Industry Trends ZIBS - Zero Impact Baiting System

When news and images of wire and chain wrapped Tiger sharks from S.A appeared in email boxes across the industry, a quiet storm erupted.

At hand was an issue over best baiting practices for commercial shark diving operations vs several long-standing friendships that jumped to the defense of images that would give even a hardened shark conservationist pause.

We posted our thoughts here asking for all parties to consider actual baiting changes in the region.

Regardless of how the images came to pass, either by baiting system design flaw, or protocol flaw, images and videos like these diminish regional operator’s moral authority. The authority we need to effect conservation change for sharks when speaking with other use groups such as fishing interests, poachers, and regional governments. What many were asking for was a new way of doing things, a new bait system that could be copied worldwide and one that had a zero percent animal impact.

In short, thinking outside of the washing machine drum.

South Africa’s Tiger Industry Primer

The S.A commercial Tiger diving industry has a long and storied history and this is by no means a complete record. Developed over a decade and a half ago for film crews and photographers by a Mark Addison a number of operators soon followed.

Grant Swinford -Aliwal Dive Charters

Graham Powell – Sea Fever

Roger Dengler – Private Operator

Brian Viviars – Umkomaas Lodge

Walter Bernadis - African Water Sports.

In 2003 Mark started developing a baiting system that was called a “baited drift drive”, this required grid work to determine which tiger sharks frequented/dominated a certain area which in turn directly related to which tiger sharks would visit the dive and at what point.

Mark’s staff shared this information and baiting technique in 2005 with other operators, who started “Tiger Diving” with this new technique. By 2007 all operators in the region were using Marks baiting technique.

Some of the early Tiger divers baited animals by tying tuna to the reef and then hiding out in underwater caves with one or two safety divers equipped with a broom stick to see what would happen.

From the "old broomstick days sitting in cave" when divers didn't understand the nature of the Tiger sharks, to today, the industry has certainly changed thanks to the early pioneers.

We interviewed Allen Walker this week to discuss his improved Tiger baiting system “ZIBS” and get the back-story behind this remarkable industry innovation. An innovation that came from near tragedy, and one that has a bright future worldwide.

Zero Impact Baiting System is the first of its kind in South Africa representing a unique and industry generated evolution to sustainable baiting practices.

Enter Allen Walker

As a S.A dive instructor and someone who does underwater photography “as a hobby”, Allen is passionate about the ocean. He’s been diving the Aliwal Shoal/Rocky Bay area in S.A for 11 years, with Tigers for the past 10 years as a dive client. He is also behind the S.A dive website Dive Culture . Allen is an independent diver and not a shark diving operator, he has been diving with Blue Wilderness for one and a half years. Prior to that he has dove with every shark dive operator at Aliwal Shoal/Rocky Bay.

Allen is the innovator of the world’s first “Zero Impact Baiting System” – ZIBS.

Tell us about the system

I have been on the numerous Tiger dives where the drift baiting system is used basically “washing machine drum (to hold bait and create scent trail) and cable (to attach to buoys on the surface)” and I have never seen a shark wrap happen, even over 50-60 dives on it, that was up and until recently. This in my opinion was caused by a change in protocol. So two things had to be done: the first was to ensure the cable could be released from the system quickly and that bait could no longer be tied to the stem, this was easy and it was implemented by Mark. The second was to design the ZIBS as I could see there was a potential for problems and there was room for improvement, I decided this was my challenge to take on.

So it was all about trying a different methodology, from PVC to cable, looking at when a Tiger grabs hold of the cable and why, where does it wrap and what could you do to change things around? I watched a lot of video footage and looked at photographs. We had to also think about potential damage to the shark’s jaws, the skin, teeth and eyes. The new system could have no sharp points and it had to be “soft” so it could not break teeth but high grade stainless to ensure longest possible life cycle. We were starting with the original foundation and building from there. It took us a month to design and build the whole system, from stem to bait ball; the actual problem was the bait ball itself.

What do you mean?

We had to find someone who could build and manufacture a fiberglass reinforced sphere about 8mm in thickness, the same stuff you use in a sturdy white whitewater kayak. The reactions I got from local fabricators were interesting once they discovered what we were up to. We had to explain to the fiberglass guy it was a round ball for a Tiger shark “bait ball” that could handle 1-2 tons of bite pressure. The reaction, as you can imagine, was "you’re mad," and as it turned out no one could build anything that was larger than a 300mm sphere, so we had to start from ground zero and find a sphere to mold.

Where did you find a sphere mold for the Bait Ball?

We found a solution at the gym with those Ab Balls, the kind that women work out on, and at 850mm the sphere was the perfect size. So we used the Ab Ball as the template for the new and improved Tiger baiting ball.

So, you got the ball, the manufacturer, Tiger season is just around the corner?

Then it got tough. Our original manufacturer failed in the attempt to build our first ball. After we provided him with the metal brackets, money and design specs, he just folded shop, and would not return our calls. He vanished with everything. Then we had to go back to steel manufacturer to replace all the brackets and bolts and find another fiberglass guy. By now the holiday season was fast approaching and shark season was weeks away, middle of November through April and May, so we were under the gun.

The new manufacturer was great and made it all in one day, with one mold. The interesting thing we discovered is that fiberglass and drill bits do not go together. To create the scent holes we went through seven high tensile drill bits as they either blunted extremely quickly or kept on getting stuck and broken in the 8mm fiberglass shell. It was brutal work.

How many scent holes did you drill in the end for a ball that size?

To get it right, we finally drilled 400 to 500 holes so we could get a good scent flow through the water column. The guys who built the sphere delivered it to us and said "you are absolutely crazy, you go through all this effort to build that perfect sphere only to drill holes into it, fill it full of bait and attract Tiger sharks – Happy Holidays!"

What were the logistical problems, and your primary technical concerns?

Testing in the water, we were very happy with the products look and design. Getting it out there was the challenge. We had to consider the space on the boat, the stem had to be foldable and workable, the stem also needed to be weighted, the stem "aha moment. “ We created an anti-wrapping stem that that folded into a v deterring the shark from further action. Unlike the cable, which could get wrapped as we have seen, the stem does not; each section is linked in a way to prevent wrapping of the animals.

Additionally each section on the stem is designed to quickly and effectively to be lengthened and shortened depending how you want your ZIBS to ride in the water. This system was also designed for one or two bait balls if you need it. Sometime the Tigers stay deep; they will only come up if they see something interesting. This system allows for a deeper bait ball at 10-18meters and another at 5 meters closer to the surface. Even the size of the scent holes had to be small enough that sharks teeth could not get hung up on them i.e no purchase points!

Did any regional shark diving operator attempt new bait systems?

As you know I am not an operator, but as far as I was aware yes, other operations had been working on new solutions as well. Rob Nettleton from Off Shore Africa Dive Charters - took a marker buoy and made a new bait system with that. Walter Bernadis from African Water Sports took “poly-cop” piping, basically pvc tubes, and made a bait system with that, the guys were all developing their own systems. We discussed these on occasion, I was however not happy with it, I just wanted to look outside the box; the ZIBS system, in my opinion was the way to go. I got all my input from Mark Addison at Blue Wilderness. I would call him up and ask about bite radius information, animal behaviors, and depth information.

So each operator has his own system right now?

There's only one ZIBS in use right now by Blue Wilderness, the other operators have to fabricate their own ZIBS and I have provided African Water Sports and Off Shore Africa with a new design stem from the ZIBS design and I will put them in touch with the contact who can build the “Bait Ball”, may even get it done for them, they are both great guys in their own rights.

As for the other operators, they would need to get everything manufactured, I am happy to help with the design.

This whole effort sounds expensive, who paid for it?

If you want something done you just got to step in and do it and that's where my focus as a diver, photographer, and part time conservationist was for this last six weeks, ultimately Hans and I sponsored the new ZIBS system.

What’s the future of shark diving in South Africa?

Personally, there is a whole lot of different techniques and diving operations in S.A, as much as we say sharks might be dangerous, we are really changing the mindset of divers and non divers worldwide, but most importantly future generations of South Africans. The mindset of your average S.A just does do sharks, being out there with them opens minds and changes perceptions. Even children at 6-7 years old who get introduced to sharks is a step in the right direction, he will soon be an diver and most of all he is going to tell all his friends how cool sharks really are! Immediately you have changed their whole thinking on sharks. Once they get to meet sharks they will want to conserve our S.A heritage, our sharks.

We have taken another step to making the S.A shark diving experience even better, from early the days of baits on reef with divers in caves with sticks to today, we have learned and grown and continue to evolve. Blue Wilderness is already working on further improvements of ZIBS and even alternate baiting methodology. Watch this space.

I want to offer some thanks to a few of the people who helped make the Zero Impact Baiting System a reality.

Mark Addison for sharing his knowledge, I would not have had a base to work from without his input. Gail Addison for ensuring I got the help I needed and her support of my project. Ralph from High Tech Packaging for all the steel fabrication, twice, and to Jaap from Link Africa Projects for all the brackets and clips and the nitty gritty to put this thing together. Eugene for helping go through seven drill bits and to drill 400 to 500 bait holes, Hans and Jacqy mates of mine who offered funding and support, and finally to my wife who watched me get totally absorbed with this project. Now that it is done, she has threatened to ban me from diving if I get too involved again, I might still test her resolve on that, I know she will always support me.

And to Wolfgang, yeah you did keep on reminding me. South African sharks ultimately benefit from this innovation and in the end we're here to be site stewards, animal stewards, and look at South African sharks through the lens of sustainability.

My final wishes:

• The Natal Sharks Board will remove all their archaic nets and drum lines from our oceans and stop legally killing our heritage!
• That all the other operators in the world will step up to the batting plate and be counted, I see a number of bad baiting techniques used by all of them and I also so a lot of them take a pitch or two.

End of interview.

Tiger Sharks Uncovering a Die Off?

Bird feather found in the bellies of Tigers in the Gulf are causing researchers from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab to wonder about a migratory die off in the region.

“These birds died in the first 20 miles. It suggests something interfered with their migration, and it really suggests a link to the (oil) platforms.”

“The best way I can describe what we found in the sharks is to think of a hairball like cats cough up,” said Marcus Drymon, a Sea Lab scientist who dissected several of the sharks. “The balls are just solid feathers and about as big around as a grapefruit. We caught these sharks during the fall migration in the general vicinity of the platforms off Alabama.”

Complete Story.

White Shark Video - Warning Graphic

With less than 4000 white sharks estimated to be left on the planet, video of this 12-14 foot animal struggling for life with no hope for anything but a sharp knife is...heart wrenching.

White sharks in Mexico are under siege, making sites like Isla Guadalupe rare safe areas in the life cycle of these magnificent animals. This shark was taken in February of 2010:

Meeting the Media: Be Prepared!

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

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

Hattip:Mike over in Fiji.

Doc Gruber on Sharks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oil Rigs and Sperm Whales - Amazing

Down at 3000' in the Gulf of Mexico a drill teams ROV is doing a visual search of ongoing drilling operations.

That's when things got very, very interesting:

Shark Picture of the Year?

There's some pretty good images of sharks out there, but for the money we're fans of images that capture what it's actually like to be in the water with these magnificent critters.

Face to face.

Underwater photographer Daniel Selmeczi came back with this image (click for larger size) after a trip to the Red Sea and we would like to offer it up as Shark Picture of the Year.

It's hard not to like an image that captures "a day in the life" - shot from the plankton's eye view.

See this is full size and spend a minute taking it all in. If this shot was a meal it would be something straight out of California's famed French Laundry.

Kudos to Daniel.

Nice work.

Filmmaker Zeina Aboul Hosn - First Rate

Fifty years ago, the Arabian Gulf was full of sharks, but now no one knows how many are left.

Kuwaitis who once lived off the Gulf's fish and pearls seem not to know or care. Only a few individual voices and small NGOs call for conservation.

Environmental filmmaker Zeina Aboul Hosn joined an expedition to search for the forgotten sharks of the Gulf. She and expedition leader Richard Peirce find sharks lying dead in Kuwait's fish market, their fins cut off for soup.

Zeina had to dive into an aquarium in front of gawping tourists to film her first live shark before she finally got to swim with a small group of sharks in the wild waters, bringing us the full emotion of this story of devastation:

Happy Holidays from Shark Diver!

Happy Holidays from Shark Diver 2010


"When life is this good, it's hard to come home"

Blue sharks suck back cephalopods like PEZ

IN THE GULF STREAM, some 300 kilometres off Nova Scotia’s coast, hundreds of thousands of huge blue sharks are slipping under warm waters, rising and falling without fail in a mysterious daily rhythm, as if they were yo-yos on kilometre-long strings.

