Shark Conservation - The Show Boats, the Sloggers, the Volunteers, The Public Media Conservationists, and then the Piggy Backers.

Every once in a while along comes a new shark blogger voice that cuts through the noise, digs deep into the world of sharks, and comes up with entertainingly brilliant stuff.

Such is Paul De Kock and his blog SharksWild this week.

Paul takes an unflinching look at shark conservation today and distills down to the "fun-de-mental" aspects of it including personalities, egos, orgs, and their efforts.

It's great stuff and smart writing.

The good news is there's an actual shark conservation movement out there. Not something that was even on the radar back in 2003.

But like all conservation efforts for whales, seals, tuna or sharks, once the movements have gelled it's important to sit back and take a hard look at current programs and solutions. Not something a lot of folks want to do, but ultimately necessary.

Sideways drift with conservation is something that all efforts suffer from and the notion that any conservation effort which brings "basic awareness" to an issue years down the line, no matter how self serving, is good for the effort - is false.

It's one of the tools organizations like Sea Shepherd uses to suck conservation donations out of the conservation space. Money that could be used to help next gen boots on the ground programs like replanting vast swaths of mangroves for shark nurseries is instead going to multi media extravaganzas that do nothing but demand conservation dollars from unwitting Facebook users.

Every conservation effort has stages. Initial stages are all about "awareness" but once an effort has enjoyed over 5 years of sustained effort, the next stages must be metrics based solutions that move away from awareness to action.

Read - The Show Boats, the Sloggers, the Volunteers, The Public Media Conservationists, and then the Piggy Backers.

Recognize anyone here?

The Shark Empire Strikes Back?

The global shark diving industry has become a juggernaut for shark conservation efforts and best practices for animal tourism world wide.

It's been a quiet revolution that has happened over the past decade and one that has been lead by some of our industries best and brightest.

Sadly, not everyone has received this memo and that's a failure of our industry to push back in a consistent and coherent manner when politicos, the media, and a few traditional agenda based voices (hacks mostly) speak up to regurgitate opinions taken from dog eared copies of the book Jaws.

If there was a Bible for misinformed media hounds who spend 98% of their time sitting behind desks at home waiting patiently for their creme colored wall mounted kitchen phones to ring - Jaws is it.

Thanks to the industries shark blogs there is a small amount of push back and it is usually to the point, on target, and dare we say what's needed if our industry is to continue to grow, thrive, and become all that it can be in the years to come.

Case in point this latest from Fiji and who else, Da Shark, who has penned one of the best responses to the recent shark strike media firestorm in Western Australia. Kudos sir.

What's at stake is a growing call for a complete reversal of shark protections for great whites in the region and a "limited cull" of these magnificent animals in response to five shark strikes and particularly gruesome death.

To date this call for sharks heads on sticks in the region has been met with resounding white noise from shark groups, shark divers, and commercial shark interests worldwide while the politicos in the region are having a media field day.

We have to push back, and it is posts like this one from Fiji that serve as a template for the rest of a global industry to become engaged.

Owning a commercial shark diving company or even working with one on even a part time basis makes you part of an elite fraternity. You are responsible for the future of the industry on a local, regional, national and global level.

What happens in one part of the world for good or bad to our industry is often carbon copied and exported to other regions, hence the push back and it does not get much better than this.

Oh, and in case you're on of those who think that blogs are nonsense and that no one reads them, think again. Words and ideas are powerful things, and like individual web pages blog posts sit on the Internet for eons marinating, proposing ideas, and justifying position that those in the media search for when the subject of sharks come up.

Food for thought.

More blog information and outrage here.


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.

Diane MacEachern Firing on all Cylinders?

Beware the Nurse shark encounter experts

As much as we dislike the current trend within the the shark conservation community to fabricate facts, inflate research numbers, and simplify complex issues down to the level of single celled organisms, we're no fans of those who take on the commercial shark diving industry either.

Enter Diane MacEachern, a blogger who dropped a stinker of an article onto the Internet this week with all the grace and finesse of a Hakapik wielding sealer on a Canadian ice flow.

