Guadalupe Island - Research Critter Cam

The multi-year CICIMAR research effort at Isla Guadalupe studying movement patterns of regional white shark populations employed some interesting technology in 2009:

The changing impact of whale shark tourist expenditure

An updated paper on the shifting financial impact of whale shark tourism in Australia's Ningaloo region is a must read for those within the shark diving industry.

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the expenditure of whale shark tour participants at Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia; the location of the world's first whale shark tourism industry, established in 1989. We demonstrate that in 2006, participants' expenditure in the region was $894 per trip, total expenditure was $6.0 million (all figures are in Australian dollars), and between $2.4 and $4.6 million would have been lost to the region if whale shark tourism did not exist. Our measure of participants' expenditure is substantially lower than the calculation of $2370 per participant from a previous study of whale shark tourists using data collected in 1995. We argue that this is consistent with a change in the types of wildlife tourists that participate in an activity as the industry reaches the point of consolidation. Our results also suggest that using old data to forecast wildlife tourists' expenditure needs to take into account the industry's stage of development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Paper Here.

Google Oceans - RTSea Productions

RTSea Productions spent 2009 deep inside Google producing a series of pro shark tourism and pro conservation media pieces. Richard Theiss is well known in the industry as a competent story teller and filmmaker who seeks to portray sharks in a natural setting, without the added media hype often associated with these magnificent animals.

He was the driving force behind film Island of the Great White Sharks a film that remains the only serious investigation into shark tourism and ongoing research at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico. He was also the primary shooter on an award winning television series featuring Isla Guadalupe in Mexico in 2009.

His latest video shows that there's much more to Isla Guadalupe's shark ecotourism than just an exciting adventure. Sharks are critical to maintaining a balanced marine ecosystem, and responsible ecotourism enlightens people to the threats sharks are facing today and the need to protect them.

To learn more, visit Google Earth's new ocean layer or visit RTSea Productions.

Guadalupe Island Television Documentary Wins Journalism Award

In the summer of 2009 Shark Diver was asked to enable a three part television documentary with conservation NGO WildCoast.

The end result was seen by millions of viewers across Mexico. Today two reporters from Mexico's Televisa, who covered Wildcoast in this multi part series shot at Isla Guadalupe, have been awarded for journalistic excellence in environmental and science reporrting.

The award was in part for positively featuring the resident white sharks, shark tourism, and Mexican lead shark research at this Bio Sphere reserve.

The three part series was shown first in Mexico City to several million viewers and across Mexico in the fall of 2009. The industry got some great quotes from Captain and owner Greg Grivetto of Horizon Charters with on site shark footage shot by Richard Theiss from RTSea Productions.

Kudos to the entire team from Wildcoast who worked so hard to bring positive conservation messaging to Mexico and to all the people featured in this informative series.

Amazing Gift Ideas - Your Very Own “Shark Week”

Dec 16, 2009 – This upcoming holiday season put some excitement under the tree.

Americans will be gifting novelty ties and slippers again this year in unprecedented numbers, more often than not these traditional gift items end up in the closet.

Instead, consider giving a gift that will be remembered forever, your own “Shark Week” dive adventure. Since 2002 Shark Diver has been thrilling shark fans from all over the planet with “Safe and Sane” shark encounters with the world’s top shark species.

Divers and non divers seeking out the grand daddy of shark diving, the Great White, can join the Shark Diver crew in San Diego, California from August through October aboard some of the top shark diving vessels in the industry.

“It’s all about providing a once in a lifetime personal experience for our clients”, says Martin Graf, on board dive operations manager. “About 20% of our divers are booked as the ultimate gift by spouses and family members, these family members end up having the time of their lives.”

Gifting adventure travel has increased dramatically since 2003. According to The Adventure Travel Report “one-half of U.S. adults, or 98 million people, have taken an adventure trip in the past five years. This includes 31 million adults who engaged in hard adventure activities like whitewater rafting, scuba diving and mountain biking.”

For more information:

Shark Diver: 415.235.9410
staff@sharkdiver.com
www.sharkdiver.com

Image Credit: Juanmi Almay

Shark Conservation Coverage - Al Jazeera

Surprising and in depth front line coverage of the shark situation in Palau, recently declared a shark sanctuary. As we have said many times in the past shark tourism is a viable bridge solution to sustianable fisheries. When local and regional fishermen have the financial incentive to save sharks they are more than likely to push back against outside fisheries.

Shark Diver Santa - We Like It!

Whoever the marketing person is at Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire we suggest someone give them a huge raise.

Double goes for the very cool shark diving website they built.

Yes, it is THAT time of year again when enterprising boys and girls from around the planet capitalize on the "Fat Man in the Red Suit" (not Paul Watson) to sell everything from SUV's to days at the local aquarium.

The shark diving industry approves of this recent effort.

You just have to look at the face of the little girl in the tube to see the next generation of shark divers in action. Kudos!

Shredder - Shark Update 2009

Earlier this year we had reported that one of the most well known and charismatic sharks of Isla Guadalupe, "Shredder" had gone MIA.

Typically Shredder is one of the first big males to show up to the island by early August of each season. His arrival is a much sought celebrated event by our crews.

This year Shredder was no where in sight for the first three weeks of August speculating that he had met with "foul play" during his long migration from Hawaii.

Shredder did eventually appear in late September to "wild cheers" from our crews at the back deck and continued to stay with the shark diving fleet for the rest of the 2009 shark season.

He was even bigger this year and looked as healthy as any of the big males on site. Late to the party but exciting as always.

We said good by to Shredder in mid November of 2009 on our last expedition to the island. After close to a decade with these animal you get attached to them and they remain for us, more than just white sharks.

We look forward to 2010 with Shredder at Isla Guadalupe.

Guadalupe Island -Trip Report 2009

Editors Note: There are two kinds of people in this world, the dreamers and the rest. Kudos to Jen for being part of "the adventure clan."

Here's her story:

When I was 5, my aunt took me to see my first drive-in movie…Jaws. Now I know what you are thinking…that is way too scary of a movie to be taking a kid so young to, but that movie started it all for me. I have LOVED sharks ever since!!!

I wanted a shark cage just like Hooper’s and even a crappy boat like the Orca would do for my travels…but alas, I never got that shark cage that was on my Christmas list. So in creating my Bucket List, this is the first item - See a great white alive (preferably in the wild).

Flash forward to 2003…this is when I discover Patric and his wonderful company that takes people out to meet the magnificent white shark face to face in this magical place called Isla Guadalupe. I emailed Patric and asked him a few questions about the trip and he called me back and told me everything I needed to know and then some, in his made-for-radio voice. So I decided this was it, when I had the money and was ready to go, I was going with this guy!

Well in life things happen and priorities change and shark diving was put on the way back burner but was still going to happen someday.

So it is Monday, August 11, 2008 and I sit down at work to read my emails and one in particular catches my eye:

Hi Jennifer,

Congratulations you were drawn as our Grand Prize Winner for the Luke Tipple promotion. You have won the Dive with Great White Sharks at Guadalupe Island. I will send you out a pack in the next two weeks with all the information to book your trip, and connect you with SharkDiver.com so you can answer all your questions. (check out the SharkDiver.com website to get the general idea.) You do not need to be Scuba Certified for this trip.

I read the email over and over again in my head and then asked a co-worker to come read it and tell me what she thinks and she says, “it looks like you just won yourself a shark diving trip!” So I get on the phone to call my best friend, Nicole and I read the email to her and start crying, my lifelong dream is finally going to come true and it would be in September 2009!

I can’t say enough about Patric and the Horizon crew. Everyone was so nice and helpful from Aaron helping us with our weight belts to Mike being right there with a cold drink of water when we got out of the cages to Patric himself being kind enough to “Count” the sharks for us and Mark making sure that I never saw one piece of cilantro or raw onion on my plate! The whole crew was fantastic, the boat was clean and in order and the food was great. Martin, our dive master was very informative and extremely patient which came in handy when he was teaching me to clear my mask and regulator. I love the ocean and spend my summers snorkeling the southern California coast and this was my first time diving. It only took about 15 minutes to get the hang of breathing with the regulator and be comfortable in the cage and once the sharks arrived I forgot all about that regulator.

In the movies they always show sharks, whites in particular, with black, lifeless eyes, which does not help in them being feared but I can tell you that their eyes are far from lifeless. When a 15 foot great white swims 1 foot in front of your face you can see that it has a beautiful blue iris and as this shark swims past you can actually see it focusing on each diver.

They are very curious and cautious animals and whey they cruise past the cages you can’t help but look at them more as graceful than menacing. I was a shark lover long before this trip but seeing them in the wild has made me want to do more to help protect them and now I need to win the lottery so I can go on EVERY Sharkdiver.com trip EVERY season!

Yours in sharks,
Jen McCormick

Guy Harvey's Island Grill - Helping Out

Scotty Gray from Florida's Blue Iguana Charters had a problem only we could solve this month.

His buddy at Guy Harvey's Island Grill in Key West needed "something unusual" for this years Island Grill Halloween Fantasy Fest.

That "something unusual" was a Mark V shark cage, the kind that Shark Diver and Shark Divers keeps in storage all over Florida for film and television crews and for our use in the Bahamas and Cuba.

When we asked Scotty what they were planning for the cage he got a little vague, "well, you know, part of the big party this weekend I guess."

The big party featured Guy Harvey himself and an series of well known dive folks, locals, and we're told a few conservation folks as well. After all this is Guy Harvey's place.

The images from last nights party came back, and this one is the only one fit for print, taken very early in the evening. When folks in Key West celebrate Halloween, they celebrate Halloween.

Nothing gets held back and apparently our Mark V shark cage, designed for hard encounters with white sharks, tigers, and giant squids...was a hit with the ladies.

Glad we could help out. After all if you have shark cages, use them.

Great White Sharks - Julie Hazards Adventure

When the office phone rang this summer within minutes into the conversation we knew we had a shark fan on the other end of the line.

Julie Hazard turned out to be one of those shark people you come to love, and cannot wait to meet.

This is her story, encounters with the Great whites of Isla Guadalupe -2009

Julies Story

I have always loved sharks. I remember watching Jacques Cousteau and then 'Shark Week' as a child...I though shark diving was so cool and as I grew older it became an obsession.

When I was a senior in high school, I wanted to study Marine Biology and was warned by someone that it was hard to get a job...because you basically have to wait for someone to die to get a good field position. It turns out studying sharks wasn't a job you ever gave up once you had it.

So instead I became a member of a few shark conservation groups and I even have a shark tattoo on my ankle...did I mention that I love sharks?

A few years ago I decide to go dive with Great whites. I didn't know anything about the dives and wanted to get a great price for the dive so, I did some homework. Last year I found two companies that had pretty good shark diving deals and called to talk with them in person.

Unfortunately I was also in the process of changing jobs and decided to wait one more year. Let me tell you, that was one very looong year. I was laid off in November but I had saved the money for the trip and I was going to go.

I started talking with Patric the CEO of Shark Diver in Feb and I was so excited when I got the confirmation that I was going. Since I had no job at the time, it gave me something to look forward to. Imagine booking a trip with no job? Did I mention I really love sharks?

I had booked this great trip and was so excited I told everyone I knew what I was doing, twice! They all thought I was crazy!

Turns out the Shark Crew were very sweet to me as a single girl far from home, 210 miles in the middle of no where, surrounded by white sharks. They kept you very well fed, the beds were comfy, and of course the SHARKS were great. Something I could never see except in real life a 15 foot white shark face to face. The second day there was 8 sharks at the back of the vessel - eight!

I was so amazed as they swam by and looked at you. Not as "food" but more curious than anything, I was not afraid, they were simply beautiful. We dove with these amazing animals for three days and I did not want to leave.

I have decided that I want to go again, and again. I am looking into getting a group together to come see them next year. I learned a lot this year with the whites, Discovery Channel just does not do it justice.

It was a great adventure and a chance of a lifetime. I will never forget it!

Guadalupe Island - "Mau" takes a a hit

One of Isla Guadalupes seasonal male sharks "Mau" is well know to the operators here.

As a younger male he's at risk of aggression by larger males on site and this week learned a valuable life lesson.

As shark diver Stephanie Seely shared with us in an email today, life for a Great White shark at the island can be harsh sometimes:

Ouch! Poor Mau!

I treated my husband and myself to a fun week of shark diving as a 40th birthday gift for him. We had an amazing time! The crew was fantastic…we could not have had better service!

The shark viewing was just as awesome. We saw about 10 different sharks and at one point, we had up to 5 sharks in the water at the same time! One of the sharks was badly injured and Martin (Horizon Dive Operations) thought it was Mau. From my perspective underwater, it looked like he had been bitten. From Martin’s perspective, above the water, it looked like a boat had gotten him…turns out it might be both. What a bad week for poor Mau!

Here are some photos of him and his injuries.

Although the wounds seemed extensive and relatively fresh, Mau appeared to be strong and I am sure he will survive his ordeal.

Thanks for an amazing trip!

Steph and Chris Seely

Cornwall Cage Diving Operators Association

A new association is being set up to monitor operators who run shark cage diving in Cornwall. Since 2005 locals and visitors have been able to go cage diving with blue sharks. It's hoped it'll ensure high standards in this new type eco-tourism.

Blue shark cage diving first started in Cornwall in 2005. It was set up by Richard Peirce, who is an acknowledged expert on sharks.

In 2006 he set up Shark Cornwall to promote shark eco-tourism in Cornwall and the rest of the UK and to increase public awareness of sharks in British waters.

Richard says: "We're very keen that people who are going to do this should learn how to do it from somewhere. There is only two ways to get involved in something new. One is trial and error and the other is by having someone tell you how to do it. Trial and error is a very dangerous thing to do in a game like this."

Complete Story