What's eating the brains of sharks and rays in California?

 
Between February and July, there have been a lot of incidents, where dying or dead sharks and rays have washed up on beaches in San Francisco bay. What is causing them to die?


According to an article in National Geographic, CDFW senior fish pathologist Mark Okihiro, Joseph Derisi, an expert on the genetics of infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco and Hanna Retallack, an MD-PhD graduate student have found the answer.

Their headline reads : "Mysterious Brain-Eating Shark Killer Identified, Though Questions Remain"

  
It looks like the culprit is "a well-known fish-killing parasite called Miamiensis avidus."

The article further states: This appears to be the first case, Retallack said, of Miamiensis avidus infecting wild sharks. It’s noteworthy, she added, because sharks are evolutionarily quite different from the bony fish that have previously been known to suffer infections. 

Read the entire article here

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

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 staff@sharkdiver.com.

Captain Bill - 20 Seconds of Fame

The clock is ticking...

Vic Hislop Shark Hunter - Frozen in Time

PT Barnum, the world's greatest showman once said, "there's a sucker born every minute."

In the frozen shark world Vic Hislop remains PT Barnums top student.

For most of shark community the announcement of Vics latest acquisition of a 1200kg, 5m hammerhead estimated to be close to 40 years old surprised few.

Rumors that he intends to display this animal in a frozen Disneyesque state for paying customers disgusted many including us. Vic remains a perfect example of 1970's shark mindsets where animals are to be killed, and ironically displayed and promoted as the oceans ultimate killers.

Has the world evolved in the understanding of sharks since the 1970's? Most definitely.

Has Vic Hislop evolved or is he, like his shark show, frozen in time?

Free-Gaffed Giant Mako Shark - Field and Stream Weighs In

The venerable Field and Stream Magazine weighed in on the issue of a recently free gaffed breeding aged Mako shark in part due to coverage from Peter Thomas at the L.A Times:

Okay. I'm about to get a little rowdy. This week, someone forwarded me a news article about a 748-pound mako shark caught in South Florida. My initial thought was "there's been a lot bigger caught this year," but I checked it out anyway. After watching the video below and reading the story, I have decided that these guys deserve the title of "Most Amateur Idiots on the Water." See for yourself. They didn't "catch" anything. They free-gaffed a hot mako.

What surprises me most is how fast the local news jumped to glorify these guys. The line that sums up the mentality of this crew is when "fisherman" Jamie Bunn says, "I vividly remember the quote 'we might as well gaff this thing, someone's dying today.'" Dude, you are an inspiration to anglers everywhere. Good work. I'm not the only one who thinks this whole dog-and-pony show is a disgrace. And guess what? This may have been illegal.

From the Los Angles Times:

Florida anglers are being sharply criticized after apparently free-gaffing a 748-pound mako shark while fishing this week off South Florida...

Making note that no rods or reels appear to have been used in the capture of the mako, at least one shark conservation website claimed the anglers were in violation of state and federal law and implied it would follow through with authorities...

I've mentioned in the past that I'm very into shark fishing. Standards in practice when doing so is to have a rigged pitch-bait ready to go in case a fish shows up right behind the boat. This mako was eating a dead swordfish and these guys had plenty of stout rods onboard. So why not cut a piece of the sword, rig a rod, pitch it over and put your back into it for a couple hours?

Then my hat would have been off to you. Not too mention, free-gaffing a fish like that is asking for death, lost appendages, or at least some boat damage. Genius. -- JC

Editors Note: It is notable that Field and Stream Magazine and a series of fishing news outlets have all condemned this catch, showing industry leadership, kudos.

The Reef - When White Sharks Attack?

Thanks to eagle eye blog reader John Willis who sent us the following link for a new film in production, "The Reef."

We'll let the producers notes explain this new shark film to you. Suffice to say unless there's a 30 minute moment where main characters discover an Asian Fin Raider fleet decimating regional sharks and save the day by protecting these magnificent animals, we're pretty sure this will be a Jaws-light affair.

Just in time for 2010.

The guiding principles of THE REEF

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Some of my thinking behind the movie.

The production of this film is guided by three principles:

Suspense and Psychological Horror

The main principal of good horror and suspense is that the audience’s imagination is a much more potent tool than special effects and “monster” shots. In other words the best way to build fear and dread is by focussing on small events and leaving “space” for the audience’s imagination to run wild. Like Jaws, Alien and all good horror-thrillers, The Reef will generate suspense and tension by holding back the presence of the “monster” and focussing on the fears of the main characters.

Realism

Rather than being heavily theatrical, The Reef will be written as realistic as possible, sticking to its simple and raw premise without being burdened with artificial themes. I want the audience to feel this true event. I want them to think, imagine if this happened to me, what would I do?

Characters

We want to make sure that the four main characters in this tale are all real characters with natural vulnerabilities that the audience can and will empathise with them.

"Mark The Shark" - Buffalo Hunter

Bison were hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century. They were hunted for their skins, with the rest of the animal left behind to decay in the hot sun of the American plains.

At one point from 1870-84 long kill trains packed with drunken "day hunters" wound through seemingly unlimited plains herds shooting as many animals as over heated gun barrels would allow.

The Bison were quickly reduced to a few hundred animals from millions in just a few years.

Who were these men? What was the early 19th century mindset that allowed for millions of dead and dying animals to litter the American plains?

You need look no further than Miami and a fellow by the name of "Mark The Shark" - he is by definition a modern day Buffalo Hunter - killing breeding aged animals for the sport while leaving the carcass to rot after the film crews and onlookers have gone home.

While latter day Buffalo Hunters thought their resource would never end "Mark The Shark" knows all too well the state of today's oceans. His motivations for killing sharks, one might argue, is a bit more sinister.

Marketing.

By killing a displaying a 12 foot 1000lb Tiger shark in Miami recently "Mark The Shark" leverages free advertising and books more fishermen. Modern day Shark Hunters who pay to repeat an act from the past.

Buffalo hunting ended when we ran out of animals to shoot. Today the thought of killing a 12 foot Tiger shark expressly for snapping a few images or to promote ones business is completely out of step with where people and the evolution of wild care are going. The world has changed.

At one point in history someone must have seen the last Buffalo kill train leaving the station to the great American plains and thought "enough is enough".

To "Mark The Shark" we say enough is enough - unlike the Buffalo Hunters of times past who shot to kill, Marks business can practice "catch, tag and release". The choice is his to make, as opposition to dead, breeding aged animals left rotting in the hot Florida sun grows.

Bucky Dennis - Son of a Bitch

Ah, makes you madder than a bag of Diamond backs in a bucket of Habenaro sauce on a hot day in July.

The killing of a pregnant world record Hammerhead was greeted in Florida this week by a triumphant media, a disinterested public, and a shocked research and shark diving community.

Oh, that's right, Florida banned sustainable shark diving in the state back in 2001 - in lieu of this, miscreants like Mr.Dennis kill breeding aged populations for the thrill. It is well known in the region this is the time of year for super large Hammerheads who come to pup.

These animals are the factories for future generations and as such should be protected, not killed and traded for a piece of paper with a date and a weigh-in number on it.

Here's the media, the image says it all.

Kudo's to Mote Marine Lab for telling "Bucky" to keep his kill, they wanted nothing to do with him or his new record shark. Perhaps "Bucky" will amount for something in his life, as the spokesman for catch and release. One can only hope - for the rotting pile of pups he now has in the back of his pickup truck, hope for the next generation of Hammerheads in the region is something long gone.

What To Do With The Cricket Two?

With the death of Frank Mundus-shark killer extraordinaire-the fate of his vessel remains undecided as it goes up for auction next year.

We have seen some amusing posts suggesting a great fire, or explosion to render this notorious vessel to the cold hellish depths of Davy Jones...perhaps so old Frank could enjoy himself killing sharks once again. But we digress.

There's one solid answer to the fate of the Cricket Two, and that is to make her a commercial shark diving and research vessel. As a media tool few vessels carry the instant recognition factor of the Cricket Two. As a way of pushing the shark conservation message forward to later generations of commercial grade shark killers-we know of no better vessel or platform.

Imagine for a moment having the Cricket Two "blockade" the ongoing Martha's Vineyard Monster Shark Tournament?

It will take a smart media team, cool messaging, and of course about 300k to pry this vessel away from those who would use her to either hunt for sharks or send her to the bottom. If this vessel ends up in the hands of a savvy pro shark hunter the balance of media attention would go there...and it's a real a possibility as you could imagine.

Editors Note: For a production company this vessel could be, with the right show concept,the next Shark Week vehicle. Anyone interested should give us a call we have a *few* ideas.

Frank Mundus-Shark Killer-Boat?

Frank Mundus world famous shark killer passed away this month. What made Frank unique was his absolutely ego driven world view towards sharks that did not change-even when the worlds view and perception of sharks was rapidly changing around him.

His notorious shark fishing vessel the Cricket 2's future is now uncertain as it was hauled from the waters this week for winter storage.

We have a proposal to old Franks heirs, assigns, and others:

1. Donate the vessel to shark research

2. Donate the vessel to commercial shark diving

3. Donate the vessel to a hybrid org that does both off the East Coast or in the Bahamas.

The commercial vision for the Cricket 2 is only limited by desire. The fact this vessel would make money in the charter business is a given. Making that money count for the many hundreds of adult, breeding aged whites and Tigers Frank put away over the years would do a lot to help Frank "settle in" to wherever his final resting place may or may not be.