Shark Week 2009

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Shark Diving Industry? What Industry?

We know several things about both Hawaii Shark Encounters and North Shore Shark Adventures.

Both are solid, reputable commercial shark diving operators, and both are facing the chopping block unless our "industry" get's off it's collective ass and jumps in to the rescue.

It is rare to ask for help, it is industry leadership to offer it and see it through.

So, any takers out there? Is there one operator, dive group, website, chatroom, gear site, or individual that will take up the cause for these guys and push back against the tidal wave of anti-shark diving sentiment in Hawaii?

We had some ideas about what might be done immediately this week. It is not too late.


Nishiki offers bill to ban shark tours.

By BRIAN PERRY, City Editor.

POSTED: July 8, 2009.

WAILUKU - Maui County has no tours available for visitors to plunge into the
ocean and watch sharks cruise by from the safety of submerged cages.

And Maui County Council Member Wayne Nishiki wants to make sure such an
activity doesn't come here.

"I think we need to take precautions," he said, adding that he's concerned
that if shark tours become established in Maui County waters, then surfers,
swimmers and everyone else who enjoys the ocean could be endangered.

Nishiki said he particularly objects to outsiders coming to Maui to exploit
a business opportunity without regard for the lifestyle or safety of residents.

"All they're interested in is the big buck and that's it," he said Tuesday.

Nishiki said he's seeking a county ordinance that would ban shark tours in
Maui County. He said the county has the power to do so by blocking business
licenses for the activity.

The South Maui council member introduced the shark tour prohibition during a
meeting Tuesday. The matter was referred to the council's Economic
Development, Agriculture and Recreation Committee, chaired by Jo Anne Johnson.

Nishiki said that although he would like the state Legislature to pass a
ban, he doesn't know how long it will take for the state to take action.

Nishiki's proposal included a copy of a Honolulu City Council resolution
urging the passage and enforcement of state legislation to ban commercial
shark-viewing tours and related activities.

He said he didn't want to see the Maui County Council pass only a resolution
because it would not have the force and effect of law.

Shark-viewing tours attract paying customers on Oahu's North Shore, but
there's a growing statewide movement to stop the tours from operating. Some
Native Hawaiians consider sharks to be ancestral gods, and they find it
offensive to have tourists feeding and viewing them for entertainment.

Surfers and environmentalists worry that shark tours might have the ocean
predators linking people with food, and scientists say luring sharks to
certain areas could disrupt the ecological balance in near-shore waters.

Shark Free Marinas - Fiji Initiative

Kadavu, Fiji Islands – June 25, 2009 – The international Shark-Free Marina Initiative works with marinas, boaters and fishermen to develop policy designed to protect a vital component of the oceans health, our sharks.

The majority of shark species caught by recreational and sport anglers are currently listed by the IUCN as ‘Threatened’ (or worse) and each year an average of a ½ Million of these sharks are killed in the United States alone.

By encouraging non-lethal ‘catch-and-release’ shark fishing your patrons and clients can enjoy their sport while ensuring that shark populations are not further diminished. By promoting sustainable practices of ocean management we hope that sharks will be around to keep our oceans healthy for generations to come.

Currently we are working in Fiji at certifying all marinas and charter fishing boats as ‘Shark-Free Marinas’. Matava and Bite Me Gamefishing Charters was the first in Fiji to sign up and has agreed to promote, coordinate and distribute information about the Initiative. We hope that Fiji can be the first country to be proud to announce itself as a ‘Shark-Free Marinas’ Country!

Even if your facility is not frequented by shark fishermen, becoming a Shark-Free Marina is a valuable ‘green’ stamp and a promotional tool for your business.

You will receive a listing on the Shark-Free Marina website as well as the right to use the SFMI logo and signs for your own publicity. We are currently working on importing the stickers, posters and metal dock signs into Fiji for distribution to registered businesses, charter boats and marinas.

The SFMI website also has an education centre that we hope your clients will find useful, it includes tips on how to catch and release shark, a list of Endangered and Threatened species plus information on how they can help protect the ocean.

Neither Matava or SFMI is asking for your money, just your participation in saving the many valuable species of sharks in our local Fiji waters.

Please take the time to visit the SFMI website to find out more about how you can contribute to the future survival of our sharks while ensuring your business continues to thrive.

REGISTER HERE!

If I can be of any further assistance or help, just drop me a line.

Sincerely,
Stuart Gow
Fiji Regional Associate
Shark-Free Marina Initiative

Matava – Fiji’s Premier Eco Adventure Resort
Bite Me Gamefishing Charters

Simple Registration
This is a simple and free process that ensures your patrons and customers know your business cares about the worldwide problem of shark over-fishing and that your marina or charter fishing boat will not contribute to the problem.

To register simply:
Register online at www.sharkfreemarinas.com
Display a ‘Shark-Free Marina’ sign on the marina premises or on the charter boat.

About Shark-Free Marina Initiative
The Shark-Free Marina Initiative has a singular purpose, to reduce worldwide shark mortality. We encourage shark conservation at sport fishing and resort marinas by prohibiting the landing of any shark at the participating marina. The SFMI works with marinas, fishermen and like minded non-profit groups to form community conscious policy and increase awareness of the need to protect our sharks, our ocean and our legacy.

About Matava – Fiji’s Premier Eco Adventure Resort
Matava is the genuine eco-adventure lodge, beautifully set off the beaten track, minutes from the Great Astrolabe Reef on Kadavu Island. Our intimate resort has beautiful, comfortable bures, outstanding cuisine and offers a full range of adventure and cultural activities. Dive or take a course with our PADI dive professionals. Experience fantastic fish, pristine corals, Mantas and sharks. Try big game fishing, snorkeling, sailing, sea kayaking, trekking, and join in authentic cultural and village events! No roads, solar power, low carbon footprint make Matava the ideal and environmentally responsible location to relax and unwind.

