Shark Diving New Zealand-Hold On a Sec!

Last week we blogged about a new commercial white shark venture in New Zealand.

For almost 72 hours it looked like this was going to be one of the most exciting and new developments in commercial shark diving since the "discovery" of Isla Guadalupe almost 8 years ago.

Now, members of the anti-shark diving lobby-they have no office just a bunch of old musty data-has announced the desire to stop shark diving in Fovereaux Strait.

It always starts with a scientist and some data that may or may not show a change in white shark behaviour with the addition of commercial vessels.

What is needed now is the data from a 5 year study on "chum habituation" done by Rodney Fox in South Australia. His data is fresh and definitive. In the meantime we'll hold our breath for the New Zealand site.

Good luck boys!

Why Shark Tagging is Important-Baskers Make "5000+ Mile Trek"

During a simply amazing power point presentation, researchers from the U.K unveiled a Basking sharks 5000+ mile migration from the U.K to Canada and back.

Partially funded by the Save our Seas Foundation-a rabidly pro shark org, this latest data underscores the point that our oceans are not just a series of coastlines "owned and managed" by individual countries, rather an interconnected web of life and pathways.

Marine life it seems does not recognize borders, treaties, and Marine Protected Areas. Life instead follows ancient and well defined undersea highways often becoming the policy definition of more than one country at a time.

Food for thought.

Shark Diving-from "human" to "ape like" in 1.3 seconds

We humans are proud of the fact we have left the forests and grasslands behind us and have built vast cities where we celebrate being the dominant animal on the planet. In fact we're about as far away from our "ape-like" predecessors as you can imagine.

That is until you add a 2000lb predator at close range to the mix. The following shark video is amusing not so much for the visual...but for the audio.

Returning to our ape-like roots in three...two...one:

Shark Attacks , Great White - Celebrity bloopers here

New Zealand-Great White Shark Dive Site Opens Soon

Editors Note: This page has been removed. Shark Diver, and Shark New Zealand have removed all support and marketing efforts for the Stewart Island dive site until further notice.

Great White Shark Bahamas? Oh Yeah!

At the start of this week we got a strange email from the Bahamas a great white had washed ashore off Grand Bahama.

"Several of Unexso staff including Christina & Veronica heard about it and went out and shot the pictures below. They heard the shark was chasing bait fish and leaped out of the water landing on a shallow ledge as the tide was going out. They checked the stomach and it was empty. This happened in XXX which is the town XXX of the port on the way to XXX."

Of course we did a little digging around and it sounded like it was a great white. Without any images it was hard to make a confirmation.

Here's the confirmation (with images)

Unfortunately the locals have all but carted away 40% of this critter and the jaws.

This would be one of the rarest shark encounters of the season...too bad no one saw this shark in the ocean where it belongs.

2008 increase in shark sightings-perfect timing with film debut

Island of the Great White Shark set to launch aquarium’s Beyond the Boardwalk summer event series

Irvine, California, June 11, 2008 – As people on both the west and east coasts prepare to beat the heat and high gas prices by vacationing at their nearby beaches, a series of shark sightings has raised the specter of a possible “summer of the shark.” From Martha’s Vineyard to the shores of California and Mexico, large sharks – in many cases, the infamous great white shark – have been spotted. Coincidentally, the National Aquarium in Baltimore is kicking off Beyond the Boardwalk, its summertime event series, with a screening on Tuesday, June 18th of a new shark documentary, Island of the Great White Shark. The film is unique in the shark film genre in its attempt to set the record straight regarding these mysterious and often-feared animals.

The film represents a three-year effort by filmmaker Richard Theiss to provide the first comprehensive look at a precarious population of great white sharks found at the remote Mexican island of Isla Guadalupe, Baja. The film explores many of the issues surrounding these highly misunderstood animals, chronicles the efforts of dedicated shark researchers to study and protect them, and illustrates the destructive and inhumane practices imposed upon sharks by the commercial shark fishing industry. Estimates run from 40 million to as high as 100 million sharks being killed each year either for their fins or as accidental by-catch.

“These are absolutely magnificent creatures living on a razor’s edge of possible extinction. And there are some very dedicated people working tirelessly to prevent that. This is a story that needed to be told,” says Richard Theiss, RTSea Productions, executive producer and cinematographer.

On Sunday, June 1st, a chartered fishing boat sighted a 16-foot great white shark off the Vineyard Sound at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Another shark had reportedly been seen in the same area a month earlier. In Southern California, there have been as many as eight sightings of great white sharks since March, and on April 25th, a great white shark off Solana Beach in San Diego fatally bit a swimmer. Several shark attacks have also occurred recently off the Pacific coast of Mexico. Does this mean that ocean goers are facing a summer full of sharks? Not necessarily, according to Theiss.

“This increase in activity has some people speculating that it’s due to global warming, changing ocean currents, or movements among the animals these sharks prey upon. But scientists need a lot more data before they will make any definitive statements and, in the end, it could all just be a statistical anomaly. It’s happened before,” said Theiss. “What’s still true is that you have a greater chance of being killed by a pig, a donkey, or even a soda vending machine, than by a shark.”

“Ocean health begins at home” is the theme for this year’s Beyond the Boardwalk event series, running from June 18th through June 28th. This annual event will feature a variety of exciting and interactive programs, games and stories to help adults and children discover ways to protect and restore our waterways for the thousands of animals that call them home. Advanced reservations are required for the screening of Island of the Great White Shark. For ticket information, call the National Aquarium in Baltimore at 410-427-3474.

About RTSea Productions
RTSea Productions, based in Irvine, California, www.rtsea.com, is dedicated to capturing nature and underwater images that will impress and move viewers to preserve and protect our precious natural resources – above and below the waves. RTSea has provided video and still production services for National Geographic, PBS, InMER, Aquarium of the Pacific, and others.

About The National Aquarium in Baltimore
The National Aquarium in Baltimore www.aqua.org a non-profit organization, is Maryland's most exciting and popular cultural attraction, as well as one of the region's leading conservation and education resources, hosting more than 1.6 million visitors per year. The Aquarium's mission is to connect people with aquatic life in order to create a better world for both. It is dedicated to education and conservation through more than a dozen programs that serve the environment and the community.

Contact:
Richard Theiss, Executive Producer
RTSea Productions
949-294-9876
rtsea@rtsea.com
Digital Images/B-Roll Available Upon Request

House Panels Approves Ban on Shark Finning

House Panels Approves Ban on Shark Finning:

June 11, 2008 – 1:37 p.m

A bill intended to crack down on the harvest of sharks for their fins was approved by voice vote Wednesday by the House Natural Resources Committee. Lawmakers from ocean states praised the bill as a way to ensure responsible fishing practices.

“There’s a hell of a lot of two-legged sharks around that are a lot more dangerous than the ones with fins in the ocean,” said Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii.

Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall II , D-W.Va., could not resist joking that sharks were not too different from members of Congress. “The chair will note this is not a member self-preservation act,” he said.

The measure would strengthen enforcement of an existing federal prohibition on removing the fins of a shark and discarding the carcass, which was first established in the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000.

Rumors-Acquisition-Dive Boats

Heard at the water cooler this morning (Actually in St.Thomas this week) the following dive industry rumor:

Aggressor Diving is in acquisition of Peter Hughes Diving.

It's been an open secret for the past two years that Peter Hughes has been interested in a buyer.

Exactly when the announcement of this new merger will take place is rumored to be sometime in the next three weeks.

We'll keep you updated. With the cost of fuel rising to astronomical levels expect more mergers and buyouts within the dive industry in the next year or two.

Revisting the Shear Water Affair

The Shear Water affair earlier this spring left an entire dive industry fractured, and the Bahamian Government pondering the whole notion of commercial shark diving in it's waters.

For the most part the media did it's best to highlight the worst aspects of our industry.

Now, for the first time, an in depth look into an industry that needs to spend less time with local "petitions" and more time looking at commercial shark diving as a global industry.

Markus Groh felt uneasy aboard the M/V Shear Water. A buddy had talked him into booking a six-night trip on the charter boat with nine other Austrians to scuba-dive with sharks in the Bahamas. There would be dead fish in the water to attract the big boys — tiger sharks, lemon sharks, hammerheads, and bull sharks — and there would be no cages to protect the divers. Only wetsuits. It would be the experience of a lifetime.

The entire article here. We have heard that images from this event have now been made public and will be posted to the media shortly.

Shark Conservation: Taking It to the Streets

As several of the most recent postings here indicate, there would seem to be a heightened degree of shark activity from the California/Mexico coast to Martha’s Vineyard. It has set the tongues wagging, trying to associate this statistical blip to global warming, changes in prey populations, or something – but as far as most scientists are concerned, the jury is still a long ways out until more definitive data can be collected. And in the end it might just be one of those unexplained anomalies. But will the media pick up on this and herald a new “Summer of Jaws”?

Will people’s fear and misunderstanding be reinforced by sensationalistic reporting?

Well, as lovers of all things shark, that’s where you come in. As I have held screening/lectures for Island of the Great White Shark at major aquariums across the country, I find myself typically “preaching to the choir” and so I often pose this question: “Most of you here have probably never had or ever will have shark fin soup. So you may not be part of the problem, but how do we make you part of the solution?” That gets people scratching their heads.

We must all become disciples to the cause. We need to enlighten those who are still in the dark regarding shark-human interaction and shark conservation. Do what you can and support those who are carrying the torch to areas beyond your reach. But it’s challenging. With Island of the Great White Shark, I hope for as many people as possible to see and hear a different image and different message regarding the public’s perceived “Darth Vader” of all sharks (a big “thanks for your support” goes to Shark Diver.com).

Whether it’s shark protection, marine conservation, or global warming, we need to make changes in our daily lives and we need to exercise our ability to influence others – our leaders, our nation, governments, and business – to move in the right direction. Act by example, vote by choice, influence by action.

Upcoming screenings/lectures of Island of the Great White Shark:

June 18 – National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD w/Richard Theiss

July 17 (tentative) – Harvard Museum of Natural History w/Dr. John Mandelman

TED-If You Don't Know, You Should

Robert Ballard-Speaking at the TED conference back in 2007. Why are we looking into space when we have unexplored oceans right here?

Join him on a 16 minute trip to 70% of the planet:

Hawaii Shark Fin Loophole-This Week 8400 Sharks

While it is illegal to harvest shark fins from Hawaiian waters...it is not apparently illegal to dry and process shark fins in Hawaii.

In this case 12 tons.

Hawaiian law allows out of state shark fins to land in it's ports, be processed and dried, and then shipped to waiting clients in Asia.

It's a classic loophole-and one that just recently surfaced in Hawaii this week.

Close to 700 sharks comprise one ton of fins. This haul equaled 8400 sharks:

State crews were called in to inspect a shipping container on Thursday after they got word it was filled with about 12 tons of shark fins.

It is illegal to harvest shark fins in Hawaiian waters but shipping documents reportedly showed they were caught overseas. The local company receiving them says they'll be dried here before sending them to Hong Kong. The manager at RC International says he's been doing this for 17 years and wondered why this shipment came under investigation.

"We have this container but we have to clear customs, we have to clear food and truck, we have to clear with Fish and Wildlife and then Matson delivers the container to us," said Rex Chan, Manager at RC International.

Shark Diver "Gear" Sighting-Sweet

Since 2002 Shark Diver has sold, donated, or just plain given away over 3000 baseball caps.

Featuring our homemade logo on the front "Sharky" and our brand on the back-we're told people hold on to these things like treasured mementos.

Now, 3000 baseball caps dropped into the vast pool of the dive industry is not a lot, so we get a kick out of seeing one on a random Flickr page about someone's Cape Cod whale watching trip in 2006.

We have no idea who this is, but one thing is for sure, they sure get attention wherever they go!

Gone Fishin' : Great white shark sighted in Vineyard Sound

It's strange, the world of media. Even stranger still when an east coast shark story uses this image to make a point.

A little about the image.

Amory Ross joined the crew from Shark Diver last season at Isla Guadalupe to get up close with a few Great Whites.We delivered the sharks, and he took the following image featured this week in the local Martha's Vinyard Times:

Menemsha charter captain Scott McDowell made his first trip of the season Sunday. Scott was at the helm of his new boat, a 35-foot Duffy he named the Lauren C in honor of his daughter.

A memorable line from "Jaws" came to my mind after I received a telephone call Tuesday from Scott. I remembered the part in the movie when the police chief played by Roy Scheider gets his first glimpse of the shark. He turns to Quint and says, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Scott said he was between Dogfishbar and Gay Head when a large shark came out of the water about 50 yards in front of his boat. "It was a large animal," said Scott, "surprisingly fat."

Scott speculated the shark has been feeding on striped bass. As far as I know no fly fishermen have been reported missing from Lobsterville Beach, so it is a fair guess.

Scott is a very experienced fisherman and charter captain. He said the fish came completely out of the water and twisted. He said he has seen three great whites in his life. "I have no doubt of what it was," he said. "It was quite astounding."

His customers were equally impressed. Scott said one of the guys said it was "just like TV." I wonder what he would have said if it came up and chomped on the stern.

This is not the first or the only sighting. About a month ago, Coop told me he and his son Danny were fishing for mackerel off Gay Head. Coop said they saw a fish breach and were sure it was a great white.

Great White Sharks- Southern California Map

The California Great White Shark map (click for larger image) detailing the latest shark sightings up and down the So Cal coast lines in 2008.

If you happen to surf-Huntington Beach seems pretty active.

June 1. 2008
A great white shark was spotted two miles offshore near Doheny State Beach today by a whale watching charter boat.

Captain Chad Steffen said the shark, about 15-foot long, was cruising alongside the Ocean Adventure catamaran at about 2:30 p.m. when it caught his eye. A marine biologist on board also saw the shark, but by the time Steffen tried to swing the boat around for spectators to get a look, it was gone.

Shark Diving-Tourism Analysis

This mornings Slate.com features one of the best written looks at shark tourism we have seen in the past few months. A first person account (Elisabeth Eaves) of Roatans Waihuka Diving

Here's an excerpt:

A fisherman on Roatán can get about $40 for one of these sharks, or $720 for 18. Waihuka gets about $80 per diver, so $960 on this 12-customer dive. They can charge $960 for those same sharks again and again, and the sharks don't have to die: The resource is renewable. Assuming similar overhead (a boat, an outboard engine, gasoline), shark-watching is more profitable for the locals than shark-fishing, and it conserves nature rather than decimating it.

Doesn't that make shark diving a good thing? The rosy view of eco-tourism would say we should exploit shark viewing to stop shark fishing. Hire the fishermen as dive masters, and you've got a win-win-win for locals, tourists, and sharks. Shark-watch businesses further argue that the more people have happy encounters with the animal, the more public support there will be for researching and protecting it. (The whale-watching industry plausibly advances a similar argument.

Greenpeace-Managing the Message

When it comes to the "Eco- Message" there are those who flail around with bullet riddled flack jackets and those who get right to the point.

Kudos to Greenpeace...for getting right to the point.

Click image for full size and inhale.

Ach Laddie-That Shark Nay What Ye Think It Is!

Another case of shark "mistaken identity" by the always rabid U.K press. Today's news that a vicious shark rammed a fishing vessel off the coast of Scotland. The real story? Couple of jocks out for a laugh come across a completely harmless Basking shark...that just happens to glide under their boat.

It would seem the crowd at You Tube agrees with us (check comments)

BAN SHARK FEEDING,CAGE DIVING AND SHARK BAITING IN SOUTH AFRICAN WATERS!!!!! SAVE THE SHARKS!

The following is from a new "anti-shark diving petition" making the rounds on the internet. Clearly we here at UT are pro-shark diving, but it's always diplomatic to show the other side of things.

The problem we have as a shark diving company with the anti-shark diving lobby is the lack of information. Case in point:

BAN SHARK FEEDING,CAGE DIVING AND SHARK BAITING IN SOUTH AFRICAN WATERS!!!!! SAVE THE SHARKS!

The reason I have started this petition is because I am angered at the way dive operators and charters are treating an important and vital creature in the oceans that surround Southern Africa. The SHARK!!!!!!!

Shark feeders and baiters claim that they are conserving sharks. The reality is that dive industry-endorsed shark feeders and baiters are only in it to make a profit from so called "interactive shark tours". The truth is that they harm wildlife and compromise public safety!

Just because millions of sharks are slaughtered on an annual basis does not make shark feeding okay.

Manipulating sharks with bait to approach dive boats and "perform" or "model" for diving thrill seekers, tourists and photographers severely damages their natural defence mechanisims and significantly increases the probability that they will be killed by shark fishermen.

We need to wake up and smell the sea water guys. Without sharks in our ocean the ecosystem will go into disarray and our childrens' children are going to one day ask the question... What is a SHARK? The answer might very well be... " they are extinct, lets look it up".

Let's make a difference!

Shark Hot Spots-Korea?

One of the last places on the planet we would have thought was "sharky" would be Korea. No so, according to the latest news from The Korea Times.

Grab your shark cages-word on the street is they even have a few Great Whites lurking about:

By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Global warming has made the West Sea an ideal habitat for sharks but a dangerous one for beach goers.

A shark warning was issued over the weekend as rising temperatures will attract sharks over the next two months. ``The warning will remain in effect until temperatures in the waters drop below 11 degrees Celsius,'' Kim Jong-sup, an official at the South Chungcheong Provincial Government, told The Korea Times.

Sharks live in waters where temperatures hover between 11 and 22 degrees Celsius. He warned that sharks are likely to gather around coastal surface waters until late July. Scuba divers and ``haenyeo'' ― female divers who scoop up such lucrative crustaceans as shells, crabs and trepang ― are especially at risk from shark attacks, he added.

Six people have fallen victim to shark attacks since 1981, with the most recent taking place in June 2005.

``In-shore sharks are mostly seen by haenyeo,'' Kim said. ``People are obliged to report shark sightings to authorities immediately. Upon such a report, the government suspends any type of inshore fishing and other activities including scuba diving.''

Two Great White Sharks were reportedly captured last month near an island off the province, with six other man-eaters being found in the area recently.

From Russian News with...WTF!?

It's hard to know where to begin with this latest "Shark Opinion and Analysis" report coming out Russia's news agency.

Perhaps it's best just to post the whole sad thing.

Suffice to say 99% of this article is standard "Shark hookum and pseudo science" with much of the shark information presented seemingly gathered sometime in and around 1977.

So, without any further explanation, let us present to you one of, if not the worst, media biased shark reports of the year:

Have Sharks Gone Crazy?

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti commentator Tatyana Sinitsyna) - It seems that sharks, those cold-blooded creatures, have declared a war on the human race.

It is unclear what has caused this war, but a likely suspect would be shark fin soup, which is a much-wanted luxury in the finest restaurants of the economically booming East Asia. It pains one to think how many sharks have been killed to make it.

But sharks may have become aggressive for a different reason - aberrations in Nature are very often linked to changes in the climate. The temperature of oceanic currents is changing, forcing sharks to change their migration routes. This is how Mexican experts explain the massive appearance of sharks off the shores of the Mexican state of Guerrero, where they attacked two windsurfers, and "took a bite" out of one of them....

Konstantin Zgurovsky, coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Russia marine program, observed: "I don't think that sharks have become more aggressive. Of course, the changing current pattern could bring predators to new places. Or maybe the route of fish migration has changed, and they have followed it. But if Australians are used to sharks, in other places they are causing panic."

Apparently, this is what happened in Turkey. Dozens of beaches have been shut down and sea voyages prohibited off the western coast of Turkey because of sharks. Older residents say they have never seen so many of them there.

Some experts blame this strange conduct on oceanic acidification.

However, Dr. Vsevolod Belkovich, a biologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology, does not agree: "There is no simple explanation. It is not possible to say that the ocean environment has seriously changed. At the same time, stronger pollution directly affects all ocean organisms."

Dr. Belkovich thinks that man's increasing presence in the ocean is the most likely reason for the aberrations in shark behavior: "Navigation is developing; more and more people are swimming and diving. This is why they see sharks more often. The predators are getting nervous and irritated. But they are not so much protecting their environment as trying to take a bite. People are potential victims, more food - surely a delicacy."

Sharks have exactly the same attitude to anything edible. Well adapted to life, they are absolutely fearless. But aggression is caused not only by dauntless "courage," but also by permanent hunger. They are always on the go, and cover huge distances. They need food for energy. If they do not move, they will not receive enough oxygen through their gills - though the lazier ones are known to sleep on the bottom from time to time. Others act like nurses, looking after children.

Sharks charge at a trace of blood as a bull does at a red cloth. Confrontation with man is historic - people have been improving methods of hunting sharks and protecting themselves against them since they first went to sea. Sharks are extremely sensitive to smells in the water. Nowadays, "shark repellant" chemicals are diluted in the water to scare them off.

It would seem that sharks are almost ideal creatures - they have not changed in millions of years. Paradoxically, these frightening predators are themselves under threat because they are barbarously hunted to extinction. More than 20 species of sharks examined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group are about to die out.

6 Meter White Shark-South Africa

Let's run down the numbers here. For those of you, like us, who calculate our sharks in feet, 6 meters=19.6850 feet.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is one huge white shark.

The following story is naturally out of South Africa where nothing is small-and next to Australia, almost everything is out to bite, maim, or eat you:

A Six-metre great white shark was spotted by divers on Thursday about 3.5km off Durban after they had launched from uShaka Marine World beach. Aquabud Scuba instructor trainer Miguel Nunes said he had been invited to try out a shark diving experience by Patrick Voorma of Calypso Dive and Adventure at uShaka.

"We saw two black-tip sharks, but they disappeared very quickly,"said Nunes.

"Although we spent about an hour in the water the sea was eerily quiet". "There seemed to be no fish, nothing," he said. This was soon explained . . .

They had only been back in their boat for about 30 seconds after completing their dive when they spotted a huge, black shadow. Nunes said at first they thought it might be a whale shark, but the colours were wrong. "Maybe it's a Zambezi on steroids," he joked.

UltraMarine Magazine-Taking hobbies to a whole new level

Yeah, we know this has little to do with sharks, file this one under "Ocean".

We got introduced to this magazine last week, it's a glossy take on perhaps one of the world's toughest occupations...building and maintaining saltwater aquaria. This magazine is not your fathers "Tanks Unlimited".

Written with articles taken from an in water diver perspective coupled with amazing images. Here's the write up:

"The UK’s most in-depth marine fish magazine! Ultramarine Magazine released its first issue in December 2006 and is rapidly becoming the most comprehensive journal published in its field. We cover all aspects of the Reef Keeping hobby, from beginner subjects such as fish and coral choices, to more advanced articles - a selection of which can be seen on this website".

La Nina might be causing shark attacks-Bah!

One of the biggest media events to hit Mexico in the past 3 years has not been narco trafficking or political zoo.

It has been the sudden rash of shark attacks in and around the coastal town of Zihuatanejo.

A host of experts are "divining a cause" for these unprecedented Man vs Shark encounters. The latest in a string of theories-La Nina.

The only thing wrong with this particular theory, is that there have been 3-5 recorded La Nina events since the last rash of attacks in 1972-3 off the coastlines of Zihuatanejo. Of course with a deadline to find a cause and media literally camping on beaches...anything sounds good right about now:

By Mariano Castillo in Zihuatanejo, Mexico

COOLER than normal sea-surface temperatures due to the La Nina phenomenon may be partly responsible for a spate of fatal shark attacks off Mexico's Pacific coast, a US shark expert said.

At least two people - a surfer and a US tourist - have been killed by sharks in the last few weeks around the coastal town of Zihuatanejo in the state of Guerrero.

La Nina, which usually results in cooler than normal water in the Pacific, has moved the boundary between cold and warm water closer to the shore, and along with it, fish and their shark predators, George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research told Reuters.

The last time Mexico's Pacific coast suffered a series of fatal shark attacks was in 1972-1973, when four people were killed.

Follow Up-Bahamas Shark Story

Last week we blogged about a developing story out of the