Gulf BP Oil Spill - Sky Truth 26,500 Barrels a Day

Depending on who you listen to the BP Gulf oil spill is 2-5000 barrels a day.

That's a hefty number.

Then there's Sky Truth. If you have never heard of them here's their link.

They estimate the Gulf spill at a mind boggling 26,500 barrels a day using satellite imaging of the region and some of the best minds in the minerals business.

See LA Times article.

This would make the current oil disaster in the Gulf larger than the Exxon Valdez spill of the late 90's.

Last night BP dropped the first of three 100 ton proposed containment domes to try and cap the leaks. We wish them the best of speed and good luck.

Farallones Tagging Disaster - Follow Up?

In 2009 a film/research team badly mauled a white shark at the Farallone Islands.

What is not in dispute is the fact that a circle hook, very similar to the one seen here, was embedded deeply in the throat of a white shark.

The team went on to try and remove this hook by pushing bolt cutters through the gills of the animal and only succeeded in getting a fraction back leaving the animal with a hook still embedded in it's throat.

The resulting media storm over this event sent shock waves through both the research community and the commercial shark world. Only a few of the commercial shark diving operators on the West coast of the USA got in front of this issue, we were one of them. Others who are far more commercially invested in the Farallones said and did little in the public forum for reasons that remain their own.

Our long standing commercial and conservation efforts with sharks have been predicated by one mandate "do no harm to sharks." We support all research and commercial endeavors until they break that simple tenant.

The badly mauled shark at the Farallones was tagged with a real time GPS monitor and we were told the animal was "in great health." Unfortunately since December 8. 2009, all our efforts to get this real time data monitored by an independent source seemed to have hit a wall.

To date we have sent six emails to NOAA's and GFNMS regional managers and have been told the following:

The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary will work with an independent, qualified reviewer with expertise in white shark behavior, husbandry, and/or health to assess the status of the sharks tagged last Fall around the Farallon Islands.

b) The independent reviewer will assess the status of the sharks by reviewing footage of the tagging operations and comparing the tracking data from Dr. Domeier's tags with the tracking data from TOPP's research project at the Farallones over a year's timeframe. The GFNMS has already contacted Dr. Domeier for his data to begin the assessment.

c) The GFNMS will notify you as soon as that person has been identified and the work has begun.

d) The GFNMS will notify you of the results and post the results of the assessment on the Gulf of Farallones website (farallones.noaa.gov)

It has been five months since this tagging disaster and we have not heard anything from NOAA or the GFNMS staff in regards to this pressing matter and it is time that we did.

Editors Note: Fiji's Da Shark has weighed in on this issue (again) and we have to agree with his take, makes for great additional reading.

Deadly Waters, Sharkbite Summer...

The 2009 line up of Shark Week starts August 2, with a series of programs designed for one thing only, thrills and sensationalist television.

Brought to you by a small handful of operators and self styled shark researchers who have yet to fully understand the negative impact of their actions on sharks.

While a growing industry chorus demands that Discovery Networks cease programming that harms the perception of sharks - we would like to propose a second action. Let's take a "hard look" at our own industry and individual members who enable productions like these.

Ironically we all know who are behind these productions, and many of those involved profess to love sharks. Some are even actively and recently engaged in shark conservation efforts.

To what end?

Folks, it's not Discovery Networks problem, they are just doing what they do because we allow them to do it. Let's stop booking the vessels that enable the productions, let's start calling out the operators who enable the access to these sharks.

Let's start by cleaning our own house.

Yes, we know, it's a radical and once again unpopular thought.

But then again this blog has never towed the company line. Ever.