Jumping the Shark in Hawaii - Seriously? National Security?

Only in Hawaii. As the ongoing saga of two commercial shark diving operations on Oahu continues, with a commercial vessel burnt to the waterline by unknown arsonists and a bizarre dismissal of a GPS chumming court case this week.

It's time to call this done.

What's been happening on Oahu is small town political vendettas under the guise of national security. At least that's the excuse agents involved in the prosecution of three commercial shark diving staff members who allegedly chummed for sharks within the territorial three mile limit off shore are offering this week.

Chumming within three miles happens on a daily basis by local fishermen in the region who are not hauled into court by agents posing as tourists.

The agents apparently used a "Super Secret GPS Tracking Device" to tell if the commercial shark diving operations were in fact within the three mile limit for chumming or not. When called upon by defense attorneys to provide access to the GPS device users manual and training material to defend their clients - the entire case folded last week. Like a house of cards.

Agents said these devices were so super secret that they constituted a national security risk - if the world ever discovered how they worked. We're thinking they have something to do with orbiting satellites, like the Garmin GPS we use, but that's just us.

Does anyone smell the sharp and unmistakable odor of chum that has been left out in the hot, humid, Hawaiian sun for a few days? We do.

So basically this is bull!@!!%$. Grade A stuff and tantamount to using government powers to wear down two very successful, and safe, shark diving operations on Oahu until they go away, or go bankrupt.

Frankly it is disgusting to watch. In a time when Oahu is suffering from a 60% drop in tourism revenues, and is struggling with massive debts due to tax revenue losses. A *few* government officials are spending money on wild super secret GPS cases with agents and lawyers to essentially kill two businesses on the North Shore who have been in business for a decade.

On a side note, the Super Secret GPS Device has been sighted.

North Shore surfers Allison Rand, and Matt Petoski took this image last week. We're pretty sure once folks on Oahu find out how much this GPS device cost local taxpayers (the four who are left on the island) there will be a lot more angst over a never ending and moronic quest to kill two commercial shark diving businesses that are doing nothing more than providing jobs, paying taxes, and adding to the richly diverse flavor of adventure offerings for tourists.

Now going into it's third year.

"Actually stuffing diving suits full of meat and chucking them in the sea to provoke sharks"

Oliver Crimmen is on a mission to discredit the global commercial shark diving industry.

In a rather non scientific main stream news piece this week, more a hysterical diatribe, he makes assertions based on his first hand hearsay that operators in the Sharm el Shiekh region are filling wetsuits with meat to attract sharks.

"I've heard stories of people wanting to film fake shark attacks, and actually stuffing diving suits full of meat and chucking them in the sea to provoke one".

Stunts With Sharks

Stunt work with sharks is nothing new, but usually these stunts are well known and well publicised and our industry generally views those who conduct stunts with sharks with complete disdain. In a time of profound shark crises, stunt work with sharks does nothing to help the animals "professional" shark tourism operations make a living with.

Stuffing wetsuits with meat of any kind to provoke a shark attack is not only disrespectful to the animals, it is the hallmark of self centered, ignorant, and sloppy operations.

Perhaps Mr.Crimmen is confusing stunt work with sharks at other sites to recent attacks in the Sharm el Shiekh region, or perhaps Mr.Crimmen, who is a staff member at Natural History Museum in London, should stick to facts and not publicly slander our industry without substantive proof.

It is one thing to come to the most unfortunate series of shark attacks in recent recorded history with facts, like the discovery of dead sheep dumped in the region in the months prior to these attacks. It is quite another to pull unknown and unverified factoids about meat filled wetsuits and inject them into the already over sensationalized discussion of what caused these sharks to attack swimmers.

Let's try and bring the conversation down a few notches. The commercial shark diving industry is not to blame in Sharm el Shiekh, as yet known, and any major media conversation to the contrary, without all the facts, damages the efforts responsible shark tourism operations worldwide are currently engaged in.

Chile creates a Marine Reserve around Sala y Gómez

Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera announced the creation of Sala y Gómez Marine Park, a no-take marine reserve of 150,000 square kilometers around Sala y Gómez island.

Sala y Gómez is an uninhabited island that’s part of a biodiverse chain of seamounts that are vulnerable to fishing activity. Dr. Enric Sala, marine ecologist and National Geographic Ocean Fellow, called Sala y Gómez “one of the last undisturbed and relatively pristine places left in the ocean.”

Last March, Oceana, National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation conducted a preliminary scientific expedition to the island and found abundant populations of vulnerable species such as sharks and lobsters, much larger than in the depleted ecosystem in nearby Easter Island, which is not protected from fishing. In addition, the scientists found unexpectedly high biodiversity in deeper waters.

After the expedition, Oceana and National Geographic presented a proposal to President Piñera advocating the protection of the entire exclusive economic zone, a total of 411,717 square kilometers around the island. The Fisheries Committee of Chile’s Senate supported the recommendation unanimously.

The new park expands Chile’s total marine protected area more than 100 times, from 0.03% to 4.41%. Currently less than 2% of the global ocean is protected, although the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity – including Chile – agreed to protect 10% of their exclusive economic zones by 2012.

Can tourism save sharks or can sharks save tourism?

From the Dive Hub Blog this morning some smart industry analysis:

A recent study on the economic potential of shark tourism in Spain has found that this type of tourism supports hundreds of jobs and generates more than €17 million to the Canary Islands economy each year.

The study was carried out by researchers at the University of La Laguna and the New Economics Foundation. It suggests that there is potential for developing ecotourism around the species of sharks and rays found throughout Spanish waters but highlights the urgent need to protect these species. The findings suggest that the wonderful marine wildlife that exists close to the UK’s coastal communities could provide great benefits for local tourism and increased protection of the marine environment. The UK has 21 types of sharks and 16 of skates and rays in its waters, including the Basking Shark which is the world’s second largest fish and already supports wildlife tourism activity in the UK.

The research found that sharks and rays offer economic benefits through diving tourism and that approximately one-third of Canary Islands diving activity is linked to these species.

“Studies such as ours reveal that sharks offer economic benefits beyond food; left alive, many species can provide a source of long-term income and employment through diving tourism,” said Aniol Esteban, Head of Environmental Economics for the New Economics Foundation. “When all tourist expenditures are taken into account, we estimate that €17.7 million (£14.5 million) of the €97.2 million that divers bring to the Canary Islands can be specifically attributed to the presence of sharks and rays.’ These are significant amounts of money.

There are several other examples of shark dive tourism creating economic benefits, as well as conservation and marine habitat proetction. The Shark Reef marine reserve in Fiji is an example of this, as is the whaleshark watching industry at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. Many divers will visit specific areas just to catch a glimpse of a particular shark. From hammerheads and great whites to basking sharks and threshers, sharks have a powerful pull for dive tourism.

Complete Post.

July 7, 2010 HI gov. vetoes bill aimed at banning shark feeding

Quid Pro Quo

Some better news coming out of Hawaii for the entire shark diving industry this week. It would seem for now the specter of Hawaii enacting any laws banning commercial shark diving is off the table.

Sadly, the island of Maui in a fit of anti-shark diving zeal, made the mother of all tourism mistakes earlier this year. A mistake that has not been adopted by the state as a whole.

Has this anything to do with recent legislation banning shark fins and the intimate involvement of one of Hawaii's commercial shark diving companies making that legislation a reality?

No one is saying, but we have our suspicions. Chalk this one up to Hawaii politics with a double win at the end of a very long road.

Shark Conservation - Tournament Models

Question: How do you effect conservation change with shark kill tournaments?

If you are like many in the shark world protesting shark kill tournaments seems like the answer.

Unfortunately after a decade of protests by some of the largest NGO's and shark groups, tournaments are still going strong and tournament organizers have successfully characterized eco groups as "bomb throwing media loons."

Our effective rate for the cessation of these tournaments hovers at about 1%.

Of course there's another way, one that embraces the sport but leaves the sharks in the ocean. One that is guided by some of the best minds in the business, and one that will soon become the tournament model of choice for all shark tournaments nationwide.

This strategy is called change from within.

Welcome to the Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge, doing for sharks what the Marlin tournament model did for sustainable sport fisheries management almost 30 years ago.

Effective conservation change starts with new ideas, and smart thinking. This is what the folks over at the GHUSC are attempting to do this year with a certified catch and release model for shark tournaments. Gone are animals that will be caught and killed, gone also lightweight tackle and hooks that damage animals and gone are the images of animals that are strung up for waiting audiences.

Smart conservation change starts with a few brave and determined individuals willing to try something new, staking reputations and experience on outcomes that ultimately save sharks.

These folks do not build websites and send petitions. These folks dedicate 24 days to changing the way sharks are treated by the sport fishing industry.

As shark conservationists we can protest, petition, and create as many web pages as the Internet will hold. In the end it is boots on the ground efforts and real grunt work that effect conservation change.

Kudos to the entire team behind the concept and the Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge.