Top 10 Found Inside Sharks-Times Online

We normally steer away from stories like these but the Times reporter did such a great job we had to re-post this. "Found" inside of sharks:

1. It just eats money
The first piece I could find dates from 1821, headed Singular Circumstance: a bored sailor, with more money than sense, decided to use dollars (coins presumably) as bait. He chucked one over the side then, finding bait and hook missing, tried another, and another. All with the same result. Four days and 300 miles later, someone else on the same boat caught a shark “which contained two of the hooks baited with two of the dollars. In about fifteen minutes after, a dolphin was caught, which contained the other hook and dollar.”

2. Plat du jour
1823 was a bit of a bumper year. First report was a news in brief, treating the shark’s contents as a nicely balanced dinner menu: "He was found to contain a sheep, a calf's head and feet, a horse foot (marine animal), a sea-owl, and several articles to serve as trimmings"

What on earth is a sea-owl - anyone know?

3. He’s not heavy ... any more
Next up, in the same year, was a macabre story from the West Indies, “Curious facts”: "On opening the shark the instrument struck upon an impenetrable hard substance in his stomach, which, upon digging out, they found to be a six pound cannon ball"

Fair enough, but why would he have eaten it? The report speculates that the cannon ball had been attached to a human body, to make it sink, and that the body had been digested.

4. Ship's papers
A deeply bizarre story, dating from the American War of Independence: sailors on a British ship caught a shark with a lump of pork. The thrifty captain ordered them to save the pork to use again, and when they opened up the shark they found a bundle of papers relating to an American brig, the Nancy, which was masquerading as a neutral vessel. Read the original – it’s straight out of Patrick O’Brien.

5. Best bib and tucker
This graphic report, from New Orleans in 1856, more or less says it all on this subject: "We have read many fish stories, and they are generally of that tenour that the very name inclines one to disbelieve them."
But of course, having said that, here is one story that absolutely can be vouched for:

Some days ago, the captain of a ship at anchor outside the Pass threw overboard a shark hook baited, not expecting in the least, as the captain himself says, to catch anything of the fish tribe. There was hooked, however, a shark of the spotted kind, and, as it afterwards proved, a regular 'man-eater' … His size and weight may be imagined from the fact that it took 11 men to hoist him in, with a double lift on the mainyard. The monster … had seven rows of teeth, three of the rows being almost hidden in the upper gums ... In his paunch was found the body of a man in a half decomposed state. So far as could be judged, the corpse was that of a well-dressed man, of medium size - shirt white, with pearl buttons, coarse silk undershirt, cotton socks, and shoes nearly new, of the Congress gaiter kind. The shark had also in his stomach several pieces of old canvass, such as are used by vessels on their rigging.

6. So good, they ate it twice
OK, now we’re in the realms of the seriously silly: the steamer Jutland, of Hull, was caught in a storm and a goose, belonging to the second engineer, Mr Tate, was washed overboard. The goose, of course, had a label tied round one of its legs carrying its owner’s name and address, so when it was subsequently found inside a shark by the captain of a fishing smack, it could be returned. Mr Tate was delighted, and had it cooked up for his dinner the next day.

7. Catching crabs
More mundanely, this monster specimen from the South Pacific, caught in Moreton Bay, Brisbane, contained a miscellaneous collection of eats, “among which may be mentioned a sheep skin and an unusually large crab”

8. Made for swallowing
This rather bald report just records, Shark caught at Fiume: "The stomach contained a pair of human feet with boots on them"

9. Turtle soup, nearly
Great story from 1922 about a giant turtle which, amazingly, survived being swallowed and was rescued and taken to the New York Aquarium where, “recovering from cuts and shock”, he was christened Jonah

10. Fingerprints still legible
Back to the macabre, in fact could this be the only murder evidence retrieved from inside a shark? A shark was caught in Sydney harbour and transported, alive, to an aquarium whereupon it was sick, quite reasonably. One thing that came up was a tattooed human arm: "From tattoo marks and finger prints, the arm was identified as belonging to James Smith who, police believe, was murdered and thrown in the sea"

That’s ten, but here’s a bonus, a proper old sailor’s yarn:
1922: A shark and The Times "The shark, 14 feet long, was hauled on board, and on cutting it open a copy of The Times was found in its stomach". The explanation was that a "mail steamer had passed a few hours before, someone had thrown overboard his Times, and a shark following the ship had swallowed it"

And you could still read it. No smudgy ink in those days

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.

White Shark Autopsy Two-The Live Version

If it's an animal autopsy streamed live on the Internet, we're there. Last year we watched the Giant Squid autopsy with fascination and this year it's the Great White shark:

In a broadcast reminiscent of a scene in Jaws, where Richard Dreyfuss cuts open a shark to discover a car licence plate and a crushed tin, scientists will carry out the two hour operation on a 10ft great white shark.

The live dissection will be carried out at an amphitheatre outside Aukland Museum on Thursday.The operation is expected to be watched by an estimated 1,000 people at the museum and streamed live on its website (www.aucklandmuseum.com) to millions more.

Scientists from the museum hope the operation will help add to their limited knowledge of one of the ocean's most feared animals. During the operation, scientists will examine stomach content, measure internal organs and record all their findings for international shark research.

Editors Note: We will be out of the office Thursday-let the science begin!

Shark Conservation-Kristie Knowles

There are many passionate shark advocates out there. What's missing in many cases is "conservation eloquence". The innate ability to distill down complex eco problems and present them in a manner where ordinary people want to take action.

For conservationist Kristie Knowles, getting the message across is par for the course:

Kirstie Knowles: Human predators driving sharks to the brink of extinction

Full story

Sharks are monsters of the ocean - creatures of myth and movie. Or so they say. In reality, they are the victims of the horror stories, not the perpetrators, as shark populations worldwide decline.

Sharks are not the top ocean predators - humans in fishing boats command that spot. A total of 112 species of shark are found in New Zealand waters, 70 of which are caught in our fisheries.

Of these, 28 are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of species threatened with extinction.

Only one threatened species - the great white shark - is protected in New Zealand. It is ironic that this species, which was portrayed in the Jaws films as a relentless human killer, is now at risk of extinction largely at the hands of humans.

Fishers work under the Quota Management System but there's so little information about shark populations - with good information on only three of the 70 species caught in our fisheries - that it is hard to know if present catch levels are sustainable.

Great White Sharks-Another Look

The simple, elegant beauty that is the Great White Shark. We never get tired of video's like these:

Bull Shark CSI-The Guys in Fiji

Like to discover new shark sites? Look no further than the Beqa Adventure Divers Blog. This week they "uncovered" Bull Sharks in Thailand:

Ever heard of Chumphon Pinnacle?

Me neither, until a very pink website announced that it was Thailand's new hotspot for Bull Sharks. I must admit that at first glance, I was rather skeptical.

The first pics showed smallish Sharks with a very distinct dark rim to their tail fin, something that I had never seen in Fiji. Bull Sharks have a closely allied species, the Java or Pigeye Shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) and my gut feeling was that it could be that species, which would have been a great find in its own right.

As more and more images began populating the site, I however started seeing Sharks that were very much the same as our own sub-adults. Must be that the "rimmed" Sharks were either smaller than even our smallest animals, or that they were displaying some typical Thai color pattern, not at all impossible per se. We know that from Grey Reefies where local populations have a white rim on the first dorsal fin, prompting some splitters to try and describe them as an own species (which they are not).

Having alerted "our" expert Juerg, he confirms the original diagnosis. You can read his conclusions here.

Kudos to DJL (yes: Davy Jones' Locker, of all things...) on Koh Tao for their find and correct identification of the Sharks.

By the way: that would be just down the road from Ko Pha Ngan's Full Moon Party and just around the corner from The Beach - epic!

Island of The Great White Shark-Documentary

Richard Theiss producer of the documentary Island of the Great White Shark will be at the Birch Aquarium (Scripps) tomorrow night screening his new film to an almost sold out audience.

For the past few days he's been on television talking about his film. Tomorrow morning he'll be on Fox News 5 in San Diego.

You can find his recent interviews with:

San Diego 6
KUSI San Diego

Always a passionate advocate for sharks and the oceans. His documentary remains one of the few in depth looks into the secret world of great white shark without the hype.

When Saying "Bad Shark!" Just Won't Do

We got the following email last month and sat on it a while. In the world of shark diving and on site protection from sharks there's a growing group of inventors and existing products out there. We have tested most of them from rare earth magnets, to Killer Whale sounds over the years.

This latest one need may need further testing...maybe Tiger Beach?

Hi Shark Diver,

I discovered your site through a link from sharkdivers.blogspot.com.
It's a great website quite with brilliant content. As true shark experts I'd love to know what you think of my product, it's a mask strap that can help you avoid a shark attack.

It might sound bizarre but it is based on scientific evidence, there's a link to this 'evidence' below. The idea was inspired by a report I read about Tiger attacks in the jungles of India. My website was launched last week and I'm really excited about it as I've been obsessed with sharks since a kid. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Warm regards,

XXX XXX

P.S. A product for surfers will be out next week based on the same principles.

White Shark Scoop-Swim At Your Own Risk

The fine folks over the the Swim At Your Own Risk Blog got the scoop on another shark autopsy in New Zealand this week with biologist Clinton Duffy presiding.

Note:The pro drumline and net propaganda in the back of this image. Worldwide this 1950's solution to shark management is killing sharks at an unprecedented rate and is a major agenda item for pro shark conservation efforts:

If you happen to be in New Zealand this week, the Auckland Museum will be performing a public autopsy on a 9 ft great white shark on Thursday, January 8, in hopes to raise shark awareness.

The autopsy, or necropsy as it’s officially known, will be carried out by Clinton Duffy of the Department of Conservation Marine Conservation Section and Tom Trnski, Marine Curator of the Auckland Museum.

The operation will examine the shark’s stomach contents, as well as take measurements of organs. The public are invited to view the autopsy and come face to face with the shark from 11am-1pm in the loading dock at the south-eastern corner of the Museum.