About Bite Me Gamefishing Charters
Superb blue water game fishing for wahoo, sailfish and marlin with Bite Me Gamefishing Charters awaits you at Matava in Kadavu, Fiji Islands.As an active member of IGFA and The Billfish Association we also advocate tag and release of all billfish not deemed to be a National or World Record

Save a shark, eat something else - Op Ed

From the Shedd Aquarium this week you have to love reasoned, well written responses to shark propaganda:

As Director of Sustainable Practices at Shedd Aquarium, I am disappointed that for the second year in a row, shark is being served at Taste of Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune article, "Shark Among Healthy Offerings at Taste of Chicago" (Entertainment) dated June 25, also raises a red flag over misconceptions about shark consumption.

Nearly 50 million sharks are killed each year for their fins, meat and cartilage, and another 50 million are accidentally caught by fishery nets and hooks intended for other species. This approximates to three sharks killed per second. A "red list" report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that 26 percent of all sharks and related species in the regional waters are threatened with extinction.

Avoiding shark meat and shark fin soup is one way we can help save shark populations worldwide, but we have much more work to do if these animals are still appearing on local plates.

Full Story

Mystery carcass may be legendary sea monster: expert

Huzzah!

Proof positive that sea monsters exist at least in lake Okanagan, where the remains of a 1.3 meter "tailed critter"washed up on the shores recently.

Yes, we know we called the whole Bigfoot thing wrong, but damn, they held a press conference about it. What sort of crazy backwoods idiots hold a press conference about a rubber monkey suit encased in ice?

If you're into sea monsters, and we are, here's the news with DNA samples and everything:

A mysterious looking body found along the shore of Okanagan Lake might be the remains of the legendary Ogopogo, an expert says.

Dan Poppoff found the 1.2-metre-long carcass last month while he was kayaking in the lake, close to the B.C. Interior city of Kelowna.

The Kelowna resident immediately called Arlene Gaal, who has written three books about the legendary sea creature and documented sightings of the Ogopogo for the last 30 years.

A day later, he sent her a photo of the carcass.

"I told him he had my attention right away," Gaal said.

She told him to store the body in the freezer and has arranged for two scientists to analyze DNA from the tail.

The carcass had a spinal cord and vertebrae, which made it one of the first interesting discoveries she's seen in the last 30 years.

"This is something very important to the scientific community. What we're looking at is an unidentified species and this might open the door to this mystery," she said.

Like Scotland's mythical Loch Ness monster, evidence of the Ogopogo's existence is largely anecdotal.

Since 1978, about 1,000 sightings of the Ogopogo have been recorded in the Okanagan. Every year, at least five people come forward to say that they have seen the sea monster.

Two sightings have already been reported in 2009. Those who claim to have seen the animal say it resembles a whale in its size, the way it moves and the commotion it creates when it emerges from the water.

"We're looking at a definite large animal that is swimming in the Okanagan Lake. I'm sure of that," Gaal said.

Scott Cassell - Undersea Voyager

The Undersea Voyager Project is one of our favorite submersible/conservation efforts right now. Recently the team was in Lake Tahoe making news and discoveries:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A team of submariners that spent the month of May exploring Lake Tahoe and examined, among other things, evidence of an earthquake fault that may have ruptured thousands of years ago, is hoping the operation is just the beginning of their underwater explorations.

Scott Cassell, the sub's captain and founder of the non-profit Undersea Voyager Project, says his team has plans for a five-year mission to gather information and develop ideas to help restore endangered bodies of water around the world.

The goal, Cassell says, is to collect data and attract sufficient attention to prompt people and governments to halt pollution and overfishing and take other actions to protect threatened bodies of water.

A two-person submarine spent the past month cruising Lake Tahoe, examining earthquake faults, ancient submerged trees and beds of invading clams that threaten the lake.

"I think it's a very useful tool," said John Kleppe, a University of Nevada-Reno scientist who for years has researched submerged trees, some more than 3,000 years old, in Fallen Leaf Lake just west of Lake Tahoe. The trees, which grew when the lake level was lowered by lengthy drought, provide a "very good record of climate change," Kleppe said

“It’s like playing cricket with hand grenades”

With that memorable quote one of the most remarkable announcements in fisheries conservation was broadcast the planet this week, as maverick tuna baron Hagen Stehr told the world his team had Bluefin Tuna breeding in captivity.

Worldwide tuna stocks are down 70-80% as massive netting operations capture the last remaining tuna, netting in some cases 100% of the school.

The 60 million dollar Australian gamble to raise this valuable species in captivity has seen its share of set backs and disappointments with many "tuna pundits" saying it could not be done.

You can always bet on an Australian to come up with a solution to almost any problem.

Kudos.

Full Story

Chumslick - Blogger, Activist, Poet/Warrior

We have been fans of the Chumslick Blog (written by an actual shark) for a while now.

Today the C.B jumped into the issue of commercial shark diving in Hawaii. Like us Chumslick understands the positive benefits of commercial shark diving encounters - done right.

Read the post.

If commercial shark diving in Hawaii is to survive the virtual onslaught of anti-shark diving sentiment being levied against it by a handful of islanders, politico's and malcontents, the following industry wide help will be needed.

1. 10 "30 second" pro-shark industry you tube videos featuring well known dive industry names

2. Letters from industry filmmakers and photographers to tourism Hawaii and government

3. Letters from wholesale and regional tourism companies who book Hawaii or the region

4. Pro Hawaii shark diving website that ties in all these elements

5. Pro bono distribution and op ed articles on scuba websites and industry news wires

This is not rocket science, it is Media 101. Hanging in the balance are two good shark diving companies with unblemished track records and thousands of satisfied customers.

