Update from Nantucket Shark Diving

A while back we introduced you to Nantucket Shark Diving and owner Bryce Rohrer for those of you on the East coast with the shark diving itch.

Here's the latest site update from him. Summer's still here and the waters fine:

Hi Patric,

Been about a month and wanted to give you a report from the North
East. We've been capturing some great footage of mako sharks this
season. We have been averaging 2-5 makos a day and 1-3 blues.
Usually its the reverse, more blues than makos. With the water temps
falling a bit and fall right here the blues are coming back. We had a
large 300lb fish stick around the boat for about 3 hours last saturday
acting just like a big shark. Slow methodical passes once every 10-15
mintues, knowing exactly where to go.

Most of our makos have been in the 80 - 200 lb. range and have had a few buzz me pretty good while shooting, the fish out here are used to eating swords and tuna bigger than them so they can get pretty sporty. I am still on the hunt for Great Whites and will start making trips east of the island in the coming month to try and chum one up...Hope all is good on your end...Will keep you updated on a hopefull Sept. and Oct. with some big fall sharks.

RGRDS,
Bryce

Fair Trade Tourism Position Paper 2008

South Africa's Fair Trade in Tourism recently tackled the ongoing debate over white shark cage diving.

Their February 2008 position paper on the matter is a "must read" for shark diving operators worldwide.

Globally shark tourism is a 300 million dollar industry and growing.

Blue Sharks Beat the Odds?

This is one of those classic East coast/West coast stories about sharks that fail to address the overall look at the health of a species.

According to Discovery Blue sharks are not as bad off as once thought:

Although many sharks are experiencing population declines of up to 90 percent now, a new study on western North Atlantic blue sharks has found that numbers of the colorful species there are currently down, but not out.

Other reports had concluded that the region's blue sharks were declining by around 60 percent, but the new analysis reduced the estimate by half, finding that populations of the 12.5-foot-long sharks have dropped by only 30 percent since the mid 1950s, when large-scale fishing practices began in that part of the Atlantic.

Editors Note: The main problem with this story is that "localized good news" from a major new source like Discovery gets transmitted to a huge audience. The facts on the ground point to a worldwide Blue shark population that is in serious decline. Especially hard hit off the West coast where these animals have been tracked migrating to Japan and back...mostly migrating to Japan, fewer and fewer animals ever make it back leading to a virtual collapse of the adult population off our shores.

New Shark Dive Site-Nantucket Island

We got the following email from a new shark diving outfit in Nantucket. For our blog fans on the east coast, your shark diving choices have just grown:

Hey Patric,

I'll be conducting shark dives here in Nantucket every week until the season ends in October. Here are pic from our dive on Sat.

I'm operating on a 23' Grady White privately owned boat. We average 10+ blues a day,1-3 makos, and occasional sightings of dusky, tiger, hammers, and threshers. With this years water temps it is possible to dive in 65 -78 degree water in one day so their is opportunity for multiple species. The big players are Blues & Makos. Been doing this for along time and have the operation down to a science. Like I said we run anywhere from 15 - 30 miles offshore depending on the viz...sharks are guaranteed with us!

The pictures attached are from our dive last Saturday, I will keep you guys updated with new material after each trip.

Much Thanks Shark Diver,
Bryce Rohrer
Contacts
Phone: (203)-273-1748
E-Mail: bryce.rohrer@gmail.com
BLOG: www.brohrer.blogspot.com

Shark Diving East Coast-Sea Turtle Charters

Sea Turtle Charters can get you where the shark action is this summer on the East coast. Home to graceful Blues and Mako's these guys have become quite popular:

"You missed some makos and blues yesterday, they were all over the cage," mumbled a still seasick Noelle Hancock. Noelle is a writer friend of mine whom I invited along due to her interest in conquering a fear (sharks) and because of how she looks in a bikini (good).

Full story

Teamshark California-What Became of Them?

Off the coast of California there used to be a company called Team Shark. They were one of the original blue and mako shark operations in California.

We say "used to be" because aside from a cool website this company has effectively dropped off anyone's radar.

So we ask the question of the day:

What happened to Team Shark?

If you happen to know or work with these guys feel free to alert us, we're as curious as the next shark blog... and that would be all three of us!