The Shark Empire Strikes Back?

The global shark diving industry has become a juggernaut for shark conservation efforts and best practices for animal tourism world wide.

It's been a quiet revolution that has happened over the past decade and one that has been lead by some of our industries best and brightest.

Sadly, not everyone has received this memo and that's a failure of our industry to push back in a consistent and coherent manner when politicos, the media, and a few traditional agenda based voices (hacks mostly) speak up to regurgitate opinions taken from dog eared copies of the book Jaws.

If there was a Bible for misinformed media hounds who spend 98% of their time sitting behind desks at home waiting patiently for their creme colored wall mounted kitchen phones to ring - Jaws is it.

Thanks to the industries shark blogs there is a small amount of push back and it is usually to the point, on target, and dare we say what's needed if our industry is to continue to grow, thrive, and become all that it can be in the years to come.

Case in point this latest from Fiji and who else, Da Shark, who has penned one of the best responses to the recent shark strike media firestorm in Western Australia. Kudos sir.

What's at stake is a growing call for a complete reversal of shark protections for great whites in the region and a "limited cull" of these magnificent animals in response to five shark strikes and particularly gruesome death.

To date this call for sharks heads on sticks in the region has been met with resounding white noise from shark groups, shark divers, and commercial shark interests worldwide while the politicos in the region are having a media field day.

We have to push back, and it is posts like this one from Fiji that serve as a template for the rest of a global industry to become engaged.

Owning a commercial shark diving company or even working with one on even a part time basis makes you part of an elite fraternity. You are responsible for the future of the industry on a local, regional, national and global level.

What happens in one part of the world for good or bad to our industry is often carbon copied and exported to other regions, hence the push back and it does not get much better than this.

Oh, and in case you're on of those who think that blogs are nonsense and that no one reads them, think again. Words and ideas are powerful things, and like individual web pages blog posts sit on the Internet for eons marinating, proposing ideas, and justifying position that those in the media search for when the subject of sharks come up.

Food for thought.

More blog information and outrage here.


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.

Australia Acts Decisively Against Shark Tourism - Meh!

In a  stunning act of political theater taken from the recent pages of half assed tourism policies in Maui the minister of tourism for Western Australia has banned commercial shark diving.

“I have decided that Western Australia will not be the place for shark cage tourism, like those currently operating in South Australia and South Africa,” Mr Moore said. “There have been no formal applications for such ventures in WA as yet, but I have acted to let any potential operators know this State’s policy."

Yes folks, even though there are currently no operations seeking to dive with sharks on a commercial level in Western Australia, and even though commercial shark diving is a multi-million dollar conservation juggernaut across the globe one Mr Moore, Minister for the Inane in Western Australia, has banned this activity.

You have to admire the shortsighted politics of decision makers these days who in most cases can count the time they have spent on water with two or three fingers and actual shark interactions from what they see on You Tube or on Animal Planet. In this case Mr Moore banned future commercial shark diving after a series of shark attacks in the region.

Seems Mr Moore in his alter ego as Great Future Tourism Prognosticator has seen a world wherein shark attacks in the Western Australia region will increase ten fold because of the activity of a few  "yet to be conceived of" commercial shark operations far offshore. This will be the first time a politician of any stripe has pre-banned commercial shark diving based on existing shark attacks that have nothing to do with our industry.

As we said many months ago following the Maui shark ban:

The number one rule for regional tourism is "never take tourism options off the table." This rule looks into the future of tourism destinations and changing public demand. What is not popular today may well be tomorrows latest fashion.

Of course that does not stop those who play politics on a professional level from setting policies that  are ultimately short sighted.

Kudos Mr.Moore your decisive actions have saved perhaps...0 people from negative shark interactions in the region. We wish you luck with act two of your grand decision which sounds a lot like an expansion of shark nets to us:

“A Shark Response Unit has been set up by the Department of Fisheries to co-ordinate shark mitigation operations and research and a community engagement strategy is also being developed to increase general knowledge about shark safety and to work with public agencies and stakeholders to enhance preparedness and responses to shark hazards,” Mr Moore said.

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.

Barry Bruce on Shark Culls - Video

Berry Bruce deep inside his subject matter 2009

Barry Bruce, never heard of him?

Well you should as he's one of those quiet industry types who does great work with white sharks, shuns the limelight, and occasionally comes forth in the media to knock a few homers out of the park.

In short our kind of white shark biologist.

This week Barry jumped into the political morass of recent shark attacks in Australia with the latest happening at Rottnest Island.

A world on Rottnest if you please. It's no secret that white sharks inhabit this island in the months of Oct-Dec and later each and every year. White sharks have been known in these waters going back to the late 1800's.

We posted this video back in 2008 of whites at Rottnest.

So, we're asking why dive boat operators are dumping divers into white waters in the first place? It's a question that NO ONE has asked and should be asking instead of baiting long lines to kill animals that are just "doing their thing."

Anyway back to Barry, his latest media foray  has been picked up by the shark blogs, namely The Dorsal Fin and Da Shark and Andrew Fox and we would like to add our voices to the collective as well. This is great stuff and it's unfortunate that we don't have another three or four dozen Barry's out there to help turn the political tide back from the "kill order" for protected white sharks to a broader understanding that perhaps, just perhaps, during certain months we should just leave the hell alone and not put non caged divers into the world of the white shark.

Positive Shark Encounters vs Longline Culls

While Australia races headlong to hunt down and kill a white shark that recently attacked and killed an American diver last week let's take a moment to see how positive shark interactions can change perceptions, starting with the very young.