As an industry member you can support these operations, without your support these operators future remains in grave doubt. What's a stake is the future of other sites when Hawaii closes down shark diving in their waters forever.

Death of a Titan - Puerto Nuevo, Mexico

At one of the longest running shark lists on the planet, the Shark-l, one poster Helmut Nickel comes up with unique shark media finds. This week his discovery of a dead white shark at a fishing camp in Mexico highlights the needs for stronger protections for these magnificent animals.

We blogged about sport take sharks last month in "One Shark".

Movement to shut down shark tours in Hawaii grows

What began as a terribly executed commercial cage diving roll out in Hawaii just a few months ago has devolved into a government sanctioned witch hunt...with no end in sight.

We have been tracking ongoing developments in Hawaii as they happen.

Hawaii shark diving operators now find themselves with an active opposition, on the wrong side of an obscure fisheries law, and facing an anti-shark diving champion in government.

What brought this negative tide was a skillful use of media by the anti-shark diving folks and a puzzling and very damaging media silence from the operators.

There's still time for the operators to roll out a sustained media campaign based on Shark Diving=Tourism=Economy. As each day goes by articles like this recent AP report just add fuel to the anti-shark diving lobby and seal the fate for the existing operators to the will of local and regional governments. Action taken early in an unfolding disaster can and will mitigate problems down the line.

The media tends to follow the story, that story can be shaped by either side of an issue but someone has to lead it. As each anti-shark diving lobby piece comes in two pro shark diving articles must go out. This issue, as far as politicians are concerned, revolves around who has the most votes.

The loss of Hawaii would be a blow to the industry in the western hemisphere. Already new rules and regulations for the Farallones now require divers, cages and vessels to be 140' away from white sharks at all times. Florida remains shut down to commercial shark diving after a 2001 decision there.

HALEIWA, Hawaii (AP) — Three women donned scuba masks and jumped into the waters off Oahu's North Shore, floating inside a submerged cage as about a dozen sharks glided toward bloody fish scraps tossed into the water by a tour company.

Tourist Kim Duniec said the experience of coming eye-to-eye with sharks was exhilarating. "Their eyes were scary, but they were still graceful, absolutely beautiful," the Beaver Dam, Wis., woman said.

Shark tours like this have become a popular visitor attraction in Hawaii, but a movement is gaining momentum to shut them down.

Some Native Hawaiians consider sharks to be ancestral gods and view feeding them for entertainment to be disrespectful of their culture. Surfers and environmentalists fear the tours will teach sharks to associate people with food — leading to an increase in attacks — while disrupting the ocean's ecological balance. Federal fisheries regulators, meanwhile, are investigating the tours on the grounds that they are illegally feeding sharks.

The anti-shark tour movement ignited when residents noticed a large metal cage mounted on a boat at a marina in front of a popular Hawaii Kai restaurant in March. They remembered Oahu's two shark tours used similar contraptions on the North Shore. The location of the tours helped fuel the opposition — Hawaii Kai is an affluent bedroom community on the other side of Oahu.

Full Story

Goblin girl on... new locations for goblin sharks!

I recently recieved a paper called "New Findings of Rare Fish Species from Families Mitsukurinidae (Chondrichthyes), Muraenidae, Lophiidae, Macrouridae, and Psychrolutidae (Teleostei) on Raises of the Atlantic Ocean with the Description of Gymnothorax walvisensis sp. nova" by A. M. Prokofiev and by A. M. Prokofiev and E. I. Kukuev 2009. They reported two findings of goblin sharks from the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The area is called Vavilov seamount (see pic to the left).

When I searched for an other paper they referred to in the paper mentioned above, I found an other paper called "Insufficiently studied fishes of the open ocean - Ichthyofauna of Corner Mountains and New England Seamounts" by Kukuyev from 1982. In this paper they tell about 9 goblin sharks that also were caught at the Mid-Atlantic ridge, but on a different location (see pic with small yellow dot in the middle, showing the location). The depth was 2000 - 4100 m (!). Not a diveable depth! It's always fascinating that something can live at these depths, that there is huge mountain chain that we can't see...

We have a real heat wave in Sweden at the moment. I think I will stay inside - where it is not cold, but cooler at least! - and read the new book "Oceanic Anglerfishes - extraordinary diversity in the deep sea" by Theodore W. Pietsch...

For links to summary of the first paper and the full text of the second, see my personal homepage http://blogs.myspace.com/tenguzame

North Carolina Has a "Big Problem"

File this latest video under sewer monsters, new science, or whatever. WE have been saying for a while now that the nexus of sewer lines, dumped American Pharmacopoeia and feces is a "recipe for disaster".

Now ladies and gentlemen, we have proof positive of things scary underground in North Carolina of all places:

Oceans Magazine - Shark Diver

This month Oceans Magazine featured Shark Diver and a first encounter story told by one of our shark divers Steve Hutchings.

DIVING WITH SHARKS

Written by Steve Hutchings, Courtesy of Shark Diver, www.sharkdiver.com

Photographs by Derek Heasley, www.scubabreaks.com


I saw Jaws when I was eleven, after which I was so petrified of the water I wouldn't go in the bathtub for a year. This is one of many thoughts swimming through my head as I step off the stern of the MV Islander and onto the top of a cage suspended three meters below the surface of shark infested waters. Our dive master, Luke Tipple, hands my mouthpiece to me, from which I'll be breathing surface-supplied air. I insert the mouthpiece and grab my underwater camera. With a deep breath, I slide into the cage below.

I share the cage with Jim, an American scuba instructor, and Leigh and Lisa, an English couple on a working holiday. Although I swam with reef sharks in Thailand three years previous, we're all rookie shark divers in these waters, having endured several months of comments like "Shark Bait"!? from our peers, united by our desire, and each of us having plopped down three thousand U.S. dollars with San Diego based Shark Diver to experience the oft-vilified, yet enigmatic great white shark.

We move around the cage for the first five minutes, searching for any signs of a great white. Scores of mackerel cloud our view, attracted to the two tunas that the crew set out to attract the sharks. Then, amidst the fish below our cage, I see a shark. He's smaller than I anticipated. About two meters long, he propels himself with slow, side-to-side movements of his tail. I watch, mesmerized as he disappears from sight.

Several more sharks appear sporadically over the next ten minutes before disappearing for half an hour. We begin to think we've seen our last shark on this dive. Luke taps the other cage with a metal bar, indicating the end of the hour long dive. I watch as the divers in the other cage ascend and wait for a new set of four divers to replace them. Nothing. I climb out of our cage, and when I reach the surface, Luke, in his Australian accent, says, "Steve, mate, do me a favor and go back under. There are sharks all around you and it's too dangerous to come up."

I panic, thinking there are too many sharks around the boat for our crew to handle and that the situation has deteriorated to dangerous. I let go of the ladder and fall back into the cage, dragged down by the forty pound diving belt, and land on my rear end. I'm still struggling to get off my backside, when a large female shark swims past our cage, two meters in front of us. The other three divers clamor to get their cameras in position. I'm still trying to get on my feet. That's when I see another shark, swimming directly toward me. My heart races as his snout gets bigger, and closer. Just as I'm convinced he's going to attack our cage, at less than a meter away, he veers to his right and swims past me, and I notice something about him that I've never seen in any pictures of a great white - a purple ring around his pupil. We stare at each other, eye to eye, until he's past our cage and disappears into the background.

I just made eye contact with a great white shark.

Such was our first dive at Guadalupe Island, off Baja California, about three hundred kilometers south of San Diego, on a five day, live-aboard diving expedition arranged by Shark Diver. Great whites congregate here, off Guadalupe, between August and December each year. The sharks seen here are resident sharks. Much like the resident orcas off Vancouver Island, marine biologists have named about sixty of the estimated two hundred sharks. Chica, Bruce, and the ever popular Shredder are some of the well-known sharks at Guadalupe, the latter being a favorite of many divers for his consistency and his aggressive attitude. On a subsequent dive he veered towards a male diver in the cage, who retreated backward. A female diver later recounted that she watched Shredder's pupil following the male diver as he swam past the cage, seemingly pleased that he intimidated the man.

I guess boys will be boys, no matter what the species.

Editors Note: Shark Diver takes interactions with great whites seriously. We always defer to the animals. Once in a while when the situation is deemed necessary by our dive operations manager we keep divers in cages when it is time for rotation. Distracting the deck crew when 5-7 animals are on site and "hot" is a recipe for disaster, as such such we have a standard policy of animals first.

Shark Diver remains an industry leader of safe shark encounters with a 100% safety record, no sharks in cages, no animals hurt. It's an industry record we're proud of.

Whale Sharks - Instant Tourism

Off the coast of Louisiana large aggregations of whale sharks occur each year. At least one enterprising boat captain has decided to research "whale shark tourism" in tandem with shark researcher Eric Hoffmayer of the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Lab:

The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS – A commercial fishing boat captain who spotted dozens of the world's biggest fish off Louisiana's coast turned his boat into a research vessel for a week this month, taking scientists and photographers to look for whale sharks. Seven whale sharks were identified, and three of the spotted fish were tagged; researchers were able to swim with some of them. They took video and still photographs, and skin samples for DNA work. The tags are designed to pop off and send information about the sharks' movements to a satellite after eight or nine months – earlier if the sharks dive so deep that water pressure might squash the tags.

RED LIST
Whale sharks are on the World Conservation Union's "red list" of threatened species. No one knows how many whale sharks exist, but researchers said the total may be as high as 500,000 – a small figure for fish.

Capt. Russell Underwood offered to host the whale shark expedition after spotting a group of at least 44 of the fish last year. Those found this month were about 55 miles off the coast.

Darien Island Panama, Shark Fin Loophole?

One of the truly frustrating issues with fisheries regulations is the dreaded "loophole".

No matter how solid government sanctioned fisheries laws are there will always be a loophole somewhere in the wording that allows unregulated or marginal fisheries activities to continue.

Case in point - a recent scene of utter destruction on Darien Island, Panama:

Hundreds of juvenile sharks slayed for their fins yet nobody knows anything. Tourists witness the scene PANAMA. Panama Marvel Tours is a local tour company which explores the fauna and flora of Panama. On a recent trip, company director, Lory Forero de Proctor took two Americans – one a military man and the other a House worker - for a sea tour in Darien. They were in for a shocking experience.

The travellers departed from Punta Alegre to visit Cedro Island, a mineral-rich site in the Caribbean Sea. On landing, they decided to explore the island, only to find a scene of death. A huge area of the coast was covered with hundreds - if not thousands – of dismembered juvenile sharks. "Without noticing it at first, we were walking over their dead bodies," said Lory, disconcerted and ashamed the tourists had to witness this tragic sight. She said they saw nearby a small boat of indigenous people with fishing nets, which could mean that the sharks were victims of artisanal fin-fishing. But since there were no witnesses, this is just a theory.

Shark fining is the removal and retention of shark fins and the discard at sea of the carcass. In this case, the sharks were just tossed on the beach. The international demand for shark fins is enormous and represents big income in the economy but illegal and excessive catches are a threat to conservation of the species. La Estrella contacted the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP) to know where they stand on this matter but the person in charge of this topic was not reachable. A public relations employee told the newspaper that it could mean a case of illegal fishing.

She said ARAP has ports that regulate all fishing activities in Panama. She also remarked that the method seen in the pictures is not adequate and that it could contaminate the island. ARAP´s office of Inspection, Surveillance and Control said that had not received any prior report of this matter. They will now contact their regional office in Darien for them to go and inspect the area. Law 44 of 2006 sanctions the crime of illegal fishing with minimal fines - $100 – and seizure of the product.

Law 9 of March 16 2006 prohibits the practice of shark fining in Panamanian territorial waters. However it does not include the fishing of juvenile sharks, according to the PR person in ARAP. Reports of suspicious fishing activities can be made to ARAP´s Inspection, Surveillance and Control office at 800-7272.

Businessman charged over alleged shark fin haul

A 35-year-old man could face up to $14 million in fines for commercial shark fishing offences following his arrest at Perth Airport yesterday.

Fisheries and Marine officers arrested Fu-Hsin Chen at Perth Airport as he was preparing to board a flight to Taiwan yesterday morning.

Chen was charged in relation to the alleged seizure of approximately 10 tonnes of shark products from a commercial fishing vessel at Broome Wharf almost a year ago.

Chen is the owner manager of Shine Year Fisheries (Aust) Pty Ltd. The company’s vessel Fortune was authorised to fish off the northern coast of WA.

Both Chen and his company have been charged under the Fish Resources Management Regulations, which state commercial fishing boats can only carry or unload whole shark.

Under the regulations sharks may have their fins cut from their bodies but only the head and parts removed during gutting can be disposed of at sea.

Fisheries northern region manager Peter Godfrey said the regulations were in place to prevent the unsustainable practice of “finning”, where the high value fins are retained and the low-value trunks are thrown overboard.

“The demand for shark fins from markets in Asia has resulted in worldwide concern over the future sustainability of shark stocks,” Mr Godfrey said.

Chen and his company face two charges which carry a maximum of $10,000 each and additional fines of up to $14 million.

If convicted the total fines imposed are at the discretion of the magistrate who may chose one of two mandatory penalties – to charge per weight of the sharks taken, or per individual shark.

PERTH
LISA CALAUTTI

Presenting Sharks - Badly

We have been rabid supporters of Shark Trust Wines and owner Melanie Marks over the years.

If you're in the shark conservation world you have heard of her or enjoyed her wines at innumerable ocean conservation events across the country.

Melanie's company acts as the "shark conversation lubricant" that has launched more conservation ideas, solutions, and efforts then her company generally gets attributed for.

Melanie also keeps tabs on all things shark related and this week alerted her shark network to a seemingly small and some might say insignificant issue with a regional eye wear company (see ad).

To folks like Melanie and Shark Trust Wines who have dedicated the last eight years of her life to sharks and the positive perception of sharks - every bit helps.

Kudos for bringing attention to this. If you would like to add your voice please do so, here is the website you can send a calm, well reasoned letter explaining the need for positive shark media.

vision-centre.com

Image of the Week

This just in from a sharky blog reader. One word for this image...Wowza!

A stingray leaps out of the water as it is hunted by a killer whale, whose fin can be seen below the ray, just off St. Heliers beach in Auckland, New Zealand, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

(AP Photo/New Zealand Herald Photograph, Brett Phibbs)

Shark Love - A New Take on JAWS?

Two men, one shark, and love. What's not to like about this?

Op Ed - Ireland Shark Kill

We have been following the eco blow back of a single, record Six Gill take, off the coasts of Ireland this week. When one dead shark becomes an ambassador for change.

Today another pro shark Op-Ed appeared in The Independent summing up the issue of sport take sharks.

Killing a majestic shark just for the ego-massage is plain wrong
By Ian O'Doherty

Friday June 26 2009

So, here's the deal. You like fishing, and while on holidays in County Clare you go out onto the water and before you know it, you get a bite. A big one, maybe even the biggest you've ever had.

So, after hours of battling the beast, you finally reel it in -- and discover that you've just nabbed a record-breaking half-tonne, six-gill shark.

They're incredibly rare off our waters and, for catching it with just a rod and line, Swiss angler Joe Waldis certainly deserves respect.

But to then have the shark killed so he could take it ashore and massage his ego by having his picture taken with this majestic creature was utterly despicable; a classic illustration of what happens to animals when man's ego crosses their path.

It's ironic that Waldis should land the fish in the same week that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature issued an alarming report warning that up to a third of the world's sharks and rays face imminent extinction due to over-fishing and the truly barbarous practise of 'finning'.

As shark fin soup continues to be a prized delicacy in Japan -- where, like just about every other food item they eat over there, it's seen to have aphrodisiac qualities -- thousands of sharks are caught every month.

When they're dragged aboard, their fins are sliced off and then the shark, still alive and in unbelievable pain, is unceremoniously dumped overboard, where it corkscrews down to the bottom, promptly drowning.

And, frankly, there is no difference in what those charming Japanese do to defenceless sharks to what Waldis did.

I'm certainly no vegetarian; indeed I'm a proud carnivore.

And when that creature is as rare and endangered and beautiful as a six-gill, it should be a crime to kill it simply to take a picture of the carcass.

Terrifying and majestic, these incredible creatures have a virtual stranglehold on the imaginations of millions, largely, but not entirely, down to Spielberg's classic Jaws.

That film seared itself into the psyche of several generations and, personally, still remains my favourite film of all time -- the pull shot focusing on Brody's face when the Kintner boy is attacked is still one of best pieces of cinematography in modern cinema history -- and it is certainly responsible for captivating millions of people.

After all, everyone's afraid of the dark and it doesn't get darker than the ocean depths and the creatures concealed within.

The irony of the success of Jaws, both the book and the movie, is that it led to the slaughter of tens of millions of sharks, as idiots everywhere decided they were going to become real-life shark hunters like Quint.

It was a situation which haunted the author, Peter Benchley, who then spent the rest of his life fighting for shark conservation.

The guilt of the unintended consequences of his actions virtually broke the man and, before his death from cancer when he was asked what his biggest regret was, he replied, tragically: "Writing Jaws."

The irony of being haunted by his most famous creation wasn't lost on him, and he spent his life spending the millions he made from the book and movie on shark conservation programmes in a desperate attempt to try and absolve himself of some of the crushing guilt he felt every day.

When asked about the possibility of an updated version of the film, he once commented: "Well, the shark could not be the villain; it would have to be the victim, for sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors.

"Interestingly, Ireland is one of the finest shark fishing spots in the world, with the nutrient-rich waters off our West Coast regularly attracting large Blues and Makos.

And earlier this month, there were rumours of a Great White being spotted off Cornwall.

So, when you consider that Whites have been found in the Bay Of Biscay, there's no reason why they shouldn't make it as far as Cornwall. And, if they can get as far as Cornwall then there's no reason why, much to the excitement of Irish shark lovers, they couldn't make it to our waters.

But I would fear for any Great White which would swim through our waters -- you can imagine the media hysteria, the panicked calls to Joe Duffy from parents who are afraid to let their precious children into the water and the general lack of composure that seems to afflict most people when the word 'shark' is mentioned.

But it's not just sharks that are needlessly killed.

Only a few months back, the papers were full of pictures of a woman who had paid to go to Zimbabwe so she could fulfil her rather odd ambition -- to kill an elephant with a bow and arrow.

The pictures of Teresa Groenwald-Hagerman proudly standing over the corpse of that once proud creature, beaming smugly at the camera holding the bow and arrow thankfully blew back into her face and it wasn't long before her personal details were up online and she was bombarded with thousands of abusive emails.

Despite what the lunatics in groups such as PETA would have you believe, there's nothing morally wrong about hunting for meat.

We are, after all, carnivores and are top of our food chain -- as sharks are in their environment.

But if you're going to kill something, kill it for the pot.

Anyone who kills something as beautiful as a shark simply for the ego massage is, frankly, a bit of a bastard.

And bags me first into the water if we ever do see a Great White off our shores ...

iodoherty@independent.ie

- Ian O'Doherty

COARE launches Ambassador program for Shark Safe initiative

The Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research, and Education, known more commonly by its acronym "COARE", recently announced that it is seeking Ambassadors for its Shark Safe certification program.

The Shark Safe program offers certification to qualifying restaurants and select businesses that demonstrate a commitment to shark conservation, and uses an easily recognizable logo to distinguish participating establishments.

COARE began development of its Shark Safe program in early-2007, seeking to protect sharks by raising awareness of threats to shark populations and by reducing the demand for shark products. In July of 2007, Jim Toomey, the artist behind the popular syndicated cartoon Sherman's Lagoon, joined the effort and helped form the Shark Safe logo in use today.

The forthcoming Shark Safe website (sharksafe.org) is under development, and will serve as a portal for consumers to find certified Shark Safe establishments, and for businesses aspiring to become Shark Safe to learn more about the program. As a conservation based effort, sharksafe.org will also offer information about the plight of sharks and about the need for their conservation.

COARE's recent announcement noted its plan to expand the program and that it was seeking Ambasssadors to extend the reach, depth, and effectiveness of the Shark Safe effort.

Visit http://www.coare.org/sharksafe for more information.

CNN Tackles Shark Use - Kudos

Today CNN tackled the harsh realities of traditional medicine use around the globe. It's an interesting take on sharks fin and cartilage use that often gets sidelined when talking sharks.

80% of Africa and Asia still uses traditional medicine as a first line cure for regional illness. While the earths population is hovering around 6,768,167,712 that's a massive demand for all raw use animal products, not just sharks:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Alternative treatments are as varied as the regions of the world they come from. And while they attract skepticism from some Western medical practitioners, they are an undeniable part of global health.

In parts of Asia and Africa, 80 percent of the population depend on these treatments as their primary form of healthcare.

Shark fin has long been used in traditional Asian medicine. Shark fin soup is regarded as a tonic that promotes general well-being, and shark fin has even been claimed to have anti-cancer properties. Shark fins are mainly composed of cartilage, a type of connective tissue found in the skeletal systems of many animals.

In Japan, they are sold by herbalists as a powder, in tablet form or as whole fins. While shark fin has been used for centuries in Asia, in recent years it has become more popular in the West.

A book called "Sharks Don't Get Cancer," published in 1992, popularized the idea of shark fin as an alternative cancer treatment in the West, and powdered shark fin is now sold as dietary supplement.

Full Story

When "One Shark" Becomes An Ambassador

You see it all the time. A large shark swimming on the other side of a public aquariums enclosure, an "ambassador shark". For those in the shark conservation world we have come to realize the positive effects of these solo animals on the public perception of sharks in general.

But what about dead sharks?

They too serve a purpose. Perhaps it is the sheer numbers of sharks that get taken for fins each year (25-75 million) that become the conservation movements hardest challenge.

How do you generate understanding and public sympathy for a number?

A single dead shark can generate understanding, sympathy and action. It was a single pregnant female Tiger taken in the Bahamas back in 2007 that spawned the Shark Free Marinas Initiative.

The public, no matter how jaded towards sharks, will respond to a single animal taken and killed for no obvious reason, and that is the heart of the shark conservation movement.

One shark, an ambassador for the entire species.

For a prime example of this look no further than a recent take in Ireland of an 18 foot Six Gill shark. This sport take of a single animal has managed to raise the ire and media bandwidth of many around the world including Ireland. This single animals death prompted a wave of conservation discussion - a feat that all the long liners off Ireland's coast could not.