The article is called Shark Cage Diving: Helping or Hurting? and it's filled to the brim with assumptions, non facts, and a quote from a guy who's selling a book:

“In general, people are intruding upon and disturbing wild animals far too much. We need to leave them alone and in peace far more than we do. Shark cage diving is a good example of how we are messing around with great white sharks too much, habituating them to people, having them associate chum (bait) with people, and drawing them to locations where surfers and divers are recreating.“

Yes, yes, we have heard this all before, but has anyone heard of the great pro-industry research data into white shark habituation from Australia?  How about Isla Guadalupe?

The fact is articles like these, written by self avowed sharks divers (Diane's total shark experience was a fetid pool with a lone Nurse shark in it) do a lot of harm to an industry that we recently blogged about. One that suffers, three decades on, from an almost complete lack of regional and government/tourism support.

Globally our industry generates tens of millions of dollars and educates tens of thousands of divers, and remains one of the safest adventure sport industries out there. That's a fact. The rest of it, the assumptions that regionally our industry is responsible for shark attacks on surfers, divers, and little kids on inflatable dinosaurs is just, "pull it out of your ass media meat grinder material". There's nothing to back any of it up, not a single paper, no data, just good old fashioned hysteria.

Unfortunately it plays, and plays well, especially when Nurse shark diving experts, afraid of attacks, decide to get busy with blogs.

What our industry does not do well is handle mainstream media output. In terms of an international body we handle the few ridiculous industry videos, idiotic images, and industry/conservation messaging with the same care and preparation that a five year old exhibits with a set of overlarge paint brushes, three color paint, and small black and white images asking one to, "paint in the lines".

We need to do better.

In terms of a global industry, after 30 years, it is high time to create an industry body. One that works with regional government and tourism members for support, action, and one that handles the global media output. A few images and video, some shot years ago, are still being used today to malign an entire industry worldwide. These images appear for simplistic reasons, and no one is ever held accountable. But they do damage none the less.

It's an interesting thought, a global commercial shark diving body, and a bold vision, we wonder if anyone is up for a challenge?

Sharks and the Global Supply of Oxygen?

Dwindling sharks = no oxygen, the quote that will not go away

It started as a throwaway conservation quote a few years ago.

Completely devoid of any facts, empirical data, or even common sense, it has since snowballed into shark conservations most enduring media quote.

Much to the chagrin of serious shark conservation folks who would rather it go away - forever.

We're talking about the great non debate of Sharks and Oxygen, you know the one:

"If we lose the worlds sharks, we will run out of oxygen!"

The phrase was first uttered in it's most simplistic form back in 2008 during the promotion of the film Sharkwater (go to timeline 3.13). It has since taken on a life of it's own among those who trade in rumor, hysteria, and Facebook tribal gatherings where facts, common sense, and the twisted logic of gasbagging conservation statements are rarely considered.

But consider them we must, because the playing field for shark conservation has changed dramatically since the early days of 2008 and now we have an actual movement on hand, one that is being eyed at by big fishing interests and politicians.

It's a conservation nexus where words matter and facts even more so.

I would like to propose that we do away with or retire this poor excuse for a media quote:

"If we lose the worlds sharks, we will run out of oxygen!" 

Perhaps to be replaced with something a bit more tidy?

Sadly, the gulf between those who are relevant in the shark conservation movement, those who get things done vs the loony fringe who cling to outdated media quotes seemingly designed and crafted by the Paul Watson School of Media WTF!? is growing on a daily basis.

Adopting a straight and universal media narrative for sharks is not only important, it is imperative, if the movement is to stay relevant and frisky into 2013 and beyond.

Brother, you got a good shark quote?

Dear Shark Conservationists, Lay Off Rosie O'Donnell

After 25 days being offline enjoying the joys of random travel from Panama to Cuba I finally powered up my iPhone at the San Francisco airport to get caught up on some shark news.

2012 will be a pivotal year for new initiatives and I was keen to see how many of the groundbreaking efforts of 2011 were shaping up for the new year.

What I soon discovered was a group of rabid and misguided shark conservation loons going after talk show host and comedian Rosie O'Donnell over pictures of her taken three years ago with a dead shark.

Three years ago, really? And you call this conservation? So much for 2012.

Rosie caught the sharks under the tutelage of Mark the Shark a well known Florida based shark fisherman who likes to goad the shark conservation world, and a few special individuals in particular, into foaming at the mouth indignation over dead sharks on docks.

The mainstream media is having a field day with this non story and Facebook, sadly, is in its usual righteous fury over images that have nothing to do with the Rosie O'Donnell of today, or even the news that as of 2012 Tiger sharks and Great Hammerheads are now protected in Florida waters.

Lead by You Tube video sensation, "Mr. How To Speak Australian" Erik Brush, an overly passionate under-informed shark gadfly who, when not on You Tube with his starkly creepy basement videos, can be found hawking his second rate book about the end of the planet. The rabid shark conservation community is joyously shooting themselves and the shark community at large in the foot.

It is time to stop.

Like a bad smell emanating from the sewers of a slow news cycle, shark conservationists are latching on to this ridiculous story with the ferocity of a ragged street dog in Latin America who has found something rancid in the gutter to eat.

Images from three years ago do not make for a news story and I am pretty sure that the serious shark conservation world could do without side shows like this one that make Sea Shepherd and Paul Watson's brand of "make it up as we go along" media output look like University of California - Berkeley's School of Journalism.

We can do a lot better in 2012. We have to, because this was a piss poor way to start the year.

Anderson Cooper for the Sharks?

Would appear so in this in depth look at healthy reef systems and our toothy friends in the Bahamas(?). Kudos to Anderson and his crew for the expose, unfortunately this is only a taste of things to come you'll have to wait until Sunday to see the rest.

Let's go shark diving!

r Conservation?

CNN and Shark Diver Airs Sunday Oct 30th

Got the following email this week from the fine folks over at CNN.

This fall we were asked to help with a pro-shark conservation piece covering shark fishing and Shark-Free Marinas.

Over the past year we have done four such programs with various media outlets from the US to Brazil in hopes that positive media for sharks helps folks understand the many complex issues sharks are facing.

With our always ready A-List shark crew we headed out to the Bahamas to highlight a place that is doing shark conservation right and shot reef sharks over two days with their show host.

Luke Tipple was gracious enough to carve out some of his busy conservation and filming schedule to guide CNN around sharks and the Shark-Free Marinas. For the past two years Luke has been the Director of the SFMI and the heart and soul of the program. You not going to find a better media spokesman for sharks, delivering sound bytes and hard facts without the hype.

Thanks to Scotty from Blue Iguana, MoonDog, Capt Rob and the rest of the crew for making this important show work under tough local conditions and chum that was peeling the paint off passing cars.

Thanks as well to Old Bahama Bay Resort for once again providing top notch hotel accommodations to wayward film crews from the mainland.

The story airs Sunday, check it out if you get a chance because this is about as good as it gets for mainstream shark conservation footage and analysis.

Also check out Richard Theiss from RTSea Productions who shot footage for the plastics segment.

Hi Pat, 

Hope you're well. 

Our shark story premieres this Sunday at 5; 8pm PST. I'm very happy with the story...only wish I had more than 6 minutes to work with!

All is good here. Rich and I just returned from Belize. We went back to dive the reef off Placencia...large scale development going on and it is starting to trash the reef. 

Best, 
Heather 
CNN

The Shark Photo Seen Around The World

Recently an image of what appeared to be a Great white shark stalking a surf lineup in California made headlines news.

What's not up for discussion is the shots providence. This is not a photoshopped image and we suspect the photographer, Gary Eliot, is earnest in his work.

But while the rest of the world plays eco chamber with the storyline of a Great white mixed in with surfers at least one marine biologist and California surfer is saying "wait a second."

This week Luke Tipple offers up a plausible explanation of what this image may or may not be.

When it comes to sharks and images of the Great white, only UFO imagery and video captures the imagination of so many and often the associated story lines are as imaginative as the grainy footage that accompanies them.

Read That's not a Great White Shark.

RTSea Productions Using Shark Footage for Great Shark Media

Meeting at the intersection of responsible shark media and great visuals is this news piece from ABC. Kudos to Richard Theiss from RTSea Productions who has been a tireless pro-shark media campaigner with many years of shark footage for use by the media that portrays these animals in this most natural light.

This white shark footage is from Isla Guadalupe shot with the crew of Shark Diver. Richard will be back at the island again this season (2011) for more shark encounters:

Are These the Killer Seychelle White Sharks?

The answer is no. These are Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) fish eaters.

But that has not stopped the Seychelles gov from engaging in a wide spread Jaws style shark hunt in an attempt to prove to their tourism base that they do not have a "shark problem."

To the Seychelles credit and a country that depends of 50% of it's GDP to tourism dollars they had to do something, but an old school shark hunt targeting every shark species within 20 miles of an attack site?

That's not in keeping with modern tourism values, nor does it fully recognize the intelligence of today's tourist who understands more about sharks now than 20 years ago when a full court shark hunt was de rigueur.

The Seychelles even went to the extreme lengths to hire several South African Shark Mercenaries to hunt down their Killer Sharks.

What has transpired over the past several weeks in the Seychelles has been a farce.

At first this was not a shark attack, then it was deemed a shark attack, then the animal without any scientific proof was identified as "not a local animal." From there various sources within the Seychelles gov said this was a white shark, again no proof was offered but it worked nicely with the desperate storyline that the Seychelles did not have sharks in its waters.

Along with this weeks Lemon shark haul, Seychelles shark hunters also came back into port with two large Tigers, so much for the Seychelles storyline that they don't have sharks in their waters.

It's evident that the Seychelles have no clue how to deal with their sharks, even though these animals have been living in a peaceful coexistence with swimmers for the past 30 tourism filled decades.

At this point all that can be done is to watch the unfolding disaster and plan for the next gov reaction to a shark attack. We can learn from the Seychelles media disaster as a case study on how not to react and deal with the aftermath of a shark attack.

While shark attacks are unfortunate, and deaths from shark attacks tragic, they remain rare events and we can do a lot better than South African Shark Mercenaries, and media reports that attribute attacks to species that most likely no where in the region at the time of the event.

NBC News and Sharks - Taking WTF to New Lows

If you happened to be watching NBC's Today Show this morning you saw reporter Stephanie Gosk ham fist her way through a shark attack story out of the Seychelles.

Spouting factoids about sharks that were incorrect and providing descriptions of species that, if proved true, will redefine shark science as we know it, Stephanie unwittingly became the spokesperson for why the mainstream media needs to be educated about sharks.

It's time for push back because watching her in action today was enough to cause me to spill my sustainably harvested trade certified coffee all over my shirtfront while becoming "outraged."

Being outraged as a shark conservationist is state of grace we get outraged for a number of reasons when it comes to sharks.

For me major news media bias is one of them.

Yes sharks are predators, and yes sharks attack humans occasionally but the reasons behind shark attacks are what mainstream media folks fail to cover time and again, they focus on the blood, the loss, and the hype.

In case you want to know why the incidence of shark attacks are on the rise you need look no further than this recent article, great stuff.

Back to Stephanie. I won't give away her most glaring indiscretions, I will let you watch this media hit piece and perhaps become outraged as well. Suffice to say the bad taste exhibited by airing the grieving widows last recollections of her husband as he bled out on the beach in front of her reminds me of equally tasteless Shark Week productions wherein shark attack victims were forced to watch a mechanical shark monster slam into sides of beef to reenact their limb loss.

Yes this is the same kind of overblown media hype that does little to understand sharks.

As a shark conservationist I am not asking the media to rewrite what sharks are, or even attempt to soft peddle their basic predatory nature. All I am asking for is balance, nuance, and some hard facts, not the time warped 1970's lens that folks like Ms.Gosk seems to train on these animals whenever man and shark interact.

More from RTSea Blog.

Any DeHart Spokesman For Sharks - NBC Today

Andy DeHart is the director of biological programs for the National Aquarium, Washington, D.C., as well as Discovery Channel shark adviser. As such we have been rather dubious of Andy's shark motivations after seeing him on Shark Week for a few seasons pitching what amounted to an ongoing and horrific shark attack blood fest in 2009.

But as they say, "you don't know a fellow until you have seen him on NBC's Today Show," at least that's what someone said in our office this morning.

Responding to a recent shark attack and unfortunate death in the Seychelles this week Andy offers up a well balanced, truly fact based assessment of shark and human interactions without the usual strong armed attempts to recast sharks as anything else but what they are, predators.

If you're looking for talking points about sharks, shark attacks, and counter points to the medias persistent bias and 1970's view on sharks, watch this mornings interview, it's about as good as it gets.

Industry Under Siege - Gotcha Reporting from Australia?

And the award for "Garbage Driven, Lowest Common Denominator Gotcha Media" goes go...Anthony Hoy Media, for his two part expose on the shark diving industry this week.

Here we go again, when some like Mr.Media Hoy decide to cover our industry nothing good comes of it because folks like Mr.Hoy are ratings driven, not fact driven.

Of course there's no mention by Mr.Hoy of any of the pro-industry research studies about commercial shark diving in this two part bacchanalia of moronic quotes and broad based assumptions concerning sharks, shark behavior, and the global shark diving industry.

In fact not one current study cited at all, and this is what passes for journalism in Australia?

Could we expect anything less from a paunchy over-the-hill reporter attempting to make a name for himself as his career flat lines?

Anthony Hoy, reporting from the Neptune Islands, off Port Lincoln, South Australia, shows graphic Great White Shark footage that brings into question whether cage shark diving operations are training Great Whites to associate boating activity and related noise with feeding, and are therefore increasing the incidence of shark attack.

Favorite Anthony Hoy Reporter Quote: "Are your bait-and-trained sharks more dangerous, more antagonistic, and more likely to attack when not fed?"

Note: Anthony Hoy contacted us today demanding that we post the second part of his two part expose. We declined, citing the fact we thought his work was absolute trash and refused to give him or his attempts at gotcha media any more attention than it already had.

Anthony Hoy's Response?

"I'll do my own posts, pointing out what a half-baked operation you run. You talk about balance, you halfwit....there's plenty of balance in the piece I've referred to, which you're too biased to run."

Really classy reporter, so glad he's in the media.

For the industry members he slandered this week we're pretty sure they're not so pleased.

Meeting the Media: Be Prepared!

Recently the Voice of Russia posted a story "Meeting a Shark: Be Prepared!"

In the annals of sideways media reportage on sharks this particular article got the attention of one Doc Gruber. His article comments serves as a smart, fact filled template, on effective pro-shark media response.

Hattip:Mike over in Fiji.

Doc Gruber on Sharks

Dear Voice of Russia: Thank you for allowing me to comment on your article Meeting a Shark: Be Prepared. In all my 50 years of professionally studying sharks I do not think I have ever read an article so full of clichés and downright misinformation than reporter Yelena Kovachich has produced. Russia is a nation with many experts on shark biology (for example Dr. Feodor Litvanov flit@atlant.baltnet.ru) so it is clear to me that Yelena did not do her homework.

I will give a few examples but one concern is the swindle that the Sochi Aquarium seems to be running. Training divers on how to respond to sharks is just a scam. The explanation given by your reporter shows that the Sochi program directors know noting about swimming with sharks or shark behavior. They seem to be just pandering to the fears caused by such mythical stories as Jaws which irrationally frighten the public. Then they have the nerve to charge them to play right into the fears that they themselves created. Just one more point: thousands of divers spend tens of millions of rubles annually to swim with sharks and they mainly prepare with cameras!!

Ok—on to some of the misinformation: Yelana states that Divers show people how to hide from them among coral reefs—do you think someone could actually hide from a shark? They can sense you sounds and even the electrical signals from you metallic dive gear!! Why would someone need to hide from a shark?

Your chances to survive if attacked by these creatures are slim to none-- Patently untrue. You chances of surviving an attack are better than 100:1 as the three Russian shark attack survivors learned. On the other hand your chances of being attacked while in the water are about 5,000,000:1.

Sharks can sense tiny amounts of blood - even a single drop - in the water up to 5 kilometers away and trace them back to their source. Again patently untrue. Shark can not detect blood at all. They do sense amino acids present in some kinds of blood but do not seem that interested in human blood. In any case sharks detect dilutions of around 1 part amino acid to 1,000,000 parts of water. This means that if you dilute a drop of blood in 1000 liters of seawater a shark could barely detect it. Can you imagine the amount of water in 5 km of ocean? Pure nonsense.

