Unfortunately there are those who would use our global $400 million dollar industry for their own ends.Some are well known shark experts based in Florida, whose Pavlovian response to cameras pushed into their face is to spout anti-shark diving rhetoric ad nauseam - without any empirical data to back them up.
Others are media based hatchet men, who use fear, industry images and soundtracks to boost ratings, trolling the basest of human emotions to slander operations without providing balance, nuance, and research (yes research) to highlight our industry.
Against these seasonal onslaughts of Shakespearean intrigue towards a thriving global industry stand a few blogs who take to task the failings of these few well voiced and misguided individuals, and we ask that you take a stand as well.
Collectively we have the horsepower to push back against those who might seek to harm our industry. The media consistently calls upon a few outside our community for quotes about shark diving because no one else has stood up to be heard.
In a media vacuum the small minded will always work from the nearest "shark contact rolodex" and it is high time we changed that, as the current rolodex is filled with misinformation, slander, and moronic statements.
It is also high time we started pushing back when we see stories like those that appeared out from the primordial ooze last week in Australia. Fashioned by a 1970's era media hack by the name of Anthony Hoy Media who's entire "shark diving research department" came from a dog eared copy of Jaws he found in a rubbish bin at the back of a bar he had been frequenting last month.
Fortunately there's Mike aka Da Shark, or as we like to call him "The Shark Diving Industries Rottweiler," who is more than happy to lead by example and take to task those who would seek to use the hard work and dedication of many within our industry for their own sad ends.
Well done.
Mike on Anthony Hoy's Expose.