We covered it too as it was quickly evident that this single shark was going to become the ambassador animal for the regions conservation news. Conservation change starts with the public understanding of sharks and "Sympathy for the Devil".

We can get there with these few unfortunate animals.

Shark Science - Run Over by Media

Last week we posted the Suns media hit on shark feeding behavior. The article likened all sharks on a general level to London's infamous "Jack the Ripper".

Typical shark media for the mainstream folks who often go to great lengths to instill a fear of sharks with the public.

What was not mentioned in our blog post was the origin of this media hit, a research paper by University of Miami's Neil Hammerschlag.

Here was the email we got today from Neil explaining how his research paper became the "shark topic de jour" this week:

Hi All,

This study is getting a lot of attention; however it is as misunderstood as sharks. Some media are sensationalizing/twisting the results of the study to sell papers. I hope readers will be more critical and seek out the real scientific paper.

In this study, a technique called geographic profiling (originally developed as a criminal investigation tool) was applied to analyze patterns of white shark predation on seals at Seal Island, in False Bay, South Africa.

Sharks hunt to eat. They are predators and seals are their prey. Serial killers have mental disorders and such disorders cannot be applied to animals. The study does not characterize sharks as serial killers in anyway, just that white sharks are more complex than we originally thought.

Sharks are constantly swimming, and unlike other animals they do not have the equivalent of a den, nest, or burrow. Therefore, establishing the existence (including location, size, and shape) of a search base or “centre of gravity” for a search pattern could provide important insight into their hunting behavior.

By applying geographic profiling, the study found that sharks are not mindless killers, but are in fact using sophisticated hunting strategies. The study found that sharks appeared to be hunting in an optimal manner geospatially. Sharks processed a well-defined anchor point or search base, but not where the chances of prey interception were greatest. This location may therefore represent a balance of prey detection, capture rates, and inter-shark competition.

The study also found that smaller sharks had more dispersed prey search patterns and lower kill success rates than larger sharks. This could mean that white sharks refine their search patterns with experience and learn to concentrate hunting efforts in locations with the highest probability of successful prey capture. It might also be that larger sharks competitively exclude smaller sharks from the best hunting areas.

The most important thing is conservation of these magnificent animals.

If you read the study published online today in the Journal of Zoology, I am sure you will find it very interesting.

For a better news story please visit:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8110000/8110246.stm

--

Neil Hammerschlag
University of Miami
Ph.D. Candidate, Marine Biology & Fisheries
Co-Director, South Florida Student Shark Program (SFSSP)
Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami, Florida, 33149

E-mail: nhammerschlag@rsmas.miami.edu
O: 305.421.4356 F: 305.421.4600 C: 954.815.0920

Sharks Just Like Sea-rial Killers(?)

Leave it to the U.K's SUN to over hype the shark.

Next to eye catching headlines like "Grandma Explodes on Loo" and "UFO Crop Circles Invade Wembly" you really do not get any good shark reporting from this Fox NewsCorp media train wreck.

Case in point and ripped from today's headlines:

Researchers used methods copied from criminology to show that great whites pick their targets in a highly focused fashion.

Prolific killers such as the infamous 19th century beast who stalked London's East End and Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", behave in much the same way.

Editors Note: Anyone wonder why close to 100 million sharks are finned each year and no one seems to care?

OT - The Barnes Varmint Granade

You Tube is a remarkable place for interesting videos...and then there are days like today:

Shark Free Marinas - Shark Interview

We are pleased to announce that Luke Tipple, Director of SFMI, will be interviewed on the The Captain Mel Show, Saturday Jun 20th.

From the Captain Mel Website

Along with a full open hour a 6 AM — and the next two hours our special guests include Mote Marine’s shark expert Dr. Bob Hueter and — Luke Tipple, Director of the Shark-Free Marina Initiative – plus lots of your phone calls – 6 to 9 AM every Saturday on Florida’s most popular radio fishing program — The 970-WFLA “Capt. Mel Show.” Call in – Listen in!

You can listen in by following this link

Captain Mel has been promoting Shark Conservation and catch and release for almost 20 years, here’s what he has to say on the issue:

Catch & Release: What a Concept!

By CAPT. MEL BERMAN, 970-WFLA

You would think that me, “a reformed meat fisherman” would take these things in stride – go with the flow. But I gotta tell you – seeing a beautiful, hapless big tiger shark dragged in dead off the New England coast a few years back by a group of guys hoping to win a prize– really turned me off. And to compound the matter, many of the “no-nothing about fish and fishing” TV media hailed these men as “conquering heroes”

”Wow, that was some catch,” mused one lame TV interviewer. “How big was that baby.” “1100 pounds” said one of the anglers. The sad part is that a magnificent animal was killed – and those guys were six minutes late. So they didn’t even cash in on their ill begotten spoils.

I know, I know. Many reading this could be thinking “what a shark hugger!” But the more I see the destruction of some of nature’s most impressive creatures for such mundane reasons, the more I realize that kill tournaments have to go the way of the horse-drawn carriage and Hula Hoops. It’s just plain sad.

As a 40-year resident of the Sunshine Sate, I can recall the common sight of massive sharks, tarpon, amberjack and other leviathans of the deep hung unceremoniously to rot in the sun. Even then I felt twinges of anguish of the fate of these creatures.

Many of these great denizens of the sea had their lives terminated because of the proliferation of so-called kill tournaments throughout the state at that time.

These days, most of us have concluded that there is no valid reason for kill tournaments – especially since we have such great new tools like digital cameras and other new age devices for recording and reporting one’s catch.

This great concept was pioneered several years ago by Capt. Richard Seward and his colleagues of the Tampa Bay CCA Chapter. These days, catch and photo release contests are the norm with the great majority of tournaments and organizations<

In the more than 20 years that I have been hosting my 970-WFLA radio show, it’s been an inspiration to see the trend — “Catch and release.” That’s the mantra of many, if not most Florida sportfishers. Basically, these folks want to make sure that their “fishing partners” – the fish — are happy, healthy and multiply.

Does this mean that I think we shouldn’t take an occasional fillet or two – or even three home for dinner? Absolutely not. I personally enjoy a nice fillet or two on frequent occasion. Yet, is it my job to feed the neighborhood? Do I need the “gee-whiz” experience of laying out dozens of dead fish on the dock? Why would you?

Fish are most attractive and fun when they are alive and vibrant. So why not take a quick picture — and put that critter back so it can rejoin its kinfolk in the deep.

And please, take the time to learn how to best release all target species so that they survive the experience.

Experts recommend that it’s best to leave the fish in the water and use some kind of needle nose pliers or release device to let them go. And if you must lift a fish out of the water to pose for a picture, remember — that creature was designed to spend its entire life in a horizontal position. So when taking pictures, hold the fish horizontally with wet hands – avoid using a towel or rag – take you pictures and return that baby to the water as quickly as possible.

My pal “The Mad Snooker” (Capt. Dave Pomerleau) often says, “try holding your own breath for the entire time you have a fish out of the water. Then you will have some idea of how the fish feels.”

Now if only we could somehow bottle that “Florida catch and release spirit” and export it to other parts of the U. S. and the world.

Guadalupe Conservation Fund - Shark Operators

In 2006 the idea of the Isla Guadalupe Conservation Fund was hatched by a group of forward thinking shark diving operators, and shortly after Shark Diver created and launched the non profit website and outreach efforts at Guadalupefund.org

Today the fund continues to generate much needed money for new and ongoing Mexican lead shark research.

Support shark diving operations that support shark research.

Your dollars go towards shark conservation and detailed understanding of local shark populations through science.

The operators on the front lines of tagging and tracking shark research and support for the past 7 years at Isla Guadalupe are the following. These are the operations who have consistently donated time, money, and energy towards local sharks well beyond their commercial side:

Shark Diver
Islander Charters
Horizon Charters
Nautilus Explorer

Shark Conservation Messaging - Homerun

Found on Felix and Wolfs blog this morning. We would have to concur their assessment of this shark conservation campaign:

Save Our Seas Foundation has done it again, with the help of Saatchi & Saatchi in South Africa.

Together they developed a campaign in aquariums with stickers that "inside out" on shark tanks - so the message was actually to the sharks and read: "Warning - Predators beyond this point - Humans kill over 100 million sharks each year"

Editors Note: Brilliant, kudos to all for the idea.

Task Force Created To Ban Shark Feeding Tours

HONOLULU -- New efforts are under way to ban commercial shark feeding tours on the Islands.Hawaii Kai lawmaker Gene Ward on Wednesday announced the formation of a shark task force to eliminate commercial operations except those with educational and scientific purposes.

The group wants to enforce a state law that makes it illegal to feed sharks within three miles of shore.

The formation of the task force comes about two months after Hawaii Kai community members strongly opposed a shark tour in their area, which ultimately caused a planned operation in Maunalua Bay to be called off.

Shark Research Comix

Shark Diving

Op Ed - Wade Osborne Shark Free Marinas

Captain Wade Osborne has been fishing Tampa Bay and the Pinellas Suncoast for over 30 years. He also hosts "Afishionado Radio" airing Saturdays from 8-10 a.m. (EDT) on Tampa Bay’s AM 1340 WTAN, Dade City’s AM 1350 WDCF and streaming at www.afishionadoradio.com.

The Shark-Free Marina Initiative has my full support.

Why? Because during the last few months Florida has experienced numerous highly publicized shark kills. Some for world record status, others for bragging rights. Then the lifeless carcass, many pregnant females are dumped back to sea.

The commercial fishing industry takes the biggest toll on the shark populations and there’s little that can be done in the short term to stop it, but we must press lawmakers for more legislation. This huge waste of a precious resource is having a detrimental effect on the Maine ecosystem and the negative effects are beginning to take hold on the marine environment.

With this I mind, I’ve often wondered what I and other concerned citizens can do to protect these large apex predators. Changing state and federal laws takes years, and more protection is something that needs to be addressed. Meanwhile by supporting The Shark-Free Marina Initiative all of us can start to make a positive impact now.

Here’s how you can get involved. If you keep your boat at a municipal or private marina, ask if they would like make their facility a shark free kill zone by supporting The Shark-Free Marina Initiative. Lecturers can mention the initiative during appearances at fishing clubs and events. And most importantly we can all make shark anglers aware of the value in releasing their catch live and well.

Please join me and show your support for The Shark-Free Marina Initiative.

For charter information call 813-286-3474 or visit www.afishionado.com.

Sharks

White Mike - Shark Conservation

Artists? Urban tagger? Protester? Conservationist?

White Mike was known to a very small community of hard core folks in and around L.A putting up posters for conservation.

That was until Jessica Alba...let's stop right there and just savor that name for a moment...ahhh, moving on.

Until Jessica and Mike blew up in Oklahoma with a poster pasting gone bad.

Or did it?

We have said it before and we'll say it again. Shark conservation is like a million ants taking down an elephant. White Mike is now a household name, and his conservation message on target.

Welcome to White Mike and his ant army. Cool idea, wonder where he shot that shark image?

Shark

Destin Florida - Shark Tournament Poll

Shark conservation efforts often come from unusual sources. This month the Destin Log in Destin, Florida

Last week Shark Free Marinas Initiative Director, Luke Tipple was asked to write an Op Ed concerning Destins planned shark kill tournament in October.

The editors of the Destin Log published an online poll today to determine regional and national views of this event.

To add your opinion click on the poll down on the lower right hand side.

Change begins with "One". Opinions count.