Three people will be enough to scare a shark away. Where did this number come from? There were more than three people in the water when the unfortunate Russians—all three were bitten.

The largest sharks known - the great whites - dwell along the east coast of the USA. They regularly attack people, confusing them with their top menu selection - sea lions and seals. Here is a sentence with four pieces of misinformation. 1 The larger shark is the whale shark Rincodon typus; 2. White sharks being warm blooded dwell pretty much where they want—inshore to open sea, topical or temperate seas. 3. Great whites do not regularly attack people and even considering the tiny number of attacks, are not even in first place. That dishonor belongs to the bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas. 4. Great whites are not confused by people nor is their main food sea lions which incidentally are only found off the west coast of the US, not the east coast. And while they do eat seals and sea lions during the pupping season they also eat many varieties of fish and other sharks.

Need I go on? Here is my thought on the subject: How many citizens of Russia and the Ukraine have enjoyed holidays in Egypt’s Sharm area? Of those how many have been bitten by sharks? Nearly all of them have been exposed to sharks while swimming in the Red Sea with no negative experiences. However when humans enter the sea they enter the realm of the shark as well as myriads of other potentially dangerous species. You take a chance albeit infinitely small when swimming in the ocean. You main concern should be drowning or getting hit by a boat. Enjoy the ocean! Live to the fullest!!

Dr. Samuel H. Gruber
Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Miami 33149-1098
And
Bimini Biological Field Station
9300 SW 99 St
Miami FL 33176-2050
305 274 0628 fax or phone

Today's Sharks: Smart, Tagged, and in Short Supply

Scientific American did a great piece this month with Doc Gruber in the Bahamas on sharks, research and conservation.

Sci Am jumped into the shark conservation arena with Shark Diver on 2008, but this latest article hits all the right notes.

Kudos.

"Many sharks have good learning capacity, which is one way we measure intelligence," says Samuel Gruber, a marine biologist at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), who discovered in 1975 that lemon sharks could learn a classical conditioning task 80 times faster than a cat or rabbit. "I was shocked to find that they could learn so rapidly," he says.

Brilliant Fakery? Or Real Deal?

The jury is out on this video. We were going to call it a big fake and then the tail fin appeared for a brief instant at 0:55, hard to fake a tail fin if you're towing a decoy behind your sail boat.

So we leave it to you, is this the real deal of a monster shark stalking a sailboat, or a complete fake?

Taking into account over the past 20 years of video at sea no one has come up with anything like this one and the kid in the video seems less than realistic:

Tigers, Dead Whales, and Aussies, Oh My!

One thing is for certain, wherever you have sharks you'll always have those who want to interact with them.

Recently folks in Australia decided to get into the interaction game and shot some amazing video. You cannot miss the sequence starting at 1.20 - it is pretty stuff.

Unfortunately the broader world does not seem to share the joys of these interactions (see You Tube comments). Perhaps when framed by the media as this clip was recently, the natural comment blow back is to be expected.

Beqa Adventure Divers - Pro Industry Media

The global shark diving industry is lead by a few forward thinking operations who lead by example. Consistency is the name of the game.

Positive shark media for our industry comes with solid relationships with good story tellers.

Showing that sharks are not playthings, or cheap props for a diver/filmmakers resume, is another of Beqa Adventure Divers forays into positive industry media, and a fine example of how to work with sharks in a manner that benefits all.

Kudos!

The Dorsal Fin Blog - Shucking Media Oysters

When you "shuck oysters," you take the sharp point of an oyster knife and work it on the back end of an oyster until you find the "sweet spot."

Once you have found that spot you are generally rewarded with a satisfying pop, when the meaty inside of the oyster is revealed to all.

That's what new blue blogger Dorsal Fin does with mainstream media and sharks - poking at media hysteria to reveal the meaty inside of the story.

The Dorsal Fin Blog has impressed us from it's inception a few months ago. With its stark mandate "Shark News…without the sensationalism" this blog is a much needed addition to the world of shark news coverage.

Welcome Dorsal Fin, if this weeks blog post is anything like the next 2000, the world of shark media will soon change...for the better.