The "baddest" shark at Isla Guadalupe?

I want to introduce you to some of the sharks we have met over the last 14 years at Guadalupe Island.
Thanks to the Photo Id project we are able to individually identify the sharks and keep track of who's visiting the Island each year. We are now at over 155 different sharks, some of them having been seen at Guadalupe every years, since we started going there in 2001.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the ID project here and now I want to start out by introducing you to the guy who got me hooked on shark diving.

"Shredder"

"Shredder" was one of the real characters at Guadalupe Island. Never the most careful shark, he definitely kept us entertained an on our toes. Most divers recognized him by his shredded dorsal fin. While some called him "Scar" and others "Cal Ripfin", to me, he has always been "Shredder". Most people think that he got his name because of his "shredded" dorsal fin. That is actually not the case. He got his name a few years before he "shredded" his fin. On the very first trip to Guadalupe Island one of the divers went up to the captain of the "Horizon" and told him "A shark just bit through your anchor line". Knowing how thick the anchor line is, the captain doubted that the shark bit all the way through it and went to the bow, to check things out. There were indeed just a few feet of anchor line dangling over the  rail and just as he got there a shark jumped up, trying to get the rest. .... that is how "Shredder" got his name, he shredded the anchor line.

"Shredder's unique dorsal fin"

Biting anchor lines were not the only thing he was famous for. He loved showing off for our divers. On one particular day, he kept swimming back and forth, just inches from the cages for 7 solid hours. It was during a day, where we couldn't put any attractant or baits into the water. That didn't stop him from checking out our divers all day long.  Swimming by the cages, looking each diver in the eyes, the exactly how he got me hooked on shark diving.

Hi I'm Shredder!

 Another thing that made "Shredder" unique was the fact that he didn't seem to have gotten the memo that great white sharks have a hierarchy based on size. Normally, the smaller sharks defers to the bigger ones, but not Shredder. He was definitely not intimidated by anyone.

Shredder with Dr. "Mau"

He was also a shark that loved to breach! I have seen him do that at least 5 or 6 times.

"Shredder" was at Guadalupe Island from 2001 to 2012 and hasn't been seen since then. I don't know what happened to him. Maybe he got caught by a fishing boat, maybe he didn't defer to a bigger shark and died. I prefer to think that he's still out there, swimming in the vast oceans and will return some day. It's not unprecedented that a shark stays away from Guadalupe for years at a time. We had one show up after an absence of 8 years.


If you want to come out with us and see if "Shredder" returns this season, call us at 855.987.4275 or visit http://www.sharkdiver.com//bookings/

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

How do we identify the sharks at Guadalupe?

I've been going to Guadalupe since 2002 and have met a lot of great white sharks. When I first saw one of these amazing creatures, I thought it was the most incredible experience of my life. I was thinking "Wow check out that shark!" I thought I was the luckiest guy alive, to be able to work on a boat that gave me the chance to dive with great white sharks. After my third or fourth trip, I was thinking "Wow, another shark" and frankly, I got a little bored and as amazing as these sharks are, I didn't think I would keep doing these trips for much longer.

Dr. Bob!

Just when I had that thought, an incredible thing happened. I was in the cage, looking at this little shark (he was about 9-10' long at the time) coming towards me, when I realized that he was looking me straight into the eyes! Now that got my attention. He swam by the cage and kept hisIn  eye on me, until he focused his attention on the next diver. "This guy is checking me out" I thought. I can't possibly explain the what happened in that instant, but something clicked. While I had no idea at the time, that was the moment my "relationship" with the shark that became known as "Shredder" began.

Shredder!

In the next few weeks, I'm going to write a series about some of the sharks we see at Guadalupe Island, but before I get started on that, I have to tell you how we actually identify the individual great white sharks and how that all got started.

In 2002, we didn't have a database that identified the individuals sharks and we didn't know how to identify the sharks. A lot of operators just made up a name for a shark, based on a bite mark, a behavior, a mutilation, or they simply pulled one out of thin air. Those names were different from boat to boat and changed from trip to trip. We had no idea, how many different individuals we saw or to reliably know what sharks we saw. In general, we knew very little about the sharks.

We found out pretty quickly, that bite marks are not a very good way to identify the sharks, since they have this amazing ability to heal and even some nasty wounds, barely leave a mark. So how did we find a reliable way to identify the sharks?

Chugey with a nasty bite!

 

Enter Nicole Nasby Lucas, a research scientist with the Marine Conservation Science Institute MCSI.
In 2002, Nicole started collecting pictures that were donated by the divers of all the shark diving vessels at Isla Guadalupe and put together a database of every shark that was photographed there. Nicole was using the unique color patterns of the sharks to individually identify them, a method still used today, with the database now including 155 individual sharks. The areas we look at to identify the sharks are the gills, the pelvic fin area and the tail, any mutilations and obviously, the gender of the animal. The photo ID is not just awesome to identify the sharks we are seeing, it goes far beyond that.

From MCSI website: "The data we collect from this project helps to not only track individual sharks but also monitor the status of the overall Guadalupe white shark population calculate an index of abundance to determine if the population is increasing, decreasing or stable. This is important data in white shark management and conservation."

Whether you would like to be able to identify the sharks you may have seen during your visit to Guadalupe Island, want to know who you're going to meet on your upcoming visit, are curious about the sharks you see during "shark week", or simply would like to have an awesome book with pictures of 155 individual sharks in it, you can get your copy of the "Shark ID book" here. With your purchase, you not only get an awesome book, but you also help support the ongoing research

If you would like to come out on a shark trip and hear about this research, Shark Diver has 3 special science trips this season. Nicole is joining us on these trips and will tell you all about the ongoing research and teach you how to identify the sharks. What an opportunity to meet the person responsible for this

The dates for our special science trips this season are: Sept. 14-19 which is already sold out, Oct. 10-15, only 4 spaces available and Nov. 11-16. If you like to join us, please call 855.987.4275 or, from outside the US 619.887.4275 You can also email us at staff@sharkdiver.com for more information.

Let's go shark diving!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

The data we collect from this project helps to not only track individual sharks but also monitor the status of the overall Guadalupe white shark population calculate an index of abundance to determine if the population is increasing, decreasing or stable. This is important data in white shark management and conservation. - See more at: http://www.marinecsi.org/white-shark/#sthash.ekyZW6ua.dpuf

photo-identification project.  We derived a unique system for identifying individual sharks by their color patterns and currently have a catalog of 154 white sharks from Guadalupe Island.  The vast majority of the sharks in our catalog have been sighted over multiple years, with many of them having been sighted every year since 2001 - See more at: http://www.marinecsi.org/white-shark/#sthash.ekyZW6ua.dpuf

In conjunction with our satellite tagging, we have also been studying the Guadalupe Island white sharks through an extensive photo-identification project.  We derived a unique system for identifying individual sharks by their color patterns and currently have a catalog of 154 white sharks from Guadalupe Island.  The vast majority of the sharks in our catalog have been sighted over multiple years, with many of them having been sighted every year since 2001.

Copies of the photo-ID books are now available with donation, get your copy today!

The data we collect from this project helps to not only track individual sharks but also monitor the status of the overall Guadalupe white shark population calculate an index of abundance to determine if the population is increasing, decreasing or stable. This is important data in white shark management and conservation.
- See more at: http://www.marinecsi.org/white-shark/#sthash.ekyZW6ua.dpuf

In conjunction with our satellite tagging, we have also been studying the Guadalupe Island white sharks through an extensive photo-identification project.  We derived a unique system for identifying individual sharks by their color patterns and currently have a catalog of 154 white sharks from Guadalupe Island.  The vast majority of the sharks in our catalog have been sighted over multiple years, with many of them having been sighted every year since 2001.

Copies of the photo-ID books are now available with donation, get your copy today!

The data we collect from this project helps to not only track individual sharks but also monitor the status of the overall Guadalupe white shark population calculate an index of abundance to determine if the population is increasing, decreasing or stable. This is important data in white shark management and conservation.
- See more at: http://www.marinecsi.org/white-shark/#sthash.ekyZW6ua.dpuf

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Shark scare in Orange County?

A couple of days ago, there was a fake shark scare in Newport Beach, CA.

The Orange County Register reports:  

source

"NEWPORT BEACH – The warning was clear: A big, aggressive great white shark is on the loose along the shores in Newport Beach, and beachgoers are advised to stay away from the water."

Problem was, local lifeguards and the U.S. Coast Guard never heard of any shark danger. 

“I guess it was one of the local guys; someone who wanted to keep the crowds down at a break out there,” Coast Guard search and rescue controller Sandy Needle said about the notice. “There was nothing from the Coast Guard.” 

The warning – which appeared on official-looking letterhead that said “United States Coast Guard” in the notification dated Wednesday – was floating around on Facebook, claiming that three incidents should put beachgoers on high alert.

The article goes on to give the details of the warning which contained the following paragraph:

The third sighting, the notice read, came when two lifeguards got a call about an adult-sized shark that bumped two kayakers and swam away after the boaters struck it “with an oar in the gill area of the fish.”

So far so good, it looks like the media is responsible for once and instead of hyping up a shark scare, are trying to calm the public.

The article then states, how they recognized the warning as fake.

"Although the flier looked official, there were a lot of clues that it was a fake.
“There’s a lot of misspellings, and it called a shark a fish,” Needle said."
Well there you have it. It called the shark a fish!  No self respecting Coast Guard representative would call a shark a fish! Everyone knows it's not a fish, it's a.... hmm, no not that, it's a ...... , I'm stumped! Any of you know?

Maybe I should be asking an expert in these matters.

You can read the entire article here

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver


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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

A new friend at Guadalupe

We have a new friend at Isla Guadalupe. Meet "Myla" our new addition to the photo ID database. She's a beautiful female!Cage diving with great white sharks at Isla Guadalupe. shark diving,

"Mayla"

I can't wait to go back there this fall and see all our old friends again. If we find a new one, we will add it to our growing list of great white sharks at Isla Guadalupe. So far, we have over 150 sharks identified. All of our new sharks have to get a name. We don't want to say "this is #7", we yell it's "Bruce"! And that would not be possible without the database.

If you would like to support this valuable, ongoing research project, you can do so, by sponsoring and naming a shark. Anyone interested can get more info by clicking here.

All our divers will also be able to participate in this study, by donating the use of their pictures to this database. If we identify a new shark on one of our science expeditions, (we have only one space left on Nov.11) our divers will get to name it. How cool is that?!

Other than that one space on Nov. 11, we only have a few spaces left on Aug. 12, 17 and 23. All the other expeditions are sold out.

Welcome to the family "Mayla" I hope we'll see you in the fall.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver

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.

Fantastic start to our Guadalupe Great White Shark season!

Brian Arnone having a blast.

Our 2013 season at Guadalupe has been awesome so far. On our first 3 trips we saw a total of 18 different sharks we have seen in previous years, along with at least 5 new ones. We have also seen 10 complete breaches! Who says they only breach in  South Africa?!

Our divers are having a blast! Brian Arnone, a newly minted Shark Diver sent us a picture from his recent trip.

On August 16th I spotted a shark that I didn't recognize, but looked strangely familiar. After looking through our Shark ID database  I found out that it was #56 Quetzalcoatl who had not been seen since 2005. It's awesome to find a long lost friend, back at Isla Guadalupe!

#56 Quetzalcoatl

On August 25th we spotted #27 Squire, another shark that was absent for the last 3 years. Where have they been? We don't know. It always worries me, when one of our regulars, like Shredder last year, is missing. To find that some sharks are coming back after an absence of many years, gives me hope that he, along with many others are still out there and doing well.



I hope you can join us on one of our expeditions and experience what if feels like when you  come face to face with these magnificent creatures and have them look you straight into the eyes.

Cheers,

Martin  Graf
CEO
Shark Diver

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 sharkoperations@gmail.com.

Bright. . .green. . .toenail polish? Expert?

We have a blanket policy here at UT - post blogs from others who hit "content home runs."

We would like to introduce you to one of those home runs today from The Noble Savage Blog.

When rare shark attacks happen "shark experts" flock to the media scene like first year lawyers to a train wreck:

A story surfaced yesterday on San Diego’s 10News.com about a woman who was bitten by what might have been a small great white shark while she was swimming off Terramar Beach in Carslbad. The woman, named Bethany Edmund, said the shark first went for her foot, and then bit her three more times on her calf and feet. Edmund was swimming in about 10 feet of water, and at first thought she had kicked a reef. She apparently never saw the shark, and blamed her friends for grabbing her feet.

After the last bite, Edmund suspected something was after her, and she quickly made her way to the beach. Now let’s pick up the 10News report:

After looking at the pictures Edmund took, one shark expert told 10News the puncture wounds came from a baby Great White shark. The expert said the shark was about 5- to 6-feet long next to Edmund, who is 5 feet 3 inches tall. . .The expert said Edmund’s bright-green toenail polish might have triggered the attack.”The water was clear enough that the sun could hit my nail polish and reflect it, and so he (the expert) says the first bite was thinking it was a fish and it realized it didn’t want me then I wasn’t leaving the area and then it got aggressive because maybe that’s it’s area to hunt,” said Edmund.

Bright. . .green. . .toenail polish? Expert?

How about the possibility that Edmund’s feet and legs were moving, and made her look alive, i.e. edible? I’ll buy the part about a young shark trying to establish hunting territory and being aggressive about it (younger predators can be overly or clumsily aggressive because their place in the species’ local hierarchy is still very risky).

Of course, this all assumes that the “expert” got the bite-mark ID correct, which might also be doubtful. The shark could possibly have been of a species other than a great white, because the doobie-rolling expert didn’t examine Edmunds directly, and saw photos of her wounds only. Bull sharks, the species responsible for the most human attacks, go as far north as Baja, and easily farther. Or maybe a tiger shark?

Let’s go with the great white, for entertainment purposes, as apparently 10News.com did, too.

Years ago, shark experts talked about something they dubbed “yum-yum yellow” — the yellow-colored parts of many scuba-diving wetsuits that experts theorized might be an attractant to big sharks such as great whites. This theory was later debunked entirely.

How big could this woman’s toes be? Her toenails might be the size of a dime. So you’ve got a large predatory fish that hunts by scent and vibration while visually seeking moving profiles of the proper kind (seal and fish profiles, mainly). Even in very clear water on a bright, sunny day, the idea that a hunting great white was “triggered” to attack because it somehow spied little dots of bright green on fast-moving dainty feet is absurd. This is a big beast looking for a moving profile in the water, and to an inexperienced shark Edmund fit the bill.

I’m always willing to entertain a far-out theory, and this one has some distance. The trouble is, people are reading it in a “news” story. And the shark ID was made from photos of the bites.

Chomp.