Shark Diving Industry - Threats of Violence?

The last report we ever expected to see coming from the Maldives and the South Ari Atoll, home of an excellent regional whale shark research program, might involve commercial operations in the area threatening violence at knife point.

From the Dhivehi Observer this week tales of "ugliness on the high seas" as commercial operations come into conflict with regional researchers over whale shark gold.

This is not a new tale, shark diving operations that are in conflict with each other are the stuff of legends within the commercial shark diving industry. Up until today these conflicts usually stayed quiet and never appeared on the front page:

"MV Orion and MV Southern Cross crews have allegedly threatened to ram rival boats and stand accused of throwing heavy dive weights at tourists and dhoni crews from nearby Diva Resort. Most shockingly, in January, the crew of MV Southern Cross boarded a dhoni belonging to the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme, foreign researchers who monitor the sharks. The MV Southern Cross crew threatened at KNIFE POINT to kill the researchers unless they quit the area."

For the record we fully support the efforts of the Maldives Whale Shark Program and have done so for a few years. Small minded industry ugliness is not a new phenomenon. Calling it out for public consumption is.

The owner operators of both the MV Orion and MV Southern Cross must be made to understand that user groups have rights to animals as much as they do. A smart minded operation would seek ways to incorporate research into the fabric of its dive and marketing efforts, a win-win solution to user group conflicts under the banner of conservation shark diving.

Hopefully these well known dive operators will realize their errors before it is too late and commercial whale shark diving in Maldives becomes tainted by irreparable scandal.

Why marine biology is hard

I just finished reading "Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science" by Robert Kunzig. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the oceans themselves, but it doesn't include much about marine biology. The book did, however, have one passage that summarizes very well why it is so difficult to study life in the oceans. It specifically is referencing the deep sea, but the same principles apply to studying sharks. Much of the general public is flabbergasted when they hear scientists say that we don't know the answers to so many basic questions. I hope this passage helps clear up why marine biology is hard.
~David

"Trying to find out what lives on the ocean floor, and how it lives, is hard. Think about what it would be like to study our own world the way biologists must study the deep sea. Imagine that a race of space aliens, discover Earth and, being scientifically inclined, set out to understand life on its surface. These unfortunate aliens, however...cannot wishstand the crushing pressure of our atmosphere. It is utterly opaque to their eyes... they decide to blindly drag a large, sturdily framed net from their spacecraft as it cruises safely above the clouds.

The net touches down one evening in Tyler, Texas, where it first clips a flagpole off the top of the courthouse. Next it bounces through a playground in Bergfeld par, scattering children and parents without snaring a one; collects a dog that is studying a soup bone on college street, and swoops into a backyard a few blocks later, picking up an azalea bush, a clothesline bearing assorted lacy underwear, and a patch of lettuce with its associated rabbit. Finally it nearly comes to grief in a dark corner of the Sears parking lot, where the weight of a 1979 Chevy Nova and the teenagers in its backseat cause the net cable to groan audibly. The aliens quickly reel in their catch- one quadrupedal carnivore, one quadrupedal herbivore with food, assorted mysterious shell fragments, and a large metal crusted animal (the Nova) whose source of food remains obscure, but which seems to be serviced by remarkably sophisiticated intestinal endosymbionts.

Salmon Shark Mystery or Media Push?

Salmon Shark young of the year have been washing up along the coasts of both California and Oregon over the past three years with increasing frequency. At least one "marine expert" thinks there's something fishy going on...we're not so sure:

First came the fang-toothed lancetfish, washing up on Oregon beaches last spring and summer.

Then came the young salmon sharks -- which resemble baby great whites -- turning up on the sand through October.

Now Bill Hanshumaker, a marine education specialist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, wants to figure out why at least 10 or more of each species beached up on Oregon shores in the past several months. It's not unusual to find a few each summer, but this year's high numbers remain a mystery.

SharkWeek 2008-Shark Diver, Ocean Reef & Bathys Hawaii celebrate

Luke Tipple, Marine Biologist and Adventurer, is developing his own Science based show with GRB Entertainment of Los Angeles. While the show is coming together Luke continues to offer his technical and scientific knowledge to top research and entertainment teams worldwide. This year Luke was asked to be the dive safety officer and shark behavior specialist on Discovery Shark Week's premier show MythBusters.

Since this is Luke's first time on Discovery, and since he is working very hard on a show of his own at the moment Luke's sponsors got together to celebrate by giving away some cool gear.

To win just watch MythBusters on Shark Week during July 28th through August 3rd, 2008, go to our contest page and answer a simple question related to the show (HINT: check out the dive gear… we are his dive sponsors after all!).

You could win the prizes above, a great dive watch, an amazing dive mask, or a chance to get face to face with a great white shark.

On behalf of all of Luke's sponsors, we look forward to seeing him in many more great shows in the future and thank all of his fans for watching, it has been our pleasure to believe in and support Luke's efforts in both entertainment and educating people about sharks and science. Please tune in and sign up to win some great gifts as a token of our appreciation for your support.