.99% of the operators know that. But of course there's history, there are likes and dislikes, there's ego and all of that is not conducive to having a dispassionate and constructive dialogue. Yet I know that everybody will silently go over their books and ponder what is being said. Little as that may seem, it's the first step towards reforming the Industry that urgently needs to regroup and re-think the direction in which many have embarked.

This is now the watershed.

On one side, we can progress towards protocols aimed at operating sustainably, profitably and for many many years to come, for the enjoyment of our customers and for the benefit of the animals we love. The other path will lead to our perdition.

It's really that simple.

Please read Patric's post.

Pondering Tracking Data - Beqa Fiji

Being "interested" in the latest tagging and tracking data for sharks is not for everyone. For commercial shark diving operators, this is must read stuff.

What separates those who come to our industry for the thrills and dollars of the business and those who remain committed to their own sites, and long term animal welfare is curiosity.

When reading Tiger shark tracking data from Hawaii for example, do operators in Bahamas and elsewhere think how this data fits into their own animals behaviours...and do they want to do anything about it?

Once again, showing Da industry leadership, the folks over at the BAD Blog allow us to crawl around inside their heads to look at this question. Intellectual curiosity is not lost with these folks and clearly this operation is a nice hybrid of commercial shark diving and research.

With millions of sharks being killed each and every year we will, in the next 10-20, find ourselves with the concept of Shark Parks. Last ditch areas of shark habitat where shark operators fight for their animals. Without the data or research to support us, the argument of "well, we make money here" is a non starter.

Complete Post

Beqa - Talking Shark Conservation

Becoming a fan of the ongoing shark conservation and industry blogging going on over at Beqa Adventure Divers is as easy as clicking a link. Remaining a fan is as easy as reading this weeks post about shark finning.

Coherent Op-Eds are hard to find in our industry, fortunately for the rest of us there's the BAD Blog who took a smart conversation going on over at Southern Fried Science and jumped all over it:

If this is true, many of us got to seriously re-think our approach to Shark Conservation.

It says that many fisheries, Shark fishing included, are completely supply limited.
In a nutshell, it would mean that the demand for Shark fins greatly outweighs the supply and that consequently, even if we managed to convince a lot of people not to consume Shark fins, it would have little to no effect on the market and thus, on the supply side represented by the size of the Shark fishing industry.

Couple that with the fact that price elasticity for Shark Fins is probably very close to zero (meaning that prices will rise as stocks get depleted, always balancing, or even outpacing the rising cost of having to find increasingly rare Sharks in an increasingly empty Ocean) and that fishermen are perfect examples for the Tragedy of the Commons, and we are faced with a problem of truly epic proportions.

Complete Post

Kudos From Beqa Adventure Divers - 1000

We remain big fans of BAD in Fiji, and this week received some high praise from an operation that has been "leading by example" in their region. Thanks guys:

Patric of Underwater Thrills has just reached this milestone and we feel compelled to shout a big Kudos and Congratulations!

I've said it before, the blog by Shark Diver is as good as it gets: always up-to-date, always interesting, sometimes funny, often brilliant and visionary. And thankfully, often controversial, scathing and unflinching - the way a Shark Diving and Conservation blog should be!

Shark Conservation has recently made very satisfying inroads and we should be thankful for that - and persevere and redouble our efforts!

Sharks continue to be brutally slaughtered by the tens of millions - not only by the industrial Shark finning mafia but also, by the members of the oh-so-noble IGFA.

And they continue to be demonized by the mainstream media - and alas, also by Shark-related media like Discovery's Shark Week who I hear will insist on producing this season's idiotic anchor show "Deadly Beaches" in spite of the outrage by the Shark Conservation Community. Have we managed to keep them out of Fiji or are they trying to sneak in under the radar? Keep watching this space!

And there remains a sad and increasingly lonely group of yesteryear's Shark Diving Operators who insist on tarnishing the reputation of the whole Industry with their reckless cowboy antics and still treat Sharks as mere ATM machines. Which begs the question, who will facilitate Deadly Beaches in the Bahamas?

And whilst this is going on, the relevant Authorities continue to dither and precious resources keep being squandered on frivolous science.

All very dire.

Much to do for people who care. Like Patric. Buddy, very well done and may you continue to entertain, amaze and inspire us for many years to come!

Editors Note: Oh, we will;)

The Today Show - Industry Speaks Out

Continuing fallout from The Today Show

It may surprise you to discover that the $200 million dollar global shark diving industry does not have a governing body.

It does not even have a membership email list.

Our industry exists as an amorphous and growing group of well meaning entrepreneurs - worldwide.

Throughout the years this most unlikely of international adventure travel industries has seen it's share of regional political defeats, accidents, and triumphs. For the most part, and most remarkably, the industry has organically evolved into what you see today.

This "evolution" away from the early days of the Commercial Cowboys offering extreme encounters for quick bucks and notoriety - has lead to a more modern and media savvy commercial shark diving industry guided by the "Three Tenets" adopted by forward thinking operations:

1. Commercial shark diving operations

2. Local and regional conservation efforts

3. Local and regional shark diving politics

Our industry is also under siege. Externally, by a rampant media machine that hungers for anti-shark and sensationalist shark stories, and internally, by a few misguided and abjectly ignorant shark diving operators who fail to think beyond tomorrow and into the next decade.

They are the holdovers of the Cowboy Shark Diving Era.

It is time for this to end. We, as commercial operators, are the masters of our own destiny and 2008-9 has been a bad year for industry shark media both in the mainstream press and elsewhere. What is bad for our industry is ultimately bad for sharks.

For those who have not yet come to understand how our industry has evolved we will say it again. EVOLVE - your antics are being watched, recorded, and used in ways you have never imagined to the detriment of us all and to the ultimate detriment of the very animals we make a living from.

Today another industry voice weighed in on this issue. We are glad to see industry members demanding change - hopefully these demands will not fall on deaf ears. The industry can ill afford more ongoing and negative press seen around the globe - generated by a few bad actors.

RTSea also weighed in this afternoon.

Industry Led Shark Conservation - Fiji

Saw this industry gem over at the BAD blog today and decided to cover it here. Count us in on the "first to order list":

Want to spice up your Shark Presentation?

We've produced a short DVD featuring the 8 species that frequent Shark Reef Marine Reserve: Tawny Nurse Shark, Whitetip Reef Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Grey Reef Shark, Silvertip Shark, Sicklefin Lemon Shark, Bull Shark and Tiger Shark.

As a Supporter of the Year of the Shark - Fiji, you can now order them at our dive shop: just call 3450 911 0r write to Info@FijiShark.com. We'll give them at cost and it's entirely up to you whether you hand them out for free as part of your Shark Awareness Course or mark them up and sell them instead.

However, please keep in mind that the footage is copyrighted to BAD and that you may not use it for any other purpose.

Vinaka!

International Year of the Shark - Fiji

From the guys over at the BAD Blog. Kudos for taking a conservation idea and making it regional. It only takes "One":

Actually, they were two, Alex and Ila, and thanks to their wonderful initiative, 2009 has been declared the International Year of the Shark.

Ever since having become a Member, we've been working on a concept enabling us to create a positive buzz for Sharks all across Fiji. We are lucky insofar that Shark Conservation ties in beautifully with Fijian Culture as for many indigenous Fijians, Sharks are sacred and killing them is Taboo. As an example, many of our feeders hail from Beqa Island and are thus protected by the Shark God Dakuwaqa.

Complete Post

Shark Programming

Smart Conservation-Minus the Viral Factor

The guys over at BAD posted an excellent shark conservation video teaser today. Had to say we liked it too...except the most important factor posting any video on You Tube-the viral factor.

Having a first rate conservation message that perhaps 30,000 people see is like pouring a "cup of salt" on an Antarctic Ice Shelf. We need more videos like these and we need to open them up to a wider audience. Kudo's to Leslie Rochat for this effort. Cannot wait to see the completed doco:

Maybe it's the legacy of decennia of successful terrestrial Conservation - but South Africa seems to be a fertile breeding ground for efficient and intelligent Shark Conservationists, which of course is great!

Case in point: Lesley Rochat who has posted this video on YouTube.
Shame that she has de-activated the embedding feature and thus limited its circulation.

I like it because despite being chillingly graphic, it nevertheless manages to remain pragmatic and doesn't gratuitously vilify and demonize the perpetrators and the Authorities.

That's smart Conservation.

Those are the very same people one will eventually have to meet in order to flesh out what cannot be but a compromise. Ultimately, it is them who will have to sign , and then do (or stop doing) something and that requires that one continues to talk. Yes, certainly assertively but never impolitely.

How not to do it is amply demonstrated by the recent Whale hunting fiasco - and I'll leave it at that.

Making the Case for "Sustainable Shark Diving"

Editors Note: The folks over at Beqa Adventure Divers have one of the better shark blogs out there. What sets them apart is an ability to look critically at our industry...when a critical look is needed.

We posted a video that was sent to us a few weeks ago at what looked like a disaster in the making. A shark feed that had little to no control of the situation, and a shark that was in total control.

This is when things go bad. We appreciate and applaud the stance that that Beqa Adventure Divers is taking to make this issue "an issue". This is called industry leadership and Beqa Adventure Divers should not have to apologise for being "unprofessional".

It goes to the heart of our industry. Bad control of media=a black eye for the entire worldwide shark diving industry. Ladies and Gentlemen, we live in the world of You Tube. Events that once transpired under a cover of darkness for the commercial diving shark world now find the light and a waiting audience of millions sometimes within hours of the event.

If these events go south and a diver is hurt or worse killed the ensuing media storm sets the perception of sharks back to the stone age, and severely damages our industry. It has happened in the past and no amount of spin after the fact changes things.

We have two choices as an industry. Clean up, or get smart about media:

From Beqa Adventure Divers
Upon my last visit to Fiji, we were blessed with a visit by Scarface, always a wonderful and endearing experience, and a privilege on top of that. But this time, far from being her majestic self, she barged in fast and furious and it took several minutes for her to calm down and resume her habitual circular feeding pattern. Needless to say that we were intrigued and alarmed.

But now I think I know what's going on.

What I'm about to do may be considered to be highly "unprofessional".

Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass. Will it lead to unending aggro? Most certainly!
And for you out there who already feel the blood pressure rising: for once, please, use your brain and not your gonads. This is an opportunity for reflection and ultimately, for self-preservation - both of us as individuals and Shark Diving in Fiji in general.

So there: there's a controversial video clip out there.

Having now had to answer the fourth e-mail asking whether this is our dive (and Andrew having had to gone thru the same exercise), the answer is unequivocally:

No, absolutely not, this is not our Shark Dive by any stretch of the imagination!

I've blogged at nauseam about the need for unequivocal and stringent Safety Procedures, so I won't bother you with any further rants.

In our case, they encompass -to name but a few- the clear separation of spectators and protagonists, full dark body suits and gloves, steel mesh gloves for the feeders, safety poles to push away any trespassing Sharks and a choreographed and predictable routine so that the animals know what is expected of them.

Our Fijian staff, wonderful as they are, have a penchant for improvisation and exuberance and Andrew has been spending countless hours reinforcing the message that this is all about being professional, Respectful and safety-conscious - not some macho game by reckless village kids!

Thankfully, at BAD, the message is sticking.

As to the following, you be the Judge of it.

Hat Tip: Stunning shark image Terry Gross

Shark Diving-Beqa-Leading the Pack

In the world of non caged "monster sized shark encounters" one site, bar none, has been leading the pack-Beqa Fiji. You have heard about this site on a day boat dive in Florida, seen it in magazines, and cannot move an inch on You Tube without seeing another stunning video.

The company who's also been leading the pack in conservation at this site is Beqa Adventure Divers.

Now on to the video, feel free to say "Holy Mother!", after watching this clip, we did: