Honolulu fire investigators say arson was cause of shark tour boat blaze

We have been following the increasingly ugly, partisan, and mis-informed anti-shark diving movement in Hawaii.

A movement that started two years ago and this week culminated in an arson attack on a local commercial shark diving vessel.

Just when you thought things in Hawaii could not get any worse for two first rate commercial shark diving operations - they just did:

Honolulu Fire Department investigators have determined that arson is to blame for a blaze that destroyed a shark tour boat in Haleiwa Harbor early Friday.

The case has now been turned over to the Honolulu Police Department, which has opened an arson case, said HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu.

The fire on board the 30-foot North Shore Shark Adventures boat was reported at 12:40 a.m. Flames burned the bridge and cabin of the boat and the heat from the fire damaged a nearby vessel, said fire Capt. Terry Seelig.

Damage was estimated at $225,000.

North Shore Shark Adventures is one of two shark-tour operators operating out of Haleiwa that have been the source of constant debate in recent years.

Officials with the company could not be reached for comment.

Update Here.

Playa del Carmen - All Together Now?

Once again word from Playa del Carmen in Mexico and nascent Bull shark dive operations in the region are not good.

From a recent eyewitness account:

The sharks are being fished out right now (see attached photos). There was a great agreement with the local fishermen in Playa del Carmen and they had stopped shark fishing completely. At the beginning of December however, a fisherman from a neighbouring town captured and killed 21 bull sharks, following which the Playa fishermen decided that if he could do it, so could they.

Twenty nine 2 m+ bulls have been killed in the last month or so, and no-one is seeing any live sharks at the dive sites.I have just heard that there have been a couple of decomposing finned bull shark carcasses found on the reef in the last week - great advert for Playa!

Of course this ongoing horror with Mexican fishing interests can all be distilled down to a great argument for regional conservation efforts in tandem with initial operations. But we'll leave that to Da Shark from Fiji who summed up Playa in an outstanding Blog Dog post that is a must read for industry folks, and a cautionary tale for the folks trying to make a go of it in Playa.

From Da Sharks Blog - Playa del Carmen - too late already?

Shark Shot of the Week - Bahamas

Isa Baquerizo was recently on a commercial shark diving adventure off Freeport, Bahamas and came back with "The Shot of the Week."

You gotta love the look on this reef shark as he passes close by.

Curiosity has a face.

"So we arrived to Unexso the 2nd day of the trip. We first did the shark dive which was not incredible... it was AWESOME!!! Probably the best shark dive available today.. even better than stuart's cove because these incredible guys let you interact with the sharks within cm of distance. That's why I love so much the dive."

Matt Rand from PEW - Bahamas Shark Tourism PSA

If you are wondering why so much attention is being directed at shark conservation in recent times Matt Rand, Director of Global Shark Conservation of the PEW Environment Group says it is all becomes of an Asian obsession with shark fin soup.

"Unfortunately, because of their value in a bowl of soup, up to 73 million sharks are killed annually, just so their fins can end up in soup. It is a luxury item, it is not a food item. And what this is causing very rapidly is a global depletion of sharks. Right now 38% of shark species that are in the world's oceans are threatened, or are near threatened with extinction; and those are just the ones that we know. We also know that that statistic is actually short," said Rand.

This global decimation of the shark population is now having a negative impact on the ecosystems of many oceans, but Rand says but for a country that has tourism as its number one industry, potentially there can be a more devastating outcome.

"Here in The Bahamas, shark tourism activity actually brings in $78 million into the economy annually and reef sharks here are actually estimated to be about $250,000 each for shark tourism and shark related activities here in The Bahamas. So it is an important economic driver and it's a sustainable situation. If you leave the sharks in the water, keep them healthy as you currently have them, and keep the ecosystem healthy right now then you will have this resource for future generations to come, so that the kids will actually be able to see a healthy ocean environment as well," continues Rand.

Complete Story.

California Whale Bite CSI - Dana Point San Diego

What you are looking at is the fluke of a migrating Grey Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) off the coast of San Diego at Dana Point last week. A fluke with a recent bite out of it.

The image is courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale-Watching with a hat-tip to Peter Thomas Outdoors who brought it to our attention.

Click on the image for the full size.

What we noticed almost immediately were tell tale triangular marks of what might be a bite from the Great White shark.

Typically at this time of year it is the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) that is the predator de jour of the Grey Whale, and tail bites are their signature.

This whale will survive, and probably be a bit wiser from it's latest encounter with a predator.

Our question of the day - which predator was it?

Movements and Ecology of Fishes at Palmyra Atoll

(PI's: Yannis Papastamatiou (FLMNH), Alan Friedlander (University of Hawaii), Jennifer Caselle (University California Santa Barbara), Christopher Lowe (California State University Long Beach)

Numerous marine top predators are in decline world-wide. Quantifying the effects of these declines requires an understanding of the ecological role of different trophic groups of fishes in areas where human impacts are low (i.e. an ecological baseline). However, there are very few areas where the impacts of humans have not been felt. One exception (to a certain degree) is Palmyra Atoll, in the central Pacific Ocean. Due to its remote nature, its status as a US federal wildlife refuge, and the absence of a human population, Palmyra has low levels of anthropogenic impacts and subsequently there are high numbers of top predators such as sharks.

One component of an animal's ecological "niche" relates to patterns of space use. Spatial ecology can be measured over multiple spatial and temporal scales, which requires a variety of tools and techniques. We have been using passive and active telemetry to look at the movements of several fish species, from a number of trophic guilds, at Palmyra Atoll over periods of several years. We study movements by tagging fish with small acoustic tags which emit high frequency acoustic signals. These transmitters are detected by an array of underwater listening stations, which we have deployed throughout the atoll. Every year we dive and download these receivers, and we can determine which fish have been where and when. Species studied include top predators such as sharks (blacktip reef and grey reef sharks) and teleosts (Jacks and Snappers), and planktivores (manta rays). We supplement the study of movement patterns with the use of stable isotopes to look at trophic ecology, and novel data-loggers to study feeding and digestion in situ.

Studies to date show that there is some spatial segregation between species, and differences in the scales of movements and levels of site fidelity. Individuals of all species show some degree of diel and tidal habitat shifts, occupying different areas between the day and night. Results also show that trophic ecology and foraging success can vary for top predators throughout the atoll, even over small spatial distances.

The study provides crucial data on niche partitioning and competition between fishes at a tropical atoll, but it also has wider conservation implications. Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) are areas where no fishing occurs, which allows fish to reproduce and grow, replenishing fish populations outside of the MPA. However, an understanding of fish movement is crucial for proper MPA design. For example, if a fish uses an area larger than the area of the MPA, then it will spend a significant portion of its time in locations where fishing may occur. As such, poorly placed MPA's can actually provide a false sense of security with regards to conservation. Increasingly it is becoming clear that fish species may differ in their movements and habitat use, and that multi-species telemetry studies are required to evaluate MPA effectiveness. Palmyra Atoll is essentially a large MPA, and understanding patterns and scales of movements of fishes within the atoll can be used to evaluate MPA efficiency in other locations.

This work is supported by the Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium, The Nature Conservancy, National Geographic Society, Gordon and Betty Moore, the David and Lucille Packard foundation, and Marisla Foundation.

Complete Post.

Seal Predation Video at Isla Guadalupe 2010

Filmed with CICIMAR shark researcher Dr.Mauricio Hoyos at Isla Guadalupe in 2010 and featuring an Elephant seal (M. angustirostris) with grievous wounds sustained by resident white sharks.

Welcome to the cycle of life.

Tiger Sharks in the Bahamas Could Get Big Break

By ALISON LOWE

Image Wolfgang Leander

alowe@tribunemedia.net

A ban on commercial shark fishing would help protect the $78 million that shark dive-related tourism is estimated to bring to the Bahamas annually, the industry's potential growth and the predator's role in the sustainability of other commercial fisheries in this nation, a leading expert said yesterday.

Working with the Cousteau Society, Pierre-Yves Cousteau, son of legendary French explorer and marine scientist, Jacques Cousteau, is in Nassau this week to support the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and the Pew Environmental Group's (PEG) campaign to get the Government to enact legislation banning commercial fishing of sharks in the Bahamas.

As shark populations globally have come under threat from over-fishing, primarily driven by the demand in Asia for shark fins for soup, a long-line fishing ban in the 1990s and lack of local demand helped the Bahamas remain one of the few countries with an abundant population of sharks.

However, the advice to the Bahamian government and people from Mr Cousteau, the BNT and the Pew Environmental Group is that the Bahamas should take a proactive stance towards specifically protecting this resource through legislation banning the commercial fishing of sharks, which have both environmental and economic importance to this nation and the wider marine environment.

With any depletion of sharks in the Bahamas, said Mr Cousteau, the multi-million dollar shark diving industry in this country - estimated by the Bahamas Dive Association to have brought in $800 million to the Bahamian economy over the last 20 years - could be threatened, as could the health of other commercial fish populations whose abundance to some extent is "regulated" by the existence of the "apex predator" in Bahamian waters.

At risk, too, would be the exposure that the Bahamas gains from footage of its sharks and marine environment being featured in television programs and films worldwide, which can stimulate not only dive tourism but tourism generally. Meanwhile, Mr Cousteau - who went for his first dive as a child in Eleuthera, where he also saw his first shark - noted that shark tourism could be a growth industry for the country if protected.

Complete Story.

Reaching out to the new generation for sharks

If you read the RTSea Blog, there's a current theme running through the posts.

Shark and oceanic research needs better public outreach. It's a simple fact that the public is largely uninformed when it comes to raw data, current research and even methodology.

Science is not fun for the general public. But is is also the general public who can be moved to push for legislation, fund research, and to become aware of the current status of wildlife.

The great disconnect of our times.

So what's with this site?

What you're looking at is a perfect synthesis of research, video, and interactive research data for the general public. Bringing raw science into the living room, office, and iPads all across the country.

Kudos, we could use more of this. Especially like the tagging videos replete with real action and raw emotion set against a backdrop of science.

Looks like a winning Discovery Channel show to us, is there something in the wings?

Dorsal Fin Blog and CBS News?

The Dorsal Fin Blog has arrived.

One of the true marks of any blue blogs ascendancy is recognition by the main stream media.

In this case CBS news.

This week CBS covered a non event with a local white shark in Australia, and used an image to set up their news piece with an image shot by George Probst at Isla Guadalupe several years ago.

George is the man behind The Dorsal Fin Blog.

Does this mean someone at CBS is following The Dorsal Fin Blog?

As long time shark bloggers ourselves, we can say with almost 100% certainty, yes, yes they are.

Now if they would only give him the blog credit for the image.

Tonight - Lecture To Explore Juvenile White Shark Research

The Orange County Natural History Lecture Series will present a look at the Juvenile White Shark Research Project from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at the Back Bay Science Center in Newport Beach.

The evening will include a presentation by Christopher G. Lowe, who will share some of his findings and insight into the biology and behavior of white sharks in southern California. Lowe and his team are collaborating with Monterey Bay Aquarium as part of the Juvenile white shark research program, according to a statement.

The team works with fishers who capture the sharks in their nets, assessing and tagging them for release.

“Their work has indicated that southern California is an important nursery ground for juvenile white sharks and that sharks spend their summers here close to beaches, but move to the warmer waters of Baja in the winter,” the release states.

Lowe has run the Shark Lab at California State University at Long Beach since 1998.

The Back Bay Science Center is located at 600 Shellmaker Road. The gates will open at 6:30 pm.

To reserve a spot, call (949) 644-3038.

Shark Declines - Visual Data

Recently the AFP news service posted an online tutorial on global shark declines and shark fining (click image).

Using available data from PEW Trusts they have produced a very easy to understand PSA that can be used in the fight to conserve sharks.

Too often shark conservationists with good intentions run with wild sound bytes that have little to no basis in hard facts.

One of our personal favorites:

" 70% of the worlds oxygen comes from the oceans, if we kill all the sharks we will not have any more oxygen to breathe"

The battle for the hearts and minds of the general public and of those in Asia often disregard the fact that the people shark conservationists target are savvy customers.

As 2011 dawns for the next round of shark conservation efforts let's stick to the facts and leave the hyperbole behind, as the facts are grim enough without the added and unnecessary doomsday scenarios thrown in for good measure.

Shark-Safe Beaches: testing aerial spotters and dismissing electro-magnetics

Starting 2011 out right with this report from RTSea Productions.

If you want concise industry thought and analysis this is your go to daily blog.

From RTSea:

When people enter the ocean - to swim, surf, dive, or just frolic about at the water's edge - they are entering a different wilderness. In doing so, they expose themselves to a measure of risk from interaction with other animals, from a sea jelly sting or an urchin spine all the way up to an interaction with a larger animal like a shark.

To protect people from unwanted shark interactions, several methods of prevention have been tried over the decades. In Australia, there is an extensive network of netted beaches. The steel mesh nets are designed with openings small enough to ward off large sharks but large enough to allow smaller fish to pass through. The nets have been used for many years and, in combination with lifeguards acting as shark spotters, the process has been fairly successful. But not infallible.

Sharks can get through the nets on occasion due to the nets being moved about from currents or storm action, so to maintain a big picture overview, spotter planes are being deployed in New South Wales (south eastern Australia) as part of a test program during peak months of swimming activity. And the NSW government in Australia has deployed a novel method to keep their spotter pilots' skill sharp. Decoy or replica sharks will be placed in the water to check the effectiveness of the surveillance program. Lifeguards will be made aware of the days and times for the placement of the replica sharks, but not the pilots. Results of the tests will be included in the final evaluation as to the aerial surveillance program future.

Far to the west, following a recent series of shark attacks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a variety of safety measures are being considered. Nothing has been confirmed as yet because the government is weighing an appropriate response that also recognizes the probable causes for the attacks - reportedly everything from unregulated chumming to overfishing of the shark's usual preying to the dumping of dead sheep from a passing freighter.

One approach that apparently will not be used is something akin to electrified fencing. An organization, the Shark Academy, has proposed installing an electro-magnetic shield along the Egyptian coastline of Sharm El-Sheikh in the Red Sea, but the idea has been totally dismissed by the Governor of South Sinai, General Abdel Fadeel Sousha.

"He (the company's owner) showed us a video in a meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh on devices used to protect beaches from sharks and made verbal and purely theoretical proposals that didn't persuade me on a personal level," said General Sousha. "I asked him for a practical demonstration in front of a committee of experts so we could be sure the devices work effectively. This still hasn't happened."

A pretty far-fetched notion when you think about it. I have worked with divers who have used a protective device called a Shark Shield which emits a strong electro-magnetic pulse when needed and seems to be quite effective with medium-size sharks like lemon or blacktip sharks. But I've been told it also "rattles the teeth" of the diver when its discharged. So the idea of having something that strong running constantly across a beach seems rather unlikely.

Apparently, previous attempts at using electro-magnetic fields along beaches in Natal, South Africa and in Australia have been a dismal failure, not preventing the sharks from entering enclosed swimming areas but giving bathers a nice little shock instead.

Rather than rely on Rube Goldberg devices, common sense should prevail. Non-life threatening measures - such as nets and shark spotters - along with a better understanding and acceptance of the wild world we are venturing into is what's called for. While many of us hear the call to return to the sea, we must remember that we enter it as interlopers and strangers on someone else's turf.

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: