Shark Diver and CNN Preview

Check out tonight's CNN Presents with Kaj Larsen and the crew of Shark Diver who were tapped to provide the background for this terrific pro-shark, pro-industry media expose.

Luke Tipple, the Director of the Shark-Free Marinas guides Kaj through the world of sharks, shark conservation, and shark fishing tournaments explaining the Shark-Free Marinas concept and its success along the way:

It's a Wrap - Bahamas and Beyond 2011

We're done with filming, productions, lights, action, and sharks this month.

For now it's time to sit back and enjoy a few frosty beers, feel the sand between our toes and get back to the office to plan the next round of challenging shark projects.

Blogging on this space will commence soon. A quick look around the shark-o-sphere reveals that we have missed much, who knew the Farallones would be such a hot topic?

Here's looking forward to getting back to strong Internet and daily news. Not looking forward to wearing shoes or clothes without salt and sand in them, part of this lifestyle is the beachy-ness of it all.

Is that even a word?

Bah - pass the Kalik boys, here's to a successful few weeks in the company of some fine people!

White Sharks and Snickers - Good Combo

From time to time commercial interests enlist sharks to sell their products. This week Snickers launched it's new brand using the white shark.

Great stuff, very funny, and terrific graphic rendering of a white shark, with details on individual animals right down to scar and spot patterns. This is not your average Nicorette commercial.

Did we see the spot patterns of Isla Guadalupe's Bruce on the first shark?

Hat Tip: Dorsal Fin Blog

Top 50 Undersea Blogs - Underwater Thrills

Look around the Internet and you'll discover there are very few blogs out there that deliver consistent shark diving industry content, and even fewer that dare to approach the really tough subjects within our industry.

Ours does.

Underwater Thrills is now part of a small cadre of water blogs - The Top 50 - that deliver shark content, industry analysis, and media on a daily basis.

And that list is growing. Unfortunately missing from this list is Da Shark in Fiji and The Dorsal Fin an oversight that needs to be remedied and will be this week.

For the record here's the Official Top 50 and here's to year number three, 3000 posts and counting.

Anti Shark Diving - A Chorus of Noise Bytes

"If you're going to keep rewarding animals in the Pavlovian sense, they're going to associate you with food - which you never taunt, bait or feed a wild animal. It's one of the basic tenets of ecotourism and yet cage-diving flouts this all the time."

A recent quote featured in S.A by a member of the small but vocal anti-shark diving community.

It we had a nickle for every time we read this exact quote, regurgitated by hysteria mongers, we might have retired by now.

Why is it that the anti-shark diving folks fail repeatedly to drum up industry facts when the facts about baiting and sharks are readily available from a number of fresh studies?

Anti-shark diving folks like a good controversy but do not care about facts. To them each surfer attacked, each swimmer nibbled, and each diver chased back into his boat is proof positive that our industry is the root cause.

No mention of the myriad of individual reasons that sharks behave like sharks, and that sharks are fish. Not terrestrial mammals. Which is another mistake the anti-shark diving folks always make. Equating terrestrial tourism with aquatic tourism with this, our favorite of all sub quotes:

"you never taunt, bait or feed a wild animal. It's one of the basic tenets of ecotourism."

Our global $400 million dollar industry is not perfect by any means and it still has some evolving to do, but there are industry leaders who are seeking solutions and moving our industry in directions never before imagined, until recently. New research data on chumming from around the world is showing that sharks are far more evolved then the CW of "pavlovian responses" and we are not training sharks to attack people.

Sadly those that hate our industry will continue to do so, seeking ways to prohibit what we do with sharks, without any attention to the many first rate conservation, research, long term monitoring, and site preservation efforts that shark tourism brings to the world.

We could go on, but our industry record stands, the data is all there, all you have to do is get away from the small minded media bytes, and look.

SharkDiver The Series - Trailer

SharkDiver - Directors Notes

SharkDiver is the journey of a scientist training his mind and body to adapt and be ready for a life threatening dive with Great White Sharks. We’re dealing with real people and real events, to ensure a smooth, engaging flow ‘SharkDiver’ will follow a structured treatment as Luke trains and learns each lesson. Intentionally lacking a formalistic script I allow the characters full freedom to use their own words. They’re experts who know the subject matter better than we can script.

To engage the audience I’m adapting a proven technique from similar documentary dramas, the same technique which made ‘OWNED’ an award winning film. I use three shoulder-mounted cameras, blocking through each scene multiple times with different camera angles to capture moments missed through traditional ‘camera on sticks’ style. Unaware of the cameras position the characters are free to feel their character. While the hand/shoulder held ‘shaky camera’ may seem trivial, a simple look at the first 5 minutes of Saving Private Ryan stands as testament to the emotion that may be conveyed through camera style.

In ‘SharkDiver’ I create a stark contrast between the presumably safe environment above the water and the traditionally dangerous water scenes. Paradoxically the surface style will evoke an almost claustrophobic state of mind, causing an edginess in the audience until we dive underwater where we switch to longer cuts and smoother pans, soothing the audience while in reality Luke’s risking life and limb to follow his dream. Subliminally the audience will experience an increasing comfort level underwater while in the presence of sharks, a message that will promote our goal of conservation and education of the aquatic realm and it’s Apex Predators.