It’s a dance never before imagined. These massive predators — lions of this oceanic food chain — swimming on the Atlantic’s surface by night and by day, sinking blindly to its inky depths, so far down no light could ever reach them, no creature could ever be seen.

And it’s a winter ritual that has scientists amazed.

"Nobody had any idea they were doing this," Steve Campana, head of the Dartmouth-based shark research team that made the discovery, said in a recent interview.

"We found that all of these sharks are leaving Canadian waters in the late fall and when they swim out, they inevitably run into the Gulf Stream, this giant current of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean. Within a day or two of hitting the Gulf Stream, every single blue shark started this wild diving behaviour whereby they would spend the night up in the surface waters — in the top 30 or 50 feet (nine or 15 metres) — and every day they would spend down in incredible depths, as far as a kilometre below the surface.

Complete Story.

2010 in Review - Amusing

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Videos show industry generated 'cruelty to sharks'

Commercial shark diving operations in South Africa are discovering the "industry media rule" first hand this week in a series of high profile media hits on baiting sharks and current S.A regulations.

"Thou shalt not allow or enable images and video that depict operations doing bad things with sharks"

Simple enough rule and yet too many industry members seem to forget that we live in a hyper connected media environment. An environment where videos and images of sharks smashing into cages, or worse, are transmitted around the world to waiting agenda based groups, and on to agencies tasked with providing the frame work and guidelines for our industries continued existence.

This weeks series of videos featuring white sharks thrashing against shark cages are another reason for operations to take a hard look at how they bait animals and why they are doing it.

Shark diving, done right, is a first class educational tool for thousands of divers worldwide. Additionally shark research efforts in tandem with operations helps the species with regional protections based on solid data.

Our industry has much to offer sharks in a time of profound shark crises. But only if operations can find their way past cheap stunt work with sharks and see the broader vision of sustainability.

Raw Media Footage - BP Gulf Disaster Mote Shark Research

PROJECT INFO: Highlight footage approved by Mote Marine Laboratory for news/media use. Research Expedition headed by Dr. Bob Hueter, Director - Mote Center for Shark Research to study effects of BP Gulf Oil Disaster.

FORMAT: Multi-Camera, HD, 16:9. Field produced & shot by the Paxton Brothers in dual role as Science Party Crew and Presenters.

STATUS: Project available for co-production & development, programming content & distribution, news/media stock footage and certain educational applications.

The team at Think Out Loud Productions is focused on innovative outdoor adventure & wildlife footage, still and textual content to support non-fiction or documentary television programming and / or other multi-media educational opportunities.

Contact: Info@ThinkOutLoudProductions.com for details.

For More Information Visit: ThinkOutLoudProductions

Shark Conservation Act Wins Final Congressional Approval

In July 2008, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration instituted regulations requiring that sharks be landed with their fins attached, but these regulations applied only to U.S. fisheries in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico, not the Pacific.

The Shark Conservation Act will bring the Pacific fisheries into line with the rest of the country’s fins-attached policy, and strengthen the U.S. position in international shark conservation efforts.

Shark Conservation Act

• H.R. 81, introduced by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, had the bipartisan support of 30 cosponsors and passed the House by voice vote with an amendment offered by Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, on March 2, 2009.
• S. 850, introduced by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., had the bipartisan support of 33 cosponsors.
• H.R. 81, with Senate amendments, passed the Senate by unanimous consent on December 20, 2010.
• Up to 73 million sharks are killed each year in targeted fisheries and as bycatch. Shark finning is a major cause of massive declines in shark populations around the world, since retaining only the fins allows fishing operations to kill many more sharks at a time (filling their onboard freezers with just the fins while dumping the bodies overboard).
• When sharks’ fins are cut off and their live bodies are thrown back into the water.
• As top predators, sharks play an important role in maintaining ecosystem balance. The killing of large numbers of sharks already appears to be affecting other marine species and commercial fisheries. When shark stocks are depleted, their natural prey proliferate and can have a devastating impact on the species they feed on – for example, fewer sharks mean more skates and rays, who in turn have taken a large bite out of scallop and other shellfish populations.
• A national fins-attached policy will provide for improved conservation and management of steeply declining shark populations. It is often impossible to identify a shark species solely by looking at its fins, so landing sharks with fins attached is crucial for tracking which species are caught.
• The Senate-passed bill includes an exemption for smooth dogfish sharks, which are typically caught along the East Coast primarily for their meat. The exemption will put the onus on that fishery to ensure that no fins from any other species are included in smooth dogfish landings.

Tagged Tiger Sharks - Cayman Islands

(Media-Newswire.com) - Marine biologists who are working with the Department of Environment to study the area's predator species caught and tagged two tiger sharks last week fitting each shark with two types of high-tech electronic tracking devices.

One type is a satellite tag that includes a GPS receiver and transmitter, and signals via satellite the location of the shark. The other type is a small acoustic tag or pinger that transmits a signal that can be detected by a permanent or hand held receiver, so showing that the animal is near.

The acoustic tags ( pingers ) can be used to detect movements on a finer scale, providing a more detailed picture of the behaviour and movement of the tiger sharks while they are in Cayman. They will show which sea areas they actually use, and at what time of day.

The sharks, a ten feet female called Tina and a seven feet younger, immature female Luiza, will help the researchers understand their species' migration patterns, movements and behaviour when they are in Cayman.

"Both of them seem to being doing fine. Tina has reported in several times a day while moving around the island; she seems to be deep during the day, coming into shallower water at night to look for the stingrays and turtles on which these species normally feed," said lead researcher Dr. Mauvis Gore.

"Tiger sharks like many other species are increasingly endangered, as a result of intense overfishing globally. In fact large shark species are becoming so scarce globally that in many countries they are either fully protected, or else their fishing quotas have been reduced to zero," she added.

Only in the last few years have scientists discovered that tiger sharks can make extensive annual migrations between countries or even across oceans. The tracks revealed by the satellite tags results will show whether the tiger sharks that are sometimes observed in the Cayman Islands move around or between the islands, and whether, as suspected, they are here for only part of the year, and then migrate elsewhere.

International efforts to protect dwindling shark populations have come to the fore in the last few years because of the dramatic crash in shark populations that has taken place globally. Unlike bony fish, sharks mature very slowly and reproduce only once every one to two years, producing only a small number of pups. Yet over the last decade or two 70 million sharks per year have been fished and killed, almost entirely for their fins that are in demand as a component of sharks' fin soup.

"Even if we agree to exploit sharks," said Dr. Gore. "We want to do it sustainably, not in this crazy way that will see the resource completely destroyed in another 10 years. As it is, sharks are now far more valuable in the sea, than in the fishing boat. Divers will pay good money to dive in places where they have a chance of seeing such iconic wildlife, and the same sharks can be seen over and over again - whereas once it's dead that's it, and it fetches very little in the market."

"Tiger sharks are one of my favourite animals;" added Guy Harvey, whose Ocean Foundation provided the satellite tags, and who helped the team catch Luiza.

"They are the most handsome of all the sharks, and I just love painting them. It's just unfortunate they have these stripes that give rise to their name, making people think they are much more dangerous than they really are."

Guy, a well-known artist and local resident, has also assisted with tagging of tiger sharks in Bermuda and the Bahamas.

The tiger shark study is part of a project that is being undertaken by a team from Marine Conservation International led by Dr. Gore. The project is funded by UK Overseas Territories Environment Programme ( OTEP ) together with the Cayman Islands Department of Environment, the Save Our Seas Foundation, and the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. The team have been working in the Cayman Islands over the past year and a half to assess the species and abundance of species of both sharks and rays as well as whales and dolphins.

"We are very pleased with the preliminary results of this work," stated Gina Ebanks-Petrie, Director of the DoE, "it is our duty to manage our marine environment in the best interests of the people of the islands; it makes sense to find ways of managing our resources so they benefit us in the long-term, not destroy them; and we also have international obligations to protect these threatened species."

Sharks, because of media "hype" and their "Jaws" image, often cause public concern. But shark attacks on man are in fact very rare, typically causing only 4 - 6 fatalities throughout the whole world per year.

The resident project officer Mr. Oliver Dubock explained that people's fear of sharks was greatly exaggerated. "Of course they can be dangerous," he said, "but no more than fierce dogs. You need to know how to behave and how to handle them. Just as an example, in Florida on average over 70 people per year die from boating accidents, but less than one every two years as a result of shark attack."

Tim Austin, Deputy-Director at the DoE, added "We plan to keep people informed about the behaviour of Tina and Luiza. We hope to be able to keep the press updated with maps of their migrations. Of course it is essential that they are not harmed. All past experience has shown that killing local tiger sharks does not get rid of them; others simply come in from elsewhere. We urge fishermen and divers to join this important conservation effort and help look after these two beautiful animals."

Bizzare - Shark Nets Used as "Census" Shark Finning Blamed

For the past several years we have been vocal opponents against shark nets and drumlines along the Gold Coast of Australia.

Drumlines and shark nets are antiquated shark protection systems, a 1950's solution to issues between sharks and commercial tourism.

Frankly, we can do better.

The image featured here is a Gold Coast caught white shark from 2009 on a drumline set to "protect" bathers from these animals. Typically these sharks are disposed of at sea, the public is largely unaware that just off their pristine beaches, sharks are being killed indiscriminately.

So you can imagine the head shaking going on after reading an article this week where shark net managers along the Gold Coast are noticing smaller numbers of sharks caught in their nets...and are blaming commercial shark finners for sharks disappearance.

"Startling figures yesterday revealed shark nets had caught 40 less sharks in the past 12 months compared to the same period in 2001/02"

"In the 2001-02 financial year 78 sharks were caught in nets off the Coast but by 2009-10 the number had dropped to 37."

You can files these observations under "WFT".

Perhaps shark finning has something to do with the drop in numbers, or perhaps breeding populations, after close to 50 years of slaughter in the name of shark free beaches, are finally crashing. Perhaps it is an ugly combination of both factors and a few not yet identified.

The point is, this weeks article from shark net and drumline mangers is a bit much, even to the eyes of the most jaded shark conservationist.

Let's start rebuilding local Gold Coast shark populations by removing the shark nets and drumlines, because any data coming from these "merchants of death" is suspect and absolutely not a solution, except for smaller populations of sharks.

Dr.Amy Smoothey - Clarence River Bull Shark Project

Keep your eyes on this shark tagging project on the Clarence River in Australia.

Featuring 25 tagged Bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) and one of the most in depth looks into the migration and movement patterns of this unique shark species.

Shark researcher Dr.Amy Smoothey and her team have been on the Clarence River since October of this year catching primarily female sharks and tagging them.

Additional listening stations will be places all over the region to determine the sharks movement patterns over the next decade.

Unlike most sharks, bull sharks tolerate fresh water and can travel far up river systems making this species unique.

More on the project.

More on dead shark discovered in November.

Red Truck on the "Big D" Video

Occasionally, I'll post images of the titanically big fish that have graced my rigs on the "Big D".

When the fishing is this good you'll travel miles to get it and a Big D delivers time and again. 8-12lb 30 inch plus Steelhead are the draw with line clearing runs that leave you gasping for breath.

Some of these animals are two and three salts, really smart fish.

My favorite online fly fishing gear company Red Truck posted another in a series of amazing fly fishing videos. If you want to know what Steelheading is all about, look no further, and welcome to one of my favorite rivers, the Big D:

Stingray City Caymans - Operators Pull Out Barbs

After months of heated wrangling operators at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands have come to an agreement over site use protocols, tourism distribution, and animal care.

Just in time too, as the local situation by all accounts was getting to the point where police had to be called in to separate feuding operators. At dispute were price cuts, non regulated site drop ins, and animal stunts that had operators lifting animals out of the water, and feeding animals mouth to mouth.

This weeks final meeting was heated again, but the new rules and regulations agreed upon by the majority should be beneficial for all parties - including the stingrays.

Complete Report.

Gotcha - Florida fisherman convicted of shark fin sales

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A local fisherman has been convicted of 13 counts of selling shark fins, shark meat and king mackerel without the proper license, according to a news release from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Harold Hix, 56, of Panama City Beach, sold 56 shark fins, shark meat and king mackerel to FWC investigators on Sept. 8, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9, according to a news release from FWC. He routinely fished from the Panama City Beach City Pier and the Bay County Pier, where he caught several species of large, coastal sharks, including hammerhead, blacktip, tiger, nurse and bull. He then sold the fins and meat.

Florida law prohibits recreational anglers from selling full or partial sharks without the proper license. Those with a license can only sell some species during the appropriate seasons.

“This is part of our ongoing effort to curb unlawful sales of saltwater products by unlicensed people and unlawful sale of protected marine species,” Capt. Bruce Cooper, leader of FWC investigations in Northwest Florida.

Editors Note: Total fine? $650. Not sure if this fine is a deterrent or not given the market value of shark fin. Additionally not mentioned anywhere in the mainstream media are the commercial sources Mr. Hix sold his shark fin to. It would be interesting to following the supply chain back to his primary customer base in the region and see if there are others making a living from the fining of sharks in Florida's waters.

Complete Story.

Sharm El-Sheikh Shark Attacks: Update

Global Shark Attack File

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release

Sharm El-Sheikh Shark Attacks: Update

Between November 30 and December 5, 2010 there were 5 unprovoked shark attacks reported from Sharm El-Shiekh, Egypt. Following these attacks the Egyptian government assembled an international team of experts to conduct a forensic analysis of the attacks: Ralph S. Collier, President of the Shark Research Committee and Director of the Global Shark Attack File; Marie Levine, Executive Director, of the Shark Research Institute; Moustafa Fouda, MSEA; Mohammad Salem, EEAA; and Nassar Galal, CDWS.

The team gathered eyewitness testimony, examined the attack locations, and reviewed the forensic evidence, including all environmental factors present prior to each of the attacks. The following is a list of those factors they believed to be contributor to the attacks:

* The illegal dumping of sheep carcasses by animal transport vessels within 1.2 miles of the shore.

* The unique underwater topography of the area; i.e., deep water very close to shore allowing pelagic sharks and humans to swim in close proximity.

* Although fishing is restricted in the Sharm El-Sheikh region, unrestrained fishing in the Red Sea has depleted fish stocks and reduced the amount of natural prey available to sharks.

* Shark and human population dynamics, i.e., 5 million people visit Sharm El-Sheikh annually and numbers of sharks migrate through the area each year.

* Feeding of fish by glass bottom boats and swimmers drew the sharks close to the beach.

* Elevated sea temperatures resulted in higher metabolic rates of the sharks and increased their energy (food) requirements.

* Although prohibited, it is believed that some dive operators have been feeding the sharks, which could have habituated the sharks to humans as a source for food.

It was determined from forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony that two species of sharks were responsible for the attacks; shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus, and oceanic whitetip, Carcharhinus longimanus. Historical data obtained from the Global Shark Attack File for Egypt confirmed additional incidents from 2004 to the present (www.sharkattackfile.net).

Suggestions to reduce the potential for such future events were provided to officials for review and implementation.

Site fidelity and movements of sharks associated with ocean-farming cages in Hawaii

" Site fidelity and movements of sharks associated with ocean-farming cages in Hawaii "

Abstract:

Sharks are found in association with main Hawaiian Island ocean fish farms more frequently and at higher densities than is typical for coastal Hawaiian waters. Sharks attracted to fish farms could potentially threaten human water users, interact negatively with other fisheries, and seasonal migrations could be disrupted if individuals become entrained around farms throughout the year. We hypothesised that smaller coastal species would reside near farms, whereas more wide-ranging species would associate with farms only for short periods. We utilised passive acoustic telemetry to monitor the movements and behaviour of sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) and tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) sharks adjacent to two open ocean fish farms in Hawaii. Approximately half the tagged sandbar sharks showed site fidelity to the farms, with some individuals being detected repeatedly for 2.5 years. Sandbar sharks moved seasonally to the west coast of Oahu, suggesting that fish farms are not disrupting natural seasonal cycles in this species. Tiger sharks tagged near the cages were more transient, and showed much shorter residence times although some individuals returned sporadically to the cages over the 3-year period. Ocean fish cages appear to aggregate sandbar sharks, but are only ‘visited’ by tiger sharks. Although threats to public safety are probably minimal, the ecological effects of aggregating top-predators are still unknown.

Published: 13 December 2010

Yannis P. Papastamatiou, David G. Itano, Jonathan J. Dale, Carl G. Meyer and Kim N. Holland.

Marine and Freshwater Research 61(12) 1366-1375 doi:10.1071/MF10056