2010 Shark Diving Report - Cage Diving at Guadalupe

For our divers 2010 has been the Trip of a Lifetime so far. Celebrated with email blasts to friends and Facebook posts to the world.

These lucky divers have met the most charismatic, studied, and filmed white sharks on the planet.

For newly minted Shark Diver Craig Reynolds, nothing but his own Great White Blog to recount his adventures this year would do:

Day 2 – NEW CHUMS – After loading the Horizon at 9pm, we are introduced to the Shark Diver crew and drown some seasickness pills with a Budweiser for the overnight voyage. “May cause drowsiness,” the label says. Then, just a quick stop-off to pick up some crates of fresh sardines.

There at the dock, a midnight circus ensues as the Pelicans, seagulls and seals all try to get in on the live action. After turning in for the night, we are rocked back and forth in our bunk beds below deck. For a while, it’s as if somebody is walking all over my waterbed. (If I still had a waterbed, I mean). The last thing I remember thinking is: this could be a very long night.

Morning arrives, and just like a kid on Christmas...

Complete Series Posts.

Planet Shark Blogger Day - Georgia Aquarium

Dear Blogger,

You are invited to attend Planet Shark Blogger Day at the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday, February 20, 2010, to experience Planet Shark first hand from 9:00am-6:00pm (last admission at 4:00pm).

You will receive FREE admission for you and one guest.

Please RSVP to scott@creaxion.com by Wednesday, February 17 and include your blog’s web address for verification. Your tickets will be available for pick up at Georgia Aquarium Will-Call, located at the main entrance, the day of the event.

Planet Shark Blogger Day invitation has been attached to this e-mail for more information. Please feel free to extend the invite to fellow bloggers.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Hope to see you there!

New Jersey Shark Conservation Window

New Jersey has a political shark mess on it's hands, and an open window for shark conservation groups who are looking for a way to close shark tournaments in the region.

We covered this unlikely turn of events last month.

Shark fishing interests in New Jersey are applying pressure to government agencies to sign bills into law enacting new compliance standards for shark fisheries off the New Jersey coastlines.

If these bills are not signed, the entire 2010 shark fishery will be put on hold, a win for conservation.

What is not happening at this time are any efforts by shark conservation folks (large coordinated and vocal groups) to stall these unsigned bills or even demand status reviews that might slow the signing process down.

A rare window of shark conservation opportunity, and the clock is running.

Any shark conservation takers out there?

The Million Dollar Vote - Shark Conservation Win

Georgienne Bradley from The Imaging Foundation is the smartest woman in the shark conservation room right now.

With her small team she has managed to create a tsunami of interest in the Chase Charitable Giving Event and with your help her team can capture the ultimate prize of One Million Dollars for shark conservation efforts.

Why are we supporting this effort?

Bandwidth. Bradley's team have managed to capture a lot of it all over the Internet and beyond and that is the cornerstone of today's conservation world.

Bandwidth.

Please support this effort today with your valuable vote. Yes we know Haiti is also an important issue right now so do two things in the next 24hrs.

1. Donate 5-50 for Haiti relief efforts.

2. Vote for The Imaging Foundation.

Haiti thanks you and the sharks thank you. A double win in 2010.

2010 Florida Shark Fishing Regulations

Here are the new shark fishing regulations for the State of Florida.

As a barometer for the sport fishing industry the State of Florida is making improvements to shark fisheries.

■ New additions to the prohibited species list are sandbar, silky and Caribbean sharpnose sharks.

■ Sharks must be landed whole. This means filleting and removing heads, fins, and tails of sharks at sea is not allowed. Gutting and bleeding of sharks at sea is allowed to preserve the meat.

■ There is no minimum size limit for Atlantic sharpnose sharks, blacknose sharks, blacktip sharks, bonnethead sharks, finetooth sharks, and smooth dogfish, all other sharks must be at least 54 inches long (fork length) to harvest or possess.

■ Sharks may be harvested with hook and line gear only. Additionally, snatching and use of multiple (e.g. treble) hooks with natural baits is not allowed.

■ There is a bag limit of one shark per person per day and a maximum of 2 sharks per vessel per day.

■ Smooth dogfish and the Florida smoothhound are now included in the shark regulations. For a complete list of regulated sharks please visit MyFWC.com. Many sharks are difficult to identify and it is up to anglers to learn how to properly identify the sharks they harvest.

Please visit MyFWC.com to view shark identification information and other management information.

SharkDiver.com - Rangefinder Magazine

Last month Rangefinder Magazine featured Shark Diver at Isla Guadalupe in a conservation themed article by Jim Cornfield.

Article here.

About Rangefinder

Rangefinder is the premier monthly magazine for the professional photographer. Each month Rangefinder typically includes:

- product and new equipment reviews
- lighting and technical pieces
- how-to's
- promotion and marketing stories
- portraiture tips
- accessories and system round-ups
- computer technology
- black-and-white shooting
- lens reviews
- processing techniques

Rangefindermag.com provides online multimedia resources for the photographic professional. In addition to archives of Rangefinder's print articles, Rangefindermag.com provides original online content, news, and events.

About Jim Cornfield

Jim Cornfield is a commercial photographer and travel writer based in Malibu Canyon, CA. He’s a veteran certified scuba diver and a passionate campaigner for great white shark conservation and coral reef preservation.

Shark Cowboy - Liar or Looney?

November was a not a good month for shark researchers and extreme media gaffs.

From the Farallones to Australia and now Richard Fitzpatrick the perception of qualified shark research is being modified by a few within the community who have chosen to seek the media limelight.

"Riding a tiger shark is awesome, said Mr Fitzpatrick, who left Cairns this week on a diving expedition tagging sharks in the Coral Sea."

Richard Fitzpatrick represents a new and startling brand of shark researcher, those that do extreme things with animals and use research data to justify their actions, leading many to question the work being done.

"He admits most people think he is either "a liar or a loony" when he tells them he lassoes sharks for a living."

Like commercial shark diving, invasive shark research practices are under scrutiny. There are some who might argue that "the ends justify the means" with invasive shark research.

We maintain reality television shows and basic stunt work with sharks have no place within shark research community and media gaffs like this week with Richard Fitzpatrick only lower the bar for others who perceive shark research as a hybrid entertainment entity.

Shark Cowboy, Liar or Loony?

To Mr. Fitzpatrick and those who would emulate him, we would suggest the answer to that question might be both.

Invasive shark researchers seek media at their own peril, this weeks offering once again delivers a black eye to the entire effort.

100 Million Sharks - The Question

Editors Note: Unfortunately this blog post was the result of an online scam by a group of questionable filmmakers pushing a new film called "The Shark Con." Blog reader "Ethan" also contacted other Blue Bloggers with this film clip. He is not an actual blog reader but part of the effort to get free promotion for the film.

The premise of the film is to feature a few marginal and discredited anti shark people in a documentary to enrage the shark conservation movement so people will buy your film. In essence "manufacturing dissent" to sell a film.

This blog does not buy into callous attempts to promote and sell manufactured shark conservation films. We're in the business of real and lasting conservation change. If you want manufactured eco dissent there's always Whale Wars on Animal Planet, and if we say so, they do a much better job.

Original Post

Thanks to blog reader Ethan for sending this in. The conservation question of 100 million sharks killed each year is a lingering one. The number 100 million appeared at least five years ago and is taken for granted as the defacto number of dead shark each and every year.

This number is the backbone to the entire shark conservation movement - 100 million.

But what if science does not back up the numbers?

What if only 25 million sharks are killed each year?

Some have questioned the actual number, others are now making videos:

Farallones Tagging Mishap - RTSea Productions

However you want to characterise last weeks tagging incident at the Farallone Islands many within the shark community have unanswered questions.

RTSea Productions added their voice and overall assessment yesterday:

Controversy is now dogging the white shark tagging efforts of Dr. Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute. The SPOT (smart positioning or temperature) tagging began in Isla Guadalupe under the eyes of a film crew for a National Geographic Channel program to air on the 19th. It involves a technique whereby the shark is hooked and reeled on board, aerated with a water hose, while the crew literally drills and bolts a satellite transmitting tag to the shark's dorsal fin.

This is a rather elaborate tagging technique that has generated much concern within the shark conservation community (click here for prior posting about the Isla Guadalupe taggings, and here are two from other sites: click here and here).

Now, Dr. Domeier has moved northward to the Farallon Islands and, with the approval of Maria Brown, superintendent for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, has been tagging sharks there but with less than optimal success. Apparently, one shark swallowed the hook deep into its throat causing the bait's float to become lodged in the shark's jaws, thereby blocking access for the aerating water hose and requiring the cutting of the hook by working straight through the shark's gills. All in all a disaster in humane animal treatment as far as I'm concerned.

While there are concerns about the stresses this type of tagging places on the shark, there is also the question as to the need for more data acquired in the Northern California area. Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford, Dr. Pete Klimley of UC Davis, and others have amassed a considerable body of data that tracks the migratory patterns of these animals. They and their colleagues just recently issued a detailed report that can be viewed in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, published online on 11/04/09 in the Biological Sciences section ("Philopatry and migration of Pacific white sharks").

I always felt that this particular tagging technique was a more elaborate mousetrap than necessary. Now its efficacy has become controversial, the California data may ultimately be redundant, and the National Marine Sanctuary must defend a decision to allow catching a protected species in a manner that would most likely not be allowed for, say, a protected marine mammal.

Too many questions, too much controversy. . .

Read article in Bay area bohemian.com.

NBC's Today Show D- on Sharks

If there was some kind of award for shoddy, hyper inflated, negative shark coverage, NBC's The Today Show would get it.

Over the past several years they have been the media leaders in 1970's style "horror shark" media hits.

If there was an award for honestly in shark media, new Blue Blogger Dorsal Fin would get it.

This week DF earned an extra tall shark statue for calling out The Today Shows ongoing and dare we say it, "moronically half fabricated shark based clap trap."

Actually, we liked that so much we'll say it again, "moronically half fabricated shark based clap trap."

The media's responsibility for balanced shark reporting is paramount and the only way they will be made to come to their senses is if we all take the time to point out when they stray completely off the media reservation.

In The Today's Show case that is several times a year, with few if any media hits highlighting research, science, and the ongoing decimation of worldwide shark populations.

Balance. In the world we live in it is needed now more than ever.

Kudos to Dorsal Fin for providing some.

Mossel Bay Shark Death Confirmed

Images like these serve as reminders that big sharks are not safe anywhere.

Rumors of a large shark caught in Mossel Bay, S.A home to several commercial shark diving companies have been floating around the industry for weeks:

"Commenting on the shark in the photographs, Geremy Cliff, head of research at the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board, confirmed that the 4,3-metre shark was caught in the shark nets off Zinkwazi beach on August 31."

We have been posting about how the death of just "one shark" can become the instrument for shark conservation change. Perhaps this shark will be that animal. For the many commercial shark diving companies in that region the loss of such a big animal will be felt. In the end it will be up to them with a coalition of NGO's to seek the regional changes necessary to save these magnificent animals from further catches.

S.A newspaper, The Witness, has the complete story.

Editors Note: See surprising update.

WWF Understands Shark Tourism - New Report

A new WWF report in tandem with James Cook University highlights what the global commercial shark diving industry already knows, sharks are in decline everywhere.

What makes this latest report interesting are the drill down tourism numbers for live sharks vs fisheries.

Where short thinking, hyper political doom predictors in Florida, and now Hawaii seek to ban commercial shark encounters at least one credible NGO understands why shark tourism is good for local economies and yes, sustainable shark populations:

SHARKS are worth more alive than dead.

New research shows the ocean predators draw a healthy chunk of the tourist dollar.

WWF Australia spokesman Nick Heath says shark tourism is on the rise but shark numbers are declining, with estimates placing reef shark populations at three to 12 per cent of their original size in some parts of the Great Barrier Reef."We must do more to protect these top predators from disappearing on our watch, if not for the benefit of the environment, then at least for the benefit of the back pocket," Mr Heath said.

"A guaranteed shark sighting is worth its weight in gold to the tourism industry."

He said recent research by James Cook University found potential shark sightings were a major drawcard to the diving sector, with tourists willing to pay thousands of dollars to see a shark in the wild.

The researchers estimated up to 25 per cent or $1,375 of each visitor's expenditure in Cairns and Port Douglas in far north Queensland went towards the opportunity to see a shark.

Divers mostly want to see hammerhead sharks followed by whale sharks and tiger sharks, the study found.

The group says more than 70,000 sharks are taken by fishermen each year in waters off north Queensland, many inside the Great Barrier Reef area.

Sharks thus come under particular threat because of slow growth rates, late sexual maturity, long gestation periods and birthing only a few young at a time.

Complete Story

Maui Bans Shark Tourism - Surfer Attacked by Shark

Not weeks after Maui City Council members voted to ban non existent commercial shark diving to "protect swimmers and divers" in Maui - a surfer was bitten this morning by an estimated 6-8 foot sand shark.

He was surfing in the "Kalama Bowls" area of a local beach park shortly after 6:00 a.m. when he was bitten on the upper right thigh and the lower part of his right ankle, according to Maui County officials.

The unfortunate negative intersection of sharks and humans will continue to happen regardless of commercial shark diving operations in any given area.

Maui has never had commercial shark diving in it's waters.

Shark do not target humans as a general rule.

Maui's political decision to ban shark diving was just that, a political decision, and with this mornings unfortunate incident proved one thing for certain...sharks do not regard political decisions.

Commercial shark diving is under assault by a global anti-shark diving lobby that trades in on the fear of sharks. When bans are proposed "public safety" is touted as the net benefit to the community at large.

With this latest case in Maui, the anti-shark diving lobby has been exposed for what they are.

Simply put, purveyors of fear based nonsense.

Shark Feeding – The Debate Continues

Another blog post making the rounds on the Internet discusses "shark feeding" - once again.

While the conversation about chumming and habituating sharks is a perennial favourite, clearly more study needs to be done with operators enabling research at sites where sharks, people, and chumming occur.

Shane Pinder Blog

This is a continuation of the topic of shark feeding dives started in an earlier post.

Scuba Diving Forum posted a comment to that post that included a link to a very interesting article on the Shark Foundation site about a study on the impact on white shark cage diving.

The study concluded that chumming for white sharks does not condition or habituate them because the sharks don’t receive any food in the chumming process.

I wonder though if the research on white shark cage diving applies to the type of shark feeding done in the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean.

The conclusion that white shark cage diving does not result in the conditioning of white sharks to associate humans with food seems to hinge on the fact that white sharks are not fed during cage dives. The water is chummed with blood to attract them and the food on bait line is pulled away from them so that they never actually get a reward.

This is not what happens on shark dives in The Bahamas. The sharks do receive a reward (food). The article does refer to conditioning of three shark species in captivity -

“Conditioning has been demonstrated in a captive situation in the lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris (Clark 1959, Wright & Jackson 1964), nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum (Aronson et al. 1967) and the bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas (Wright & Jackson 1964). ”

These species are all present in Bahamian waters.

The article also discusses the demonstrated learning ability of Tiger sharks (also present in Bahamian waters) - “The learning ability of sharks is also demonstrated under natural conditions. For two weeks a year in June off the shallows of Hawaii, tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) congregate to feed on young albatross that take land on the waters surface whilst learning to fly (Martin 2003). Although the sharks initially have very little success in preying on the chicks, within 3-5 days they learn the technique needed to successfully capture the young birds and, on missing a prey item, to swim a short distance upwind to where the panicked bird will land (Martin 2003).”

The question is still whether or not the type of shark dives which involve sharks obtaining a reward (food) condition sharks to associate humans with food.

If these dives do create conditioning, does it follow that sharks are then more likely to attack humans in areas where they have been conditioned to associate humans with food?

From personal experience, I know that there are dives sites close to shark feeding sites where you can expect to see sharks even though no feeding is going on. In my experience, while the sharks at these sites have not been aggressive, they certainly hang around during the entire dive. They don’t appear to be bothered by such close contact to humans.

On dive sites that are not close to shark feeding sites, it is unusual to see any sharks. If you do happen to see a shark, it is usually only a glimpse of it as it cruising by in the distance. It doesn’t hang around.

Have a look at the article posted by Scuba Diving Forum about the study done by the Shark Foundation. What are your thoughts?

• Does this study help to confirm that shark dives in which sharks get food do not condition sharks to associate food with humans?

• Do you think that shark dives that result in sharks being fed condition sharks to associate food with humans?

• If sharks are conditioned by these types of dives to associate food with humans, does that make it more likely that shark attacks will occur?

Underwater Thrills:Swimming with Sharks - Top 100

We received the following email this morning. 1900+ blog posts later about sharks, shark diving and conservation, it would seem this blog has discovered a wider audience.

Thanks to all our readers, shark divers, and associated industry cranks (you know who you are) we could not have done it without you:

Congratulations Shark Diver Blog,

Your readers have submitted and voted for your blog at The Daily Reviewer. We compiled an exclusive list of the Top 100 scuba Blogs, and we are glad to let you know that your blog was included!


Cheers,

Angelina Mizaki
Selection Committee President
The Daily Reviewer