White Sharks and Advertising - Wowza

Over at the Southern Fried Science blog David has an ongoing discussion about the new Nicorette commercial featuring a white shark attacking a smoker.

Here's some of Davids analysis:

"Perhaps I am overreacting to what was clearly supposed to be a joke and not a documentary about shark behavior. However, as I’ve stated many times, shark conservation requires that people care about sharks. As people realize that sharks are ecologically important and threatened, sharks will be better protected. Perpetuating false stereotypes about sharks as mindless killing machines who exist only to attack people who go in (or near) the water detracts from this goal."

We covered a similar video a few weeks back on MTV Europe.

Blue Bloggers Welcome Sean Paxton

"Juggling sharks, chainsaws and bowling balls is a personal metaphor adopted for my life and all the opportunity and challenge that makes it worthwhile. In reality, sharks do consume large portions of my time and energy, but it's the connected totality of the world's wild parts that fuels a passion for their long-term sustainability. Dull moments be damned. Here's a stout cocktail of adventure and wildlife; of risk and reward, and an exploration of how it all ties together in some of the strangest ways imaginable. If so much of this wasn't from personal experience, I probably wouldn't believe me, either."

Thus introduced, welcome to the newest addition of the Blue Blogosphere - Sean Paxton

Who are the Blue Bloggers?

As I have come to know them they are thinkers, innovators, trend setters, and conservation gurus. They are those who see things in all shades and beyond the horizon, they are the ones who shape current conservation issues, and sometimes move mountains.

For those who have not yet met the Blue Bloggers, you'll see their work in the shaping of ideas and conservation thought, in new websites, new media direction, and changes in old behavior.

The conservation world needs independent and controversial thoughts, smart ideas and conservation direction.

This is Sean Paxton.

If you were hoping for a dull assortment of "daily blarf", this blog is not for you. If you were hoping for something that challenges, enrages, and inspires, you came to the right place.

Sit back. Set your amps to 11 and please ensure your seat back tables are in the upright position...welcome to SeanPaxton.com

Body Glove Knows Shark Diving

It is refreshing if not downright appealing to notice the stance wetsuit maker Body Glove has taken in regards to the shark diving industry.

Where many makers of water apparel and dive gear shy away from commercial shark diving - Body Glove embraces it.

Kudos for the industry vision and the upcoming blog posts featuring twin shark expeditions with Body Glove, whale sharks and white sharks.

The commercial shark diving industry needs more outreach within the manufacturing side of the dive, surf, and water sports worlds.

As high profile ambassadors for our industry forward thinking companies like Body Glove can begin to dispel many of the myths surrounding commercial shark diving.

What begins as a blog post today, with a little vision, often becomes much more.

Hawaii Shark Diving - Shark Diving Bill "Thrown Out"

This mornings text message from Hawaii:

"FYI, The bill (banning commercial shark diving in Oahu) was thrown out and deferred to state."

Proving that Hawaii City Council members are not the same as those in Maui, Council members decided, after receiving an unprecedented amount of interest in the form of letters, emails, Op-Eds, and phone calls about commercial shark diving on Oahu to kill the issue before them and "punt it" back up to the state level and Rep Gene Wards office.

To refresh your memory the ongoing saga over the fate of commercial shark diving looks like this, dates are approximate:

1. March-2009 Rogue commercial shark diving operation decides to open cage diving operations Hawaii Kai neighbourhood and kicks off a political brush fire.

2. April-2009 Incorrectly sensing a political gain, Rep Gene Ward uses this regional back lash to propose legislation to prohibit all shark diving in Hawaii.

3. April-2009 Several dubious and linked anti-shark diving websites spring up with loose ties to Cyber Diver Network, and Rep Gene Wards office.

4. May-2009 Long term U of H shark study by Carl Meyer et al shows sharks that are being interacted with 3 miles off shore are not habituating to vessels and following them back into shore as was charged by Rep Wards "Shark Taskforce." Wards office decides to ignore and discredit the study as bogus science, stirring up further controversy.

4. August-2009 Meetings are held with the commercial operators and Rep Gene Ward, pressure in the form of pro-shark diving business owners call Wards office, the theme of "it's the economy stupid" resonates.

5. August-2009 Maui City Council members watching Rep Gene Wards grandstanding, decide to ban shark diving. Shark diving that does not exists on Maui at this time. As one person states "they might as well ban time travel as well."

6. September-2009 Maui's bill passes.

7. September-2009 Rep Gene Ward, sensing a hard political fight over the commercial shark diving issue, punts local issue of banning cage diving on Oahu down to Oahu City Council members.

8. September-2009 Oahu City Council members propose bill, receive sharp backlash from community, they quickly realize this is a "no win" bill on many levels.

9. October-2009 Oahu City Council members throw bill out and refer the entire issue of commercial shark diving and the fate of 40,000 seasonal shark diving tourists back to the state.

10. October-2009 Saga continues.

Shark Science - Run Over by Media

Last week we posted the Suns media hit on shark feeding behavior. The article likened all sharks on a general level to London's infamous "Jack the Ripper".

Typical shark media for the mainstream folks who often go to great lengths to instill a fear of sharks with the public.

What was not mentioned in our blog post was the origin of this media hit, a research paper by University of Miami's Neil Hammerschlag.

Here was the email we got today from Neil explaining how his research paper became the "shark topic de jour" this week:

Hi All,

This study is getting a lot of attention; however it is as misunderstood as sharks. Some media are sensationalizing/twisting the results of the study to sell papers. I hope readers will be more critical and seek out the real scientific paper.

In this study, a technique called geographic profiling (originally developed as a criminal investigation tool) was applied to analyze patterns of white shark predation on seals at Seal Island, in False Bay, South Africa.

Sharks hunt to eat. They are predators and seals are their prey. Serial killers have mental disorders and such disorders cannot be applied to animals. The study does not characterize sharks as serial killers in anyway, just that white sharks are more complex than we originally thought.

Sharks are constantly swimming, and unlike other animals they do not have the equivalent of a den, nest, or burrow. Therefore, establishing the existence (including location, size, and shape) of a search base or “centre of gravity” for a search pattern could provide important insight into their hunting behavior.

By applying geographic profiling, the study found that sharks are not mindless killers, but are in fact using sophisticated hunting strategies. The study found that sharks appeared to be hunting in an optimal manner geospatially. Sharks processed a well-defined anchor point or search base, but not where the chances of prey interception were greatest. This location may therefore represent a balance of prey detection, capture rates, and inter-shark competition.

The study also found that smaller sharks had more dispersed prey search patterns and lower kill success rates than larger sharks. This could mean that white sharks refine their search patterns with experience and learn to concentrate hunting efforts in locations with the highest probability of successful prey capture. It might also be that larger sharks competitively exclude smaller sharks from the best hunting areas.

The most important thing is conservation of these magnificent animals.

If you read the study published online today in the Journal of Zoology, I am sure you will find it very interesting.

For a better news story please visit:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8110000/8110246.stm

--

Neil Hammerschlag
University of Miami
Ph.D. Candidate, Marine Biology & Fisheries
Co-Director, South Florida Student Shark Program (SFSSP)
Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami, Florida, 33149

E-mail: nhammerschlag@rsmas.miami.edu
O: 305.421.4356 F: 305.421.4600 C: 954.815.0920