I’d wait for lunch.

Sea Shepherd-Wagging The Conservation Dog

We blogged about the "shot that never was" a few months ago.

A lie sent forth by Sea Shepherd so egregious, so fantastical, that we were pretty sure people would see through it's blatant transparencies and demand action.

Alas, as Shakespeare once pointed out, "all the world's a stage and we are merely players". It would seem that Paul Watson's media people read Shakespeare.

As Sea Shepherd flounders around in the Southern ocean (once again) searching desperately for television ratings under the guise of saving whales let's pause for a moment and perhaps listen to the other side of this issue. The points they bring up are important.

Real conservation is goal and result oriented. What Sea Shepherd is doing with the hard earned millions of well meaning eco donors is tantamount to creating a floating version of the Moulin Rouge...except at the end of this bacchanalia of poor judgement, made up press releases, and missed opportunities there remains next years whale hunt.

Sea Shepherd is as ineffectual this year as it has been for the past ten when it comes to stopping the hunting of whales. The addition of a 24/7 film crew from Discovery Channel's Animal Planet adds to the dangers and unnecessary hubris that is Wagging The Conservation Dog.

Press Release JWA

“Last season in the Antarctic, the presence of the Animal Plant film crew pushed the Sea Shepherd extremists into committing more and more dangerous actions, all for the benefit of the camera,” said the President of the JWA, Mr Keiichi Nakajima.

“Paul Watson even orchestrated a fake event to make it look like he was shot, all of which was aimed at denigrating Japan and boosting the ratings of the Animal Planet un-reality TV series.”

Mr Nakajima said JWA was even more concerned this season because there is now the added expectation that the Sea Shepherd-Animal Planet crew will take even greater risks and perform even more serious criminal acts for the second series for Animal Planet.

Note: Whaling has no place in today's oceans, we have always said this. But profiting from the death of whales as Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet are doing with their new show Whales Wars is, in our opinion, worse.

When Shark Tourism Works-SharkDiver.com

We got a nice surprise last week in the form of a USA Today travel article on sharks featuring a shark diver from many years ago Jupp Kerckerinck zur Borg and his daughter Philipa. They both joined us in 2003 at our Isla Guadalupe white shark dive site.

Jupp has gone on to become a world class shark diver with over 120 shark dives to his credit and is the driving force behind his own shark conservation website.

Done right, commercial shark diving inspires others to raise awareness about sharks and conservation. Thanks Jupp!

He was in over his head — and loving it

I learned scuba diving at the request of my daughter Philipa when I was 60 years old and fell in love with it. As a thank you, I invited her on a cage dive to see great white sharks at the Pacific island of Guadalupe, Mexico, with sharkdiver.com. Standing in the cage, I saw my first shark swimming by, so close that I could almost touch him. I was 64 years then and I never imagined how this trip would give my life a totally different direction.

When I sold my ranch in upstate New York a couple years later, I started to book dive trips where sharks were included. My first shark dive without a cage was in the Bahamas. Jumping into the ocean, knowing that there were at least a dozen Caribbean reef sharks down there, was a bit weird. But I jumped in anyway.

The sharks were inquisitive but never aggressive. I fell in love with those beautiful, amazing and highly developed animals. I started to read every book I could find and started my own website, sharkprotect.com. I am now an avid shark protector and am now on the Board of Trustees of the Shark Research Institute in Princeton, N.J. I give presentations about sharks in schools and colleges to tell as many young people about the importance of sharks in our oceans.

After 120 shark dives, I am still in love with sharks and take every opportunity I get to dive with them.

— Jupp Kerckerinck zur Borg, Millbrook, N.Y

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

Deepwater sharks-why we shark dive

Back in 2003 I met Karl Stanley in Roatan, Honduras with his homemade submarine Idabel. Karl shared a beer or two with me before casually mentioning he often came across simply huge sharks down at 2000'.

Of course I had to go down for what quickly became a pinnacle adventure moment with sharks. Today Karl's operation is a standout in the small world of submarines. You can see video's of his operation almost anywhere these days.

May we suggest you start saving up now?



Hat Tip: The guys over at Deep Sea News. PD

Better Year For Sharks 2008

As we get close to a wrap for 2008 there's a chance to look back at a remarkable year for the shark diving industry and for shark conservation.

To say that things have solidified on the conservation front is an understatement...what we have now is a full fledged, organic, top to bottom shark conservation movement, and it's paying dividends.

Last week Yahoo's Alibaba and Taobao web portals announced they are apparently discontinuing all advertising and trade of shark products as of January 1st, 2009. This stunning announcement lays two more giant cornerstones into the shark conservation movement.

On the commercial shark diving front a growing awareness of "being a global 200 million dollar industry" and the absolute need now for local site conservation efforts. The old paradigm of just maintaining commercial operations is being replaced by site activism, awareness, site stewardship and shark conservation measures. It has taken a series of horrific local site kills from South Africa to the Bahamas to bring this issue to the front burner-but it's here and operations are slowly pushing back. It is also good to mention the several forward thinking operations from Fiji to South Africa who have been leading this charge for years now. It starts with "One".

Has this been a good year for sharks? No, the slaughter continues unabated, but that slaughter is no longer being conducted in a total vacuum. NGO's, websites, blogs, major news outlets, literally thousands of people are, getting involved, raising banners and spreading awareness like wildfire.

It's remarkable really when you consider all of this has been for sharks. Not Panda's (sorry Panda People) but sharks. There's still a lot of work to do, the announcement by Alibaba and Taobao comes with a caveat yet to be announced. Our hunch is this valuable division within the company has been transferred to another site perhaps as a stand alone "take the heat and answer to no one", time will tell.

For now we can all enjoy the fact the shark conservation round table has no empty seats...let the fist pounding begin!

Happy Holidays Shark Divers!

To all who love sharks, and to the few of us who are crazy enough to want to "make a living" with these magnificent animals we say...Happy Holidays and the warmest of New Years!

China's Largest Shopping Site Bans Sale of Shark Fin Products

Editors Note: Starting January 1, 2009 we attempted to purchase sharks fin via the Alibaba.com website. After 7 days we were able to source over 80,000lbs of sharks fin from nine of eleven sellers we contacted in a classic loophole.

This represents a massive roll out failure on the part of Taobo.com.cn and sister company Alibaba.com.

For now we have given them an "F" and ask that you disregard the following press release.

BEIJING, Dec. 19 -- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW-www.ifaw.org.cn) congratulates Taobao (www.taobo.com.cn), China's largest shopping website for its ban on the sale of shark fin products on the site. Taobao.com announced to its 400 million online members that all shark fin products will be banned from trade on Taobao.com starting 1, January 2009.

The announcement was made as part of a campaign IFAW and Taobao collaboratively initiated to combat online wildlife crime. In the unprecedented collaboration, IFAW and Taobao.com share information about online illegal wildlife trade and jointly raise consumer awareness about the detrimental impact wildlife trade has on species in the wild.

Asia is the main market for shark fin products. In major cities in China, shark fin soup is readily available on the menu in restaurants. With the coming of Chinese New Year Festivals, shark fin soup consumption will significantly increase.

However, fueled by big profit margins and the increase in shark fin consumption, overfishing of sharks is threatening more than 50 percent of the shark species with extinction. As top predators in the ocean, sharks play an important role in keeping ecosystem balance. However, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed globally each year.

"Consuming shark fin is not only harmful to the marine biodiversity, but promotes the cruel practice of shark finning, where sharks had their fins cut off then thrown back into the ocean, still alive, die a horribly painful death." said Grace Gabriel, IFAW's Asia Regional Director. "It is our choice as consumers to say No to shark fin products. Consuming wildlife equals killing."

Taobao's decision to ban shark fin was also applauded by its users. In an online message, a Hangzhou netizen condemns the shark fin trade by posting shocking pictures of shark finning. According to this posting, 5000 Kilos of shark fin are consumed daily in Beijing alone. Active Taobao users also call on others to report online shark fin sales to site management when the notice takes effect in January.

Peter Pueschel, IFAW's Program Manager hailed the move. "This is really amazing and wonderful that the leading cyber market provider in the biggest shark fin consumer nation bans shark fins. What a strong signal to other auction sites and governments in other parts of the world!"

CNN Good-MSNBC-Bad

Got an email from Jeremiah over at Neptunic SharkSuits yesterday about the following video. For those of you who do not know Jeremiah he's an "industry gray beard" a guy who's been around the block and few million times and whose time in water with sharks commands respect.

MSNBC's coverage of a dead Great Hammerhead caught in Florida this week could have been taken from any script written in 1977 for a local anchor. Missing is the "sympathy for the devil" and any basic understanding about shark conservation. Now take CNN's coverage of sharks this month and you get the feeling that perhaps MSNBC is pulling anchor scripts from 1977:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Shark Fin Du Jour-Sponsored by Yahoo! Inc

Our weekly feature on Underwater Thrills:Swimming With Sharks is the "Shark Fin Du Jour".

It's a weekly look at Alibaba.com the NYSE of Shark Fin Products and sales on the Internet-Sponsored by Yahoo! Inc.

We will take you to the individual sellers listed on that site and introduce the top companies, what species they sell, and how many thousands of pounds of shark fins they have for sale on the global market.

Today our Shark Fin Du Jour is UMS Enterprises who can source a staggering 500 kilograms of sharks fin per week:

Place of origin:	Pakistan
Model No:	SF 1173
Fob Price:	US$ 30~180 Karachi (Air/Port)
Port:	Karachi (Air/Port)
Payment Terms:	L/C
Minimum Order Quantity:	500 Kilogram
Supply Ability:	500 Kilogram per Week
Package:	15kg - 30kg Polypropylene Bags
Delivery Time:	Minimum 10 Working Days

Atlantis Bahamas-Shark Commits Suicide

Atlantis resort in the Bahamas announced last month they were laying off 800 employees.

This week a reef shark at Atlantis leaped to it's death on a water slide. Are the two connected in any way?

Eh, probably not:

"Yesterday morning at around 9:30 AM, prior to the resort's waterscape opening to guests, a 12+-year-old female reef shark jumped over an 18 inch wide and 1 foot high sustaining structure into the resort's Leap of Faith water slide".

The Atlantis Aquarists believe the shark was startled by an unusual circumstance that we have no way of defining completely. In the over ten years guests have experienced the Leap of Faith, the reef shark itself, harmless to humans as it is fed regularly by our staff, had shown no previous incidences of leaping out of the water in the marine habitat.

US Navy Builds Deep Water Shark Cage

The US Navy's Deepwater Reconnaissance and Autonomous Gateway or DRAG unveiled it's $120 million dollar shark cage yesterday to a group of cheering engineers and at least one congressman from New Jersey.

The DRAG "cage" was originally designed to explore the Antarctic but design set backs and a cost overruns scuttled the first project back in 1972.

DRAG reinstated it's shark protection project with the help of Pentagon Emergency Supplemental funding for Iraq and have now launched the first multi million dollar shark cage in the history of the US Navy. Three more units are scheduled to come online in 2009 and 2010.

"We hope to deploy these units in hot zones around the planet" said Vice Admiral Peter Loyd "we have ongoing operational plans for this unit in the Tigress river in Iraq after the discovery of Bull Sharks there".

The following Underwater Onion was brought to you by Shark Diver. Yes, we know it's been a while since the last U/O but we have been busy;)

Jaws 2007-A Movie That Never Was

But an interesting video mashup none the less. Not sure what Mr.Cameron thinks about this:

Holiday Cheer-From RTSea

Let the Bloody Mary's begin...it's the drink of choice for all shark divers far and near.

"Happy Holidays" backatcha RTSea!

Editors Note: Did Shredder grow horns?

Theater of the Grotesque-A Family Shark Kill?

We're still trying to drill down the "when and where" of this Tiger Shark kill and the images keep getting worse. We had seen some of these but not all. Kudo's to Trules Jemtland for finding this full image suite online. Nice bit of detective work.

If this is the Bahamas-which is likely, these images could still serve a media purpose leading the way for fisheries changes in the Bahamas. These,sadly, are the kind of images that do effect change and garner "sympathy for the devil".

On a personal note, this is a crime, made worse by the fact this was a gravid female. The pile of bloody shark pups is something we hope we never see online again.

Warning:These images are graphic.



TIGER SHARK MARCH 2008

Bahamas? Mystery or not this image is out

This image is part of a series we looked at a while ago. It is reportedly a dead Tiger in the Bahamas, obviously gravid.

Like other images such as the Great White in the Bahamas this spring, we waited until we had confirmation to post the image and back story. This Tiger image "pedigree" has eluded us thus far. No one knows anything, not the marinas, not the commercial docks, not the fisheries department.

Unlike the imageless story of another dead Tiger at Old Bahama Bay Resort this spring-we confirmed with the staff at the resort and the dock master that indeed a female, and once again gravid, Tiger shark was taken and killed there.

Helmut Nickel from the Shark-l has post two of the images online with the question we're sure everyone wants to know...is this the Bahamas?

Time it seems, for even "well known sharks", is not a given or even a luxury. This mystery remains if you know anything about this image let us know.

Anderson Cooper's Stunt Journalism

From the Washington Times this morning a "news industry" look at Anderson Cooper's Planet In Peril. For the record we're going to depart from our CV and jump to Anderson's defense, that entire series was great conservation television:

Anderson Cooper is a fine journalist, which is all the more reason for CNN to stop trying to feed him to sharks.

Last night CNN ran its program "Planet in Peril: Battle Lines," which careened from continent to continent, crisis to crisis, anxiety to anxiety, in what can only be called porn for paranoiacs. Some of it was very well done, but the overall product, I fear, felt like stunt journalism, ranging from Lisa Ling braving the Nigerian backwaters to meet with gun-blazing militants to, most prominently, Cooper swimming with great white sharks.

First he swam inside a shark cage. Then -- Cooper in peril!!! -- he swam without the cage, among those mindless monsters, clinging to a rock at the sea bottom while they circled hungrily. You could almost hear Sean Hannity in the distance screaming "EAT HIM! EAT HIM!"

I found myself impressed more than anything by the CNN expense account. Cooper, Sanjay Gupta and Lisa Ling were zooming all over the planet, to remote deserts, an island in the Pacific, deepest jungle, the Andes, and so on, and documenting all manner of horrors and injustices. But it felt scatterbrained, showy and entirely driven by the visuals. Yes, it's neat to look at great white sharks up close, and to wonder if they'll devour the anchorman (to a cry of "Anchor away!!!), but what does that have to do with anything?

Here's the CNN Planet in Peril website.

And here's an exhaustive summary of all the amazing things that Cooper & Co. did to document the planet in peril.

RTSea on the Undersea Voyager Project

From RTSea Blog today:

I had the pleasure of attending a press event for the Undersea Voyager Project that was held at one of my regular stomping grounds, the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. It's great to attend these events as you get to meet new people with similar interests, concerns, and passions for marine conservation.

The Undersea Voyager Project is headed up by Scott Cassell, who has done considerable study and research on the Humboldt Squid - a particularly voracious predator typically found in deeper water but makes more local appearances from time to time. The primary thrust of the Project is an ambitious program involving submersibles and a variety of different marine science projects, culminating in the development of a larger submersible that will act as an undersea classroom bringing science to the general public in a very real and as-it-happens way.

I find this very exciting because throughout my involvement in marine conservation as a filmmaker and giving screenings and lectures, I have found that there is a tremendous amount of scientific data that does not get effectively translated into issues, implications and solutions for the general public to understand and appreciate. As an example, we have decades of data documenting climate change - and yet there are still many people who refuse to accept it.

Organizations like the Undersea Voyager Project can be of tremendous benefit in enlightening the public, young and old, to important issues regarding our oceans. Marine conservation must not be obscure or vague; it must be made real and tangible to all people: to the general public, to the decision-makers, and to the future generations of scientists-in-the-making.

Check out the Undersea Voyager Project web site and give it your support.

Editors Note: We would also like to lend our weight to Scott Cassel. He's one of the genuine articles.

Hey Lucy...I'm Hooooome!

THIS is what you look like after spending 10 months at sea...in a rowboat...in the vast and unforgiving Pacific.

Did we mention this was intentional!?

The eyes tell the story here. Kudo's to the crazy Italian who went for gold, and god help this guys girlfriend when he comes home. A mere week at sea turns all of our crews into sex starved loons...cannot even imagine what this guys thinking right now:

It was a rather ignominious end to a grand adventure. After 10 months of rowing alone across the vast Pacific Ocean, eating only dried food and with nothing but emails from fans for company, Alex Bellini was rescued by a tugboat, just 65 nautical miles from his destination.

Mr Bellini, 30, set off on his solo crossing from Lima, Peru, in February, and had planned to next set foot on land in Sydney on Saturday. His plan was to row across the great ocean in his 25-foot boat. For 99 per cent of the gruelling journey, success seemed to be within his grasp.

ABC news with Luke Tipple: Great White Shark cage accident at Guadalupe Island

From Luke Tipple's Blog this week. A look into the firestorm of media surrounding Isla Guadalupes best documented and unnecessary cage breach. We happen to agree with Luke's position and while unpopular to some of the smaller minded in our community "who just see personal gain" what was needed to be said about this sad event, was said, and that takes leadership.

What neither the shooter of this video, who last week could be seen tastelessly trotting around signed pieces of shattered cage on national television, nor the operator seem to comprehend is the blow back from this event in Mexico.

This cage breach video and subsequent posting on You Tube directly resulted in a ban on all chumming at the island in 2008.

Unfortunately it does not end here as the national media in Mexico now has this story and you can rest assured there will be much more in terms of anti-shark diving sentiment from Mexico in the coming weeks and months:

Recently I was asked to give my comments on the “Great White Shark Accident”, a viral video that gained worldwide attention after heavy YouTube exposure. The video depicts a large (around 14-15 feet) White Shark ‘breaching’ a the cage of a well known and respected cage diving operator at Isla Guadalupe. My comments were picked up by ABC news as you can see in the following video:

The response was overwhelming and rather interesting. It is the opinion of some people in the shark diving industry that nothing should have been said about ‘operator error’, effectively the strategy was to simply hope that the issue would go away. I find that a rather difficult plan to follow when the divers in question have since appeared on the nationally aired ‘Today Show’ and their video has hit ever major news desk in the world. That includes the front page of Australian and British newspapers not to mention many morning and evening talk/news shows.

It is my opinion that a video such as this, released without due care to follow up PR, can only be detrimental to the shark diving industry. Major news websites and blogs have gone so far as to suggest that shark (cage) diving is “dangerous and terrifying”, “training sharks to eat people”, even claiming that accidents like this occur with regularity.

As an industry professional and passionate supporter of sustainable eco-tourism (in this case shark diving) I cannot abide these comments. Our industry regularly takes abuse from people who do not understand what it is we do. The shark diving industry is worth 200 million dollars annually worldwide and in many cases is responsible for helping police and protect dive sites and endangered animals from damage while channeling much needed money into research and conservation. There are certainly operators who could manage their businesses in a safer or more ethical way, but that is a subject for another discussion.

As far as Guadalupe goes the fact remains, in 2008 the Mexican government sent their Navy to enforce their new ‘no baiting’ guidelines. This was partly influenced by videos such as the ‘cage accident’. This decision is a threat to our industry and tourism operations, all of which help support local research and contribute funds to the Mexican economy and Guadalupe’s conservation.

The accident was an isolated incident that is extremely unlikely to happen again. Claims that the animal was at fault have no relevance whatsoever… the explanation is simply this:

This predator reacted to a stimulus which was placed too close to an obstruction giving it little to no time to react or turn to avoid collision. That’s it.

With a little care about the message we put out our industry could avoid a lot of the drama that it perpetuates. I stand by my comments on air as in the end I’d rather see an endangered and beautiful species of animal get off the proverbial hook for a change, if that means someone admits a one off mistake, so be it.

Our Very Own Shark Attack Playset

Must be the holidays again because the parade of shark related gifts from ex shark divers and friends are pouring in. Ahhh, we loves our holiday season.

This nifty present we opened today-thanks Tony, Sheri and Andreas!

As you can see Discovery Channel's "other wing" Animal Planet is behind this interesting and very sharky creation. We'll try and explain what you cannot see in this image. In no particular order:

Animal Planet Shark Attack Playset

"press dorsal fin to move jaws" (huge chomping action white shark)

"I floss everyday" (image of great white mouth open)

"includes diver with accessories, diving cage, great white shark with moving jaws, and smaller tiger shark" (way cool cage design, with diver in rebreather set up)

"say cheese"(another great white mouth open)

"try me!" (reach in and chomp the shark at the diver, hours of fun)

In short we'll rate this almost as cool as one of last years gifts the ever popular "Shark With Frickn' Lazer Beam" still in it's original packaging.

What is this saying to kids 5 and up? Take it up with Discovery Channel if you have a beef. For us we'll just sit back and enjoy the sharky holiday glow of it all. Now with 40% more chomping action!

Massive Mako Mother Makes Good Science

So....we missed the flight to NZ but the story remains one of predatory fascination. Turns out this female had recently given birth. More than 800 onlookers showed up:

The 3.6-metre, 460-kilogram shark died in the Mapua channel last month.

Conservation Department shark expert Clinton Duffy, who carried out the dissection, found an empty stomach and that the mako gave birth recently. The autopsy indicated it may have been killed by an encounter with a boat.

There was massive bruising behind its jaws, Touch the Sea aquarium marine educator Richard de Hamel said. "So it may have been feeling a bit sick, then got a bump on the head, and that's really put her on the downhill slide."

The condition of the shark's uterus showed it had given birth within the past few months.

A sample of its spine was taken and its growth rings will be used to determine its age, which was probably about 30. Video here.

The "Imperial Presidency"...Ends With A Shoe

Good by and farewell Mr.President:

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.

Smart Conservation-Minus the Viral Factor

The guys over at BAD posted an excellent shark conservation video teaser today. Had to say we liked it too...except the most important factor posting any video on You Tube-the viral factor.

Having a first rate conservation message that perhaps 30,000 people see is like pouring a "cup of salt" on an Antarctic Ice Shelf. We need more videos like these and we need to open them up to a wider audience. Kudo's to Leslie Rochat for this effort. Cannot wait to see the completed doco:

Maybe it's the legacy of decennia of successful terrestrial Conservation - but South Africa seems to be a fertile breeding ground for efficient and intelligent Shark Conservationists, which of course is great!

Case in point: Lesley Rochat who has posted this video on YouTube.
Shame that she has de-activated the embedding feature and thus limited its circulation.

I like it because despite being chillingly graphic, it nevertheless manages to remain pragmatic and doesn't gratuitously vilify and demonize the perpetrators and the Authorities.

That's smart Conservation.

Those are the very same people one will eventually have to meet in order to flesh out what cannot be but a compromise. Ultimately, it is them who will have to sign , and then do (or stop doing) something and that requires that one continues to talk. Yes, certainly assertively but never impolitely.

How not to do it is amply demonstrated by the recent Whale hunting fiasco - and I'll leave it at that.

Magnapinna Squid-Perhaps, Perhaps

We got the following email this morning about that face hugger critter found at 7800 feet back in November of 2007. We had an ident of Magnapinna perhaps the scariest looking critter you would ever not want to meet free diving at night. The email is from the ROV company who caught this on tape.

Now we're not so sure about the ident, here's the email, anyone out there know what this is?

Gentlemen,

I work as Senior Project Engineer for DOF Subsea Australia. I am on secondment to one of our companies in as you can see from my email signature below. We're an engineering and offshore services contractor to the oil and gas industry. We also perform all kinds of offshore work and recently you may have seen our team and one of our survey vessels was responsible for the locating of the HMAS Sydney. A long lost battleship of the Australian Navy that was sunk in battle in WW2.

We design and fabricate and install all manner of equipment and systems in all corners of the oceans. We have dedicated vessels from which we perform all our work and on these vessels we carry a full survey crew, an ROV crew for each onboard ROV, Saturation Diving crews, marine crew, deck crew and engineering staff. Within the travels we have collected large amounts of digital footage recorded from at least one of the 7 onboard cameras of the ROV(s) (some vessels have two) and share them amongst ourselves. I have attached the footage of the squid????? as described.

You can see from the title that the ROV boys have named it “Creature” you’ll see why. From the video overlay you can see the Eastings and Northings for the location in the Gulf from the onboard survey systems and the depth as recorded by the onboard ROV instruments.

Anyway if you can indent this let me know.

Company website

The Ethics of Shark Diving

The following video aptly highlights a post from earlier this year. We suggested that the ongoing rule of thumb within our industry was actually working against it. That would be "Out do the other guy".

At some shark dive sites the headlong rush to offer more adrenaline fueled encounters and the abandonment of nearly all safety protocols will eventually lead to disaster.

The site in this video is Tiger Beach, Bahamas.

At one time there was only one operation here. That operation with the help of photographers and hundreds of videos on You Tube and elsewhere set the bar for the current operations who are growing by the year.

The question with this video is about ethics and sustainability in our industry and once again the power of You Tube and viral media to portray our industry in a less than positive light:

Master Shark Diver-Great Idea

We got sent over to the Shark Life conservation site today and "discovered" another great shark conservation idea.

Obviously someone put a lot of time and effort into creating a conservation based shark diving program that works.

Why is this not front page industry news?

The commercial shark diving industry generates a lot of "great ideas" put forth by some very bright people. Most go by the wayside or end up as regional efforts that few others get exposed to.

This Master Shark Diver Program is one of the better conservation ideas we have seen in a while. Kudo's.

Your Chance To Get Up Close To A Massive Mako

Count us in-we're scrambling for frequent flyer miles. Spring in New Zealand with a 12 foot Mako?

Priceless:

11 December 2008 - A mako shark collected as it died in the Mapua estuary, near Nelson, recently will be dissected at an open viewing this Saturday.

The dissection will be lead by Department of Conservation shark expert, Clinton Duffy, one of the country's leading shark researchers.The huge female shark presents an exciting and sought after research opportunity - only one pregnant female mako has even been recorded in New Zealand waters before.

Clinton will examine the shark's reproductive tract to uncover crucial evidence that will help researchers answer questions about the lifecycle of mako sharks. If the shark is pregnant, DNA samples will be collected from the embryos to investigate the possibility of multiple paternity occurring in this species.

The massive size of the shark - over 3.3m long and weighing in at 460kg - means the shark could be close to being as old as makos get. Vertebrae samples could provide much needed clues to help determine the age of the shark. This can then be used to estimate natural mortality, how many pups a female mako can produce in her life time and allows researchers to better estimate growth rates of large sharks.

Members of the public are welcome to view the dissection. The dissection will take place on the car park area near Mapua Wharf (near Nelson), on Saturday 13 December, rain or shine. The dissection will begin around 12.30pm and is expected to take 2 - 3 hours. There is no charge.

CNN-Wild Aid-Conservation Home Run

After months of bad news about sharks, along comes this mornings in-depth and quite frankly astonishing coverage of Taiwans sharks fin trade by CNN's-Lisa Ling and Peter Knights of WildAid

The "Planet in Peril" crew traveled with Knights to Taiwan's southern port city of Kaohsiung, which is considered one of the world's main hubs for shark fins. We watched as the fishermen unloaded their catch. Thousands of fins were thrown from one of the ships that had spent months fishing the international waters of the Pacific.

Real and lasting conservation media starts with credible sources and ends with in depth reporting like this. Kudo's to the entire team who put this together, from the video crew to the line producers, this is first rate NGO work and first rate television/media.

When Disaster Videos Go Viral-Tracking The Spread

We have been tracking the spread of one of the worst cage breach videos ever to be caught on tape. The event happened at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico in 2007 and was posted on You Tube shortly after waiting for an editor or producer to take it mainstream.

That happened on Monday when the Times Online covered the video. What happened next is a classic case of viral negative media.

Today we'll be looking through the media lens on this event to highlight how far this video has spread-estimating the number of people who have been impacted.

Negative operational events (NOE's) affect the entire shark diving industry and ripple through the global media like wildfire. This is one example of how poor media handling immediately after an event has lead to the current negative media storm. Sadly, in the end, the sharks are the real victims here once again portrayed as 70's iconic, vicious killers.

Today is Wednesday December 10.2008-72 hours after the initial story broke in the U.K

International Newspapers

1. Times Online readership 618,160
2. Telegraph U.K readership 882,413
3. The Sun readership 7,900,000
4. Courier Mail Au 224,689

US Coverage

1. Today Show NBC-USA viewers 4,910,000
2. Today Show NBC-USA viewers 4,910,000 (second show Dec 11)
3. CBS Evening News-USA viewers n/a
4. ABC Good Morning America viewers 5,656,000

Major Viral Video Sites

1. You Tube 1 views 683,140
2. You Tube 2 views 149,541
3. You Tube 3 views 15,419
4. Break.com views 291,877
5. Travelistic.com views 27,160

Blogs

A quick blog search shows this video on well over 400 blogs and video posts at this time. Estimated numbers of viewers is hard to count.

Summary

The coverage of this video by the mainstream media will burn out by the end of this week. The driving force behind this video's success has been CNN's Planet in Peril and a recent expose on cage diving in South Africa. The story will not end here. This video will now sit on literally thousands of servers across the planet with absolutely no chance of it being taken down.

"Post spin" after a negative operational event (NOE) is not effective. Viewers of this video make up their own minds based on the negative media in front of them and will continue to carry that view. The real tragedy here is the animal which was put into an "artificial situation" driving both the anti shark diving agenda, and the negative image of sharks.

Operators have a small window immediately after an event like this to control media should they choose to exercise this option. Failing to do so, as we have seen this week, damages everyone.