Note:  If you want to send an email to stop the shark cull here are the folks you need to reach, please be respectful:

Email of Collin Barnett (WA Premier): wa-government@dpc.wa.gov.au 

Email of Norman Moore (WA Fisheries Minister): minister.moore@dpc.wa.gov.au 

Email of William Marmion (WA Minister for the Environment): minister.marmion@dpc.wa.gov.au 

This video from is Compass Key, Bahamas known as the "Shark Diving Capitol of the World," here at least sharks are sources of tourism revenue and when unfortunate encounters with sharks occur, they are not hunted down with indiscriminate baited longlines.

You might say that the Bahamas carries an enlightened approach to sharks understanding that they inhabit the same oceans with us and that selectively removing them when it is politically expedient to do so does nothing to ensure that these rare negative encounters will not happen again.

Tragedies with sharks will always be just that, tragedies.

Our responsibility to the oceans eco system is to work in harmony with sharks. Rottnest Island has a long and storied history of white shark encounters going back to the late 1800's. If there is blame for a tragedy with sharks let's start by asking why dive operations in the area, who know of white sharks at Rottnest, are taking divers into the realm of the white shark.

There's simply no such thing as a "rogue killer shark".

There is, unfortunately, such a thing as poor decision making:

Killing White Sharks1992 Way Back Machine

Less than twenty years ago white sharks were caught on a regular basis in Australia, we have come a long way in 20 years:

Shark Attacks Up - So Are Swimmers

For all the anti- shark media bashing we do here - rightfully so- once in a while the major media get sharks right. Today is one of those days.

A recent study in Australia reviewing the controversial shark netting program shows shark attacks up from the 1970's by a clear 28%. Where this study is absolutely correct is to also correlate the increased numbers of swimmers in the oceans as well:

Coming after a summer that has left even the most hardened surfies asking why there have been so many attacks, the draft report stresses it is simply because the state's increasing population means more people are going into the water.

Comprehensive shark management plans begin by understanding the roles humans play in tandem with shark attacks.

Hey, didn't we just post something similar last week?

Complete Story

Tag sharks.Then have informed debate

The Australian media are having what amounts to an "orgastic anti shark field day" with a spate of recent high profile shark attacks.

One lone voice, Professor Iain Suthers, has popped up in a local op ed with a novel idea.

Of course no one would consider a tagging program for shark populations at the cost of $2K per tag and an overall $500,000 for the final conclusions - when a shark program like this (see image) would do the immediate job much faster. Or would they? Ideas can be very dangerous things:

A surprising aspect of the recent shark attacks is what we don't know. Certainly the risk of shark attack per swimmer is less than in the past. But we don't know if there are more sharks around Sydney than last summer (although it seems to be so). We don't know if this is a trend. There were many reports last summer, but no attacks.

We don't know if it is due to the fish bait abundance, caused by recent strong upwelling. With the strengthening East Australian Current and warming of the Tasman Sea, perhaps this is a climate-related process we could model. We don't even know the life history of bull sharks - are they just summer tourists, and if so, where do they winter? At present all such speculation needs data, and the only long-term data is the controversial shark-meshing program.

First, data could be sourced from reliable observers of the harbour and beaches: ferry captains, charter fishing operators and experienced observers from high-rise apartments. They could dial in an observed index from 0 to 9 which, with other data (water temperature, rainfall, upwelling), could form the basis of a weekly shark risk, similar to UV risk.

Second, we need more research and communication. The bad reputation of hammerheads and grey nurse sharks has no basis. Many researchers around Australia are tracking sharks with acoustic tags. The presence of tagged sharks will be tracked with 900 receivers distributed around Australia as part of the Federal Government's integrated marine observing system. One part of that array has just been deployed off Tamarama. Science is needed so we can enjoy the harbour without fear.

Professor Iain Suthers, Sydney Institute of Marine Science, University of NSW

Editors Note: Kudos to Professor Iain Suthers for this "idea".

Sharks Myths and Misconceptions

Two well discussed blogs that we keep track of here had much to say about the ongoing anti-shark media hype clogging our news outlets right now (see blogs of note).

Partly fueled by a series of unfortunate and successive shark attacks in Australia and a much slower news cycle. Both the RTSea Blog and the Chum Slick Blog are pro shark, and pro environment.

Normally Chum Slick opts for the razor rant with a few well placed F-bombs but this week took an in depth look into the issue of anti shark propaganda with a keen media eye. Who is behind Australia's anti shark propaganda?

We have said it in the past and we'll say it again. For the most part the default mode of major media is anti-shark, pro 1970's Jaws hype, with little investigative effort into sharks in general.

The last three weeks have been the gold standard for sharks in the media.

Riding the wave of seasonal stupidity

It is almost impossible not to love writers like Malcolm Knox. Tackling the hysterical media bias of three near simultaneous shark attacks in Australia recently with an article formula based on two parts searing humor and two parts serious thought.

Read, be amused, become informed:

Full Story

On Tuesday a rampant great white shark, rows of teeth bared and bloody, lunged out of the front page of The Manly Daily. In case readers weren't already running, the headline shouted: "Coming to a beach near you?"

The annual shark hysteria always devolves into the debate between the head - someone saying that you're more likely to get hit by a car on your way to the beach - and the guts - an unfortunate surfer in hospital letting the teeth marks speak for themselves. By playing the impossible game of measuring probabilities and evidence against the bottomless pit of basic human fear, the hysteria is a distraction from the main issue affecting beaches in summer: the seasonally adjusted spike in stupidity