Bull Sharks Killed in Playa del Carmen? Yup, We Know.

Image: proyectotiburon.blogspot.com

When you start blogging about the global commercial shark diving industry in 2008 you cover a lot of topics ranging from sharks, to conservation, to operations.

And after four years of blogging, 3800 posts, and over 1.5 million blog page views, we're running out of things to write about.

Well, let's qualify that to suggest we're starting to blog about the same issues over, and over, and over.

How many times can you talk about the shark nets in S.A?

Case in point, the ongoing shark slaughter (yes it is a slaughter) in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

We have been on this one since late 2009 and early 2010. It wasn't just us. Da Shark in Fiji has devoted many pages of good thoughts on the matter. He's the thing, there are good solutions being put forward by seasoned industry individuals in shark blogs and elsewhere.

Every commercial shark site is unique. Each site has its own mix of government regulation, or non regulation, dive site competition, outside pressures and in far too many cases - unwanted shark harvest.

While these mitigating factors may seem insurmountable they are all governed by basic conservation tenants and a plethora of tried and true conservation ideas and in place programs that work.

Getting back to Da Shark, once again he has proposed a number of these good ideas but will they be adopted? Probably not, and if anyone cares to note we're going into the third and fourth year of slaughter in Playa with no end in sight.

Yes, a number of good people have stepped up to help raise awareness and that is a good first start, but like all awareness programs the rubber meets the road when the slaughter ends or at least is curbed.

So for those wondering why we have been unusually quiet on the blog front? It's been covered.

It's up to the global shark diving industry now to innovate past what we have been talking about for many years. Up to individuals to create new tourism and conservation paradigms for sharks. It's not rocket science, it just takes time and energy and some thought. We're at the point now when it comes to shark conservation and commercial shark diving that many regional problems are in fact global problems being prosecuted elsewhere.

We'll stay active on the blog front, but just don't expect us to jump in on seemingly endless problems when real solutions, out of the box ideas, and innovation is as easy to access these days as a click of the mouse.

The commercial shark diving industry was born from the dive industry. It's time for those who dive with sharks to leave behind the stagnation and non innovative culture of diving and create something completely new and vibrant.

We know there are people out there ready to make this move. Make 2013 your year and maybe save some sharks along the way.

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

Playa del Carmen - All Together Now?

Once again word from Playa del Carmen in Mexico and nascent Bull shark dive operations in the region are not good.

From a recent eyewitness account:

The sharks are being fished out right now (see attached photos). There was a great agreement with the local fishermen in Playa del Carmen and they had stopped shark fishing completely. At the beginning of December however, a fisherman from a neighbouring town captured and killed 21 bull sharks, following which the Playa fishermen decided that if he could do it, so could they.

Twenty nine 2 m+ bulls have been killed in the last month or so, and no-one is seeing any live sharks at the dive sites.I have just heard that there have been a couple of decomposing finned bull shark carcasses found on the reef in the last week - great advert for Playa!

Of course this ongoing horror with Mexican fishing interests can all be distilled down to a great argument for regional conservation efforts in tandem with initial operations. But we'll leave that to Da Shark from Fiji who summed up Playa in an outstanding Blog Dog post that is a must read for industry folks, and a cautionary tale for the folks trying to make a go of it in Playa.

From Da Sharks Blog - Playa del Carmen - too late already?

Commercial Shark Diving - Mexico's Bull Shark Conundrum

When news of dead Playa del Carmen Bull sharks surfaced last week, shark conservation groups went into action mode.

Word rapidly spread and conservation action began in the form of the Blue Heart Society.

Last week another voice has surfaced, Steven Spencer, who, in rather pointed open letter is suggesting that local dive shops are partially to blame for the actions taken by fishermen.

His letter serves as a wake up call to dive shops and new shark diving operations including those who would guide these nascent operations to best practices.

Without a strong conservation program in place on the opening day of shark operations, regional shark populations run the risk of "commercial promotion without representation".

More from Da Shark in Fiji.

Steven Spencer on Playa Killings

My name is Steven and i am writing in relation to some horrific Shark killings that have been happening close to the shores of Playa Del Carmen Mexico. You may have already heard something of this news but i am writing because all of the news that i am hearing and reading is very biased and largely untrue so i wish to write a true account to the best of my knowledge about these incidents and what has led to them.

I do not know if there is something that your organisation, or any organisation that you know can do about these occurrences, but i feel the need to write in true detail of what is happening as i am sure that if anything can be done then you will know better than i the people that could do something.

Playa Del Carmen is a tourist area that has grown considerably in the past decade. I have been diving there for 7 years, i have done many dives there as i have spent 5 months there every year for the past 7 years.

Bull Sharks visit these shores during the months between November and March. In my first 5 years of diving there i frequently saw groups of 2 to a maximum of 5 BullSharks in various dive sites, mainly Tortugas, Pared Verde and Barracuda. BullShark sightings were frequent during these months if diving regularly but could not be guaranteed.

Eventually one dive store called ‘Phantom divers’ began to feed an area regularly close to shore near a dive site called ‘Jardines’ and eventually the sightings of these BullSharks were very rare in other locations.

Phantom diveshop then began taking divers to the fed area close to Jardines and feeding these BullSharks whilst wearing a chainmail suit. BullSharks would gather there everyday during these months every year and eventually every other divestore in town hypocritically began running ‘BullShark dives’. I state hypocritically because every other diveshop spoke of their disliking of the Shark feeding but continued to make very good money from these dives.

I dived with these magnificent creatures many times, when they were in behaving naturally and when the feeding programmes began. Once the feeding programmes began they behaved very differently to before, if a boat passed overhead they would go into a frenzy as they expected food coming to them.

Anyway, the BullShark is not a protected species in Mexico and local fisherman have always killed 2 or 3 a year but now everything has all come to a very sad situation. I am aware of one true report where 9 were killed by a fisherman in one day and other reports have suggested that 25 were killed in 3 days. During my 5 months every year in Playa i would dive most days and i would estimate that there wouldn’t be much more than 50 BullSharks that visit these shores each year as i was frequently seeing the same ones, i only counted approximately 20 different ones. If this is the case then it is a large percentage of decline of this species there.

I am therefore 100% sure that because of this feeding programme it has herded them into one area making it very easy for them to be fished and slaughtered by local fisherman who now have the knowledge of their whereabouts. 2 or 3 killed a year before, and 9 killed in one day proves this is no coincidence and they would therefore have a better chance of survival if they were spread around as before.

Phantom divers is currently fighting for the rights for the BullSharks not to be fished for at this certain feeding point during the months that they visit the area, stating that the BullSharks congregate there to give birth, this information i know to be incorrect. They congregate there for the food that is fed to them and for no other reason.

It is obvious that the only interest in Phantom divers minds is the proffit that can be made from the BullSharks.

My interest is for the survival of these magnificent creatures and i hope by voicing my opinions, whether loved or hated might help towards this.

I thank you for your time in reading this and thank you for passing this information on to anyone who might be able to assist with this sad situation and if there is anything else i can do i would be happy to.

Steven Spencer.

Sustainable Shark Diving - Mexico

One of the primary questions for any new shark diving operator is the sustainability question. Will the program put in place today be the same program 10 years from now? With this question also comes the ultimate question of commercial shark diving safety.

As we have long maintained what happens at one dive site resonates for good or bad at others and this is a global phenomenon. In the case of Mexico a commercial shark sites success or failure in Mexican waters will help determine the fate of other sites and the longevity of the industry as a whole within Mexico.

Which leads us to Playa Del Carmen and the new bull shark site there. This site appeared on the shark diving communities radar about two years ago. It is arguably one of the newer and more exciting shark sites and will generate more interest and divers in the years to come.

From the video's on You Tube and elsewhere it's pretty evident this site needs some industry help as it features unshielded half suit divers, shark feeding staff without armor, and overall free form encounters with poor to disastrous bait controls. Exciting, but is it sustainable?

That's not to say this site is not viable, it might well be. One look at other dive ecounters with bulls show these animals deserve special consideration beyond the "man in the sand with the bait crate".

It is hoped that these lessons are learned soon for the sake of the entire nascent shark diving industry in Mexico: