Sharks, is it getting creative around here or what?

Edd Brooks over at the Cape Eleuthera Institute Shark Program has some very creative folks working at his lab, like for instance Brendan Talwar and Ian Rossiter who produced this very amusing look at sharks, shark conservation, and more in, The Story of Sharks:



Yeah we're also huge fans as well.

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.

Tiger Beach Expeditions 2012 Three Spaces Going...Fast

Christy Fisher at Tiger Beach w lemon friends

The 2012 Tiger season in the Bahamas has been a busy one this year and we are looking at the last three spaces of the entire fall season on:

September 2-8
September 9-15

The fall season is when we get the really big gals on site and yes, you will see sharks, that's an absolute guarantee.

After a decade Tiger Beach has proved the world over to be one of the top shark diving sites.

These last three spaces will be gone soon, come and join us with the fine crew of the M/V Kate, the water is fine.

Let's go shark diving!

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.

Shark Week Returning to OMG?

If you have been a fan of Shark Week for the past 25 years you're on par with the kind of fanaticism that can only be found with the Star Wars franchise - Han Shot First Dammit!

So it was with great pleasure we watched the teaser for Shark Apocalypse and segment 1.08, a simply stunning play in slow motion of our favorite shark and light.

Good stuff if you can get it, prompting the question, has Shark Week returned to their roots and the halcyon days of OMG shark film making?

Hat Tip: Dorsal Fin Blog.

On Sunday we will know, fingers crossed:

 

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.

Super Shark Attacks...Plus Walking Tanks!

A Shark Movie that's got:

1. A giant, mobile, angry white shark - check
2. A walking tank - check
3. The Dy-No-Mite Guy from the 80's sitcom - check

What's not to love here?

 

Filming Sharks? Yeah It's Fun!

One look at this image has industry folks asking, "so what's with the suit of armor?"

This was part of our 2009 production with the Mythbusters at Tiger Beach, Bahamas for Shark Week.

The crew from Shark Diver was tapped to take Jamie and Adam, two of the nicest guys in television right now, down to The Beach to interact with sharks.

Part of that multi day production involved suiting up Adam for the shows intro segments. We thought it would be one of those unique production images that really captured the imagination - and it did.

The Mythbusters 2009 Shark Week appearance set new records for the Shark Week franchise and we were happy to be a big part of that shoot.

Since then we have set the standard for innovation underwater with sharks on a commercial level shooting groundbreaking productions that employed all manner of objects and sets underwater with sharks.

When it comes to sharks, why shoot in a sterile environment?

Of course safety is always our highest priority and we are happy to note that 12 years later we are proud of our 100% safety record with sharks and talent in the water.

2012 will see another series of productions around the world with sharks, so stay tuned if you happen to like sharks, we have some unique excitement coming your way.

Last Stand for Sharks January 30th , 2012

Film: Last Stand for Sharks

WHEN

Monday, January 30, 2012

6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

WHERE

Embarcadero Center Cinema, One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level, San Francisco, CA 94111

Landmark Theatres

San Francisco, California

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

About Sanctuary: The Last Stand for Sharks
This film portrays the underwater world of sharks and paints a global picture of the threats they are facing worldwide. Globally shark populations are declining, but there is growing momentum to protect sharks. Many locations are recognizing that sharks are worth more alive than dead, contributing both to the economy and the stability of crucial marine ecosystems like coral reefs. Some countries have even established shark sanctuaries throughout the entirety of their waters.

A shark sanctuary is a place where sharks can live and reproduce without the threat of fishing. Since many shark species are migratory, the establishment of small protected areas or breeding closures is not enough to protect sharks that may leave the boundary of safety. Shark sanctuaries present an opportunity to protect sharks over a larger scale before it is too late.

About the Pew Environment Group
The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nongovernmental organization that works globally to establish pragmatic, science-based policies that protect our oceans, preserve our wildlands, and promote clean energy. For information, visit http://www.pewenvironment.org/.

About the Coral Reef Alliance
The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) unites communities to save coral reefs. CORAL provides education, tools, and inspiration to help local communities become passionate environmental stewards of the reefs. Together, we develop well-managed marine protected areas and sustainable businesses to benefit coral reefs and people. For more information, visit http://www.coral.org/.

Registration is required for this event. Use the link below to register. Please RSVP by Friday, January 27, 2012.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The Pew Charitable Trusts makes every effort to comply with federal, state and local government ethics rules when hosting events. Please make sure that your participation is consistent with applicable ethics rules.

Visionary Shark Shooting - Trying Something New

Why do we love our Shark Divers?

This is why. Got an email from a diver who'll be out at the island with us in a few weeks with a "plan" to shoot white sharks in a way never tried before.

Yes this is the mock up, and yes, Michael has spent the last month planning, refining, and playing with this set up in his back yard.

Now all we gotta do is deliver two white sharks in perfect harmony, both equidistant from the port and starboard cages and from the looks of things Michael wants each animal to be about 20 feet long.

No problems we can do that, let's go shark diving!

Cool rig Michael.

Brian Skerry Does Makos in 3...2...1

From the Global Explorers Blog this week:

"I was contacted by an underwater videographer named Joe Romeiro from Rhode Island. I had seen Joe's shark films and they were beautiful. He had a true artist's eye and his films were respectful of animals and brought viewers into their world for an intimate view. Joe was doing a fair bit of shark diving locally and invited me to join him, but as usual, my schedule simply never permitted me to do so. But finally last week, the day after I made my last blog post ("Thinking About Sharks"), I went diving again for sharks in New England."

Oceanic Whitetip Sharks - Hawaii

If you have not yet discovered iDive Sharks consider this an "insiders tip." This week Mark Oronzio shared his Oceanic Whitetip footage from Hawaii.

Increasingly rare due to fishing pressure and sought after for their overlarge fins these remarkable critters make better close encounter video.

Kudos:

Shark Conservation Film - Requiem

Kudos!

We have been waiting for a shark film to come along that balances the horrors of shark finning, loss of shark populations, and the public's ongoing negative perception of sharks...without a hidden eco agenda or media hype.

The wait is over, welcome to Requiem a shark conservation film launched in 2007.

"Recent research using computer modeling has shown that the removal of sharks from their ecosystems could have devastating and unpredictable consequences for the abundance of commercially important fish stocks. Sharks, as apex predators, regulate the abundance of other fish and are therefore keystone species in the health of our ocean ecosystems. The practice of shark finning is capable of removing entire stocks of sharks in a very short space of time"

Sharks

Shark Diver

Island of The Great White Shark Documentary - U.K

Island of the Great White Shark is a pro-shark, pro-industry, documentary by RTSea Productions. It has been shown to rave reviews across the United States and has recently began it's european tours.

This week IGWS was featured in UK's Lifestyle Magazine. The article is touches many of the standard conservation themes cementing the role of eco tourism at Isla Guadalupe, in tandem with ongoing and supported shark research, as a template for worldwide shark diving operations.

Kudos to Richard for this film and to the many operators at Isla Guadalupe who had a hand in it's creation. Without the ongoing support of forward thinking shark operations these kinds of films cannot be made.

Sadly, major media sources remain uninterested in straight talk films about sharks that celebrate, as commercial shark diving operators do, the beauty - not the "beast" of the shark.

Read the article online here pages 8-9.

Goblin girl... on the plight of sharks on film.

I really liked the movie "Sharkwater". When I saw it, it felt like "Sharkwater" with it's action packed style, would appeal to a younger audience. Even I - who have always thought that Greenpeace's methods are a bit extreme - wanted to join Sea Shepherd's Captain Watson on his quest after seeing the film! Also a contributing factor why Greenpeace wasn't my cup of tea: when I was younger they mainly focused on cute animals, like seals and whales - not sharks.

Now that I've seen Joe Romerio's film clip, I'm more convinced that his style will talk more to politicians, than maybe "Sharkwater" did. "333-death of a deity" has a more suggestive - still very clear - way of hammering in it's message. And the footage is truly excellent, the music works well with the message delivered. VERY nicely done! I hope that it gets widely spread.

Doc Gruber-On Commercial Shark Diving

Felix over at the excellent blog Oceanic Dreams posted a return email from Bimini shark researcher Doc Gruber this week.

The email was in response to a TV producer who wanted an expert opinion on the subject of diving with, and feeding, 'dangerous' sharks; specifically, how these activities affect or alter shark behavior, and also whether Dr. Gruber would consider cage-free shark diving a "hazardous" activity. Posted emails like these serve to enlighten our community and help guide future conversations about sharks and television and the industry as a whole. Kudos.

Typically questions like these are stacked for eco-edutainment programming that feature bad things with sharks. Doc Grubers response serves as a template for well reasoned and pro shark thought on the matter. It's hard to fault the opinions of a guy whose entire life has been spent in the company of sharks:

"I feel that shark dives produce several very beneficial outcomes for humans and sharks. First exposing divers to sharks, safely and professionally - and in a beautiful environment will inevitably turn fear into fascination. Quickly these people become ambassadors for shark conservation. Further it produces jobs and income for areas and folks that need the work - especially in an economy such as the Bahamian one.Tourism in the Bahamas is the country's life blood, and sharks are a draw".

Complete Post

Shark

Shark Programming

David McGuire-Shark Talk, New Film

Local filmmaker David McGuire of the recent Shark Stewards film has completed new short format shark film with the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco.

The subject is our own Sevengill sharks. As it turns out San Francisco Bay is teeming with these huge and reclusive critters.

David is one of a few filmmakers who think "sharks first" when it comes to making films about these magnificent animals. He has distinguished himself in the industry as s serious documentary filmmaker and serious shark advocate. Join him this month for the opening of his new film City of the Shark:

Dear Ocean friends,

I would like to invite you to my new film City of the Shark-
prescreening at a fundraising party for shark research - this coming
Thursday, the 29th at the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco.

This will be a first time screening of this 15 minute documentary on local sharks, including tagging and tracking the sevengill sharks of the San Francisco Bay with researchers from UC Davis and the Aquarium of the Bay. The event will include live sharks, live music by rocker Mike Gibbons who did the soundtrack for the film, food, drink and sharky conversation. Please come support our local sharks and the Aquarium of the Bay Foundation.

We will also world premiere at the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival
Feb 21 at 1 PM.

Ill be hosting a series of shark films at the festival, and afterwards I will be moderating a panel discussion sponsored by Greenplanet Films titled Sharks: Myths and Misconceptions. Please come if you can and pass this on to anyone interested in sharks and the ocean.

www.aquariumofthebay.com
www.aquariumofthebayfoundation.org
www.oceanfilmfest.org

For a healthy ocean,

David

"City of the Shark" Preview Screening
Thursday, January 29, 2009
6:00pm - 8:30pm

When Animals Attack-Discovery Channel

Recently Discovery Channel Networks ran afoul of the Bear People in Alaska.

Note: The Bear People are serious contenders in Alaska, you do not want to kick that beehive.

Seems that taking human dummies and enticing Grizzlies to attack them is both disrespectful to bears and a disservice to the general public who's impression of bears is diminished after watching the show. As the story unfolds the production company responsible for the shoot "staged the event" with caged bears...they failed to let the public know this was the case much to the networks chagrin.

Story here Kudo's to MSNBC for breaking this story.

Which leads us to an ongoing problem with Discovery Channel and shark programming. Last year a similar stunt was done with Tiger sharks at Tiger Beach, Bahamas. A dummy was dressed up in full dive gear and the sharks were enticed to attack the dummy. Where does this end?

It begins and ends with the operations that do business with the production companies, who in turn do business with Discovery networks. As operators who take productions companies to find and shoot sharks we have an obligation to inform and help direct the production company into quality pro shark programming. That's a tall order, and sometimes it cannot be done, but the far end of that spectrum is a dummy being attacked by a Tiger shark.

Without revealing who was responsible for that particular shoot, the blow back from it had serious and continuing repercussions for others who use this site:

1. The Bahamian Tourism Ministry were very upset with this shoot. The Bahamas relies on water based tourism and the depiction of Tigers attacking divers is not what they want to see in their waters. Furthermore, when it was discovered that this shoot was done by a US based company the anger grew. The Bahamas are currently wrestling with what they perceive are US based commercial dive interests who give very little back to the Bahamian economy and are doing "bad things" in Bahamian waters. After watching that show you can see why.

2. The Bahamas Film Commission also voiced serious concern for this site and continued filming here.

Often the net result or blow back of "When Animals Attack" programming is seen months or perhaps years after the shoot. Operators need to take the lead here. The reason why programming like this exists is built on the backs of the last 10 production companies who delivered it to Discovery. We can not only break the chain-but we can also show production companies new and better programming that cost less, delivers more, and keep the audience engaged.

It can be done. Great programming with sharks that delivers thrills takes time and dedication and thought. It's not rocket science.

Documentary tackles threats facing sharks

Birch Aquarium at Scripps hosts screening, "Island of the Great White Shark " with Filmmaker Richard Theiss

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009
6-8 p.m., $8 per ticket
RSVP: 858-534-4109
Video Trailer: Click here

The great white shark, one of the world's most amazing predators, is facing unprecedented threats to its survival. Join filmmaker Richard Theiss for a special screening and discussion of his award-winning documentary, "Island of the Great White Shark," from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

In his film, Theiss takes viewers 200 miles south of San Diego to Isla Guadalupe, one of nature's dwindling sanctuaries for the great white shark. In a race against time, marine researchers and eco-tourists have forged a unique alliance to study and protect these animals from potential slaughter. Through dramatic underwater close-ups and expert interviews, the 43-minute documentary captures the true nature of these magnificent predators and chronicles the efforts of conservationists and scientists working to understand and protect the sharks before it is too late.

Worldwide, more than 100 million sharks are killed each year, either as accidental bycatch or as a source of fins for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup. In contrast to their undeserved reputation as malevolent man-eaters, these animals serve a critical role in the health of ocean ecosystems.

Theiss, whose work has been utilized by National Geographic, PBS and Animal Planet, was inspired to create his documentary following a diving trip to Isla Guadalupe nearly five years ago. He recognized an important story in the successful relationship between scientists and eco-tourism operators as well as the need to present the majestic great white shark in a more accurate context.

"I wanted to enlighten audiences as to the importance of these powerful apex predators and the perilous fate that they, and all sharks in general, are now facing," Theiss said. "Like so many environmental issues today, we need to act now; to delay any further would be tragic."

"Island of the Great White Shark" DVDs will be available for purchase in the aquarium bookshop until 6:30 p.m. and can be signed by the filmmaker.

RSVP: 858-534-4109
Location: Birch Aquarium at Scripps, 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla