2011 Tiger Beach, Bahamas - Tagged Tiger

The 2011 commercial Tiger shark diving season was one of the best on record for us here at Shark Diver thanks in many ways to the amazing divers we entertained this season.

Here's one image that brings it all home:

Michael Coughlin at Tiger Beach, Bahamas with SharkDiver.com - Tagged Tiger

Shark Cage Diving - Guadalupe Island Trip Report 2011

Photo Jack Mears 2011 Guadalupe Island

When Jack Mears called us in early 2011 his energy, excitement, and love of sharks came through the phone lines from the U.K as clear as the line itself.

This was a guy who just had to go shark diving with the Whites of Guadalupe.

Jack is now an Official Shark Diver and sent us this trip report from August. We'll have Jack come back and join us anytime because hard core sharks fans like him are why we exist:

Jack Mears Trip Report 25-29 August 2011.

I booked my trip with Shark Diver after having previously been on 2 unsuccessful White shark diving trips in Australia (we did have an angry young Mako which helped but still..). 

I have to admit this made me slightly skeptical of the guarantee offered to see sharks on every trip but after a lot of web research and speaking to Patric the CEO at Shark Diver it definitely looked like the best opportunity/trip.

I boarded the boat late in the evening before the date of the trip, met everybody, got paired up with a bunk mate and then after a quick beer went to bed ready to clear customs in Mexico the following morning (which was a complete breeze). We then sailed out to Guadalupe – the boat does move around quite a lot it is an ocean after all but after knocking back a few sea sickness tablets I didn’t have any problems the whole way there (or back).

The first day started with us all being matched into groups for the cage rotations, 4 divers at a time in groups of 8 for the 2 cages. I can’t remember the exact time frame but I’m pretty sure a shark turned up within about ten minutes of being in the water. They then (as promised) turned up during nearly every dive nearly for the rest of the trip. I believe there was only one dive where a shark didn’t turn up but out of about 12/13 dives it seemed quite reasonable to let them have one off.

All in all we had about 10 known sharks I think but the largest, Jacques was around for a good few hours and circled the cages slowly and came very close again and again enabling everybody to get some really good photos and videos. Every time I thought I wouldn’t get a better opportunity to get another one, there he was again right next to us. Bearing in mind that was only one shark on one day of the whole trip, we still had plenty of other sharks to look at and (try to) photograph over the 2 and a half days diving.

After the last dive of the day it was then time to grab a beer or two and sit in the sun waiting for dinnertime as the sun went down. Every meal from start to finish was phenomenal, Mark and Alyssa in the galley did not disappoint on any meal over the whole trip it really was good. Combine the food with the people, the weather, the beer and obviously, the sharks and it was a very good trip.

I haven’t even mentioned the rest of the crew - Martin the divemaster was always helpful and friendly as were the rest of the crew who helped with everything from the chumming to our weights and getting us in and out of the cages whilst also running the boat at the same time. The Captains, Spencer and Kyle, helped out with the work and were more than happy to talk to us at any point as well as the deckhands, Nick and Kyle who were always doing something around the boat. There’s a crew member awake all night as well which helps if you can’t sleep or you have a particularly loud ‘snorer’ in your cabin.

Overall the trip exceeded my expectations, the crew were very good and all of the other divers on the boat helped to make it better than I thought it was going to be. The sea sickness was the only concern I had but I took enough pills and was fine the whole time.

I would highly recommend it to anyone and if I wasn’t already planning their Bahamas trip next year I would definitely be planning on going again.

Cheers,

Jack.

Tourism operators educating people about Great White sharks

One of the primary functions of commercial shark diving operators worldwide is to inform and educate the public to the positive side of sharks.

Not everyone does this but when they do good media always follows:

ABC News S.A

HENNIE OTTO: We've got some scientific evidence that chumming doesn't really affect the behaviour of the shark being- making them more accustomed to boats and people, etc - or making them more prone to attack human beings.

ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Hennie Otto from the company Marine Dynamics, which runs Sharkwatch South Africa.

HENNIE OTTO: If the bait line's been pulled away as the animal moves in and that's negative-negative conditioning, if you want to call it that. Um, there's proof that the sharks have been habituated about what we're doing. As soon as you see that they don't get the bait, they usually just swim off. And you rely on constantly new animals coming through on a regular basis for the divers to see them in the cage.

ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: How important is this as far as the tourism's concerned, to actually educate the people about the shark.

Complete Story.

Shark Diver New Zealand Announces New Great White Shark Location – “Open For Conservation”

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SharkDiverNZ.com -- Press Release Distribution 2/15/2010
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Shark Diver New Zealand is currently on hold while parent company Shark Diver makes necessary changes to websites and working partnerships in the region. Please stand by.

The revelation that one of the operations on site has a second commercial vessel that engages in commercial shark finning was a non starter for us. We'll keep you updated as new, conservation minded operations start here.

Deep Blues - R.I. Shark Documentary

To all who had forgotten about the venerable Snappa Charters and Captain Charlie, here is a reminder that he's still "Running with the Blues" on the east coast and still thrilling divers almost 12 years later with a recent documentary about his operation. Snappa Charters remains one of the USA's oldest shark diving operations.

Kudos to Scott Tucker for the documentary, as always the Dorsal Fin Blog looked into the media side with a finer comb and brought up some salient points:

Pacific Islands Regional Plan of Action (PI-RPOA)

The announcement of the Pacific Islands Regional Plan of Action on Sharks sounds like a good idea, but as they say "the devil is in the details."

While this plan of action "tips a hat" towards shark fining as a regional issue along management of shark stocks, it fails to look at sustainable shark tourism options that generate per shark, thousands of dollars to local and regional economies.

Shark tourism is a viable bridge solution to successful shark conservation and management.

Where local inhabitants adopt "safe and sane" shark tourism, sharks, reefs and surrounding areas flourish:

The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) today launched the Pacific Islands Regional Plan of Action (PI-RPOA) on Sharks.

At least 80 species of sharks and rays occur within the Pacific Islands region. Around half of these species are considered to be highly migratory, therefore fishing impacts upon them must be internationally managed. Due to their low productivity and long life span, these species are particularly vulnerable to overexploitation. Sharks and rays are also of cultural significance to many Pacific Island communities.

Jost Images - White Shark Calendar

When it comes to monthly calendars there are those who lean towards the ordinary - puppies, horses, small woodland creatures.

Then there's underwater photographer Klaus Jost who brings you the world of the white shark in his new 2010 underwater calendar featuring these simply amazing critters.

Call us biased (and we are), but we're never tired of seeing white sharks shot brilliantly. One look at this calendar and you can begin to see why.

Shark Attack – Does Cage Diving Increase the Risks?

Discovered at the Scuba Diving For Life Blog this week:

There is a massive debate raging about whether cage diving is causing shark attacks to increase in frequency.

The cage diving detractors say that we are conditioning sharks to associate humans with food because many of the cage diving operators use food thrown overboard into the water to attract the sharks closer to the boats. This practice is known as chumming. They also make use of bait on a hook to bring the sharks closer to the cage once the divers have climbed inside.

The reasoning is that when the sharks find humans in the water at other times they will be expecting food too and this causes attacks on swimmers and surfers in the area to increase.

South Africa is at the forefront of these allegations because the cage diving industry is based on the Western Cape shoreline there and the shark attack figures show an upward trend from the time that the industry was established and become more active. There have been nine attacks in all between the years 2000 and 2005 and three of them have been fatal.

Not a great number by any stretch of the imagination but more than there were before the time of shark cage diving which plunges about 100 000 people into the ocean per year to come face to face with these huge predators.

So if you want to go cage diving anywhere in the world, should you be worried from an ethical point of view that you might be the cause of a shark attack on a swimmer somewhere in future?What The Research Says

No less than the World Wildlife Federation has done research on this issue and they report that there is no scientific link between cage diving and shark attacks.

And the Shark Trust based in South Africa concludes the same thing from their research. Not enough evidence especially seeing as though most of the attacks take place away from cage diving locations.

The city of Cape Town has also done its research since 1998 and they also conclude that those who are talking about a causal link are clutching at straws.

So from the scientific community’s point of view there is no link between shark attacks and cage diving. So Why Are The Number Of Attacks Increasing?

There is no definitive answer to that but these are some of the theories put forward by the International Shark Attacks File (ISAF) foundation: There are simply more people swimming, surfing, body boarding and windsurfing in the ocean which means that the chances for an encounter with a shark are statistically increasing.

In addition, due to recent technological advances in the manufacture of wetsuits people are able to stay in the water for longer periods.

Something else that has improved is the efficiency with which shark attacks are reported and recorded worldwide in the last decade which could also account for a seeming up tick in attacks but which in reality was an under reporting in the past.

So for the moment (there might be some scientific evidence that proves to the contrary in future) there is no link between cage diving and shark attacks so if you want to go and experience these amazing predators at close quarters you can do it with a clear conscience.

If your nerves can stand it that is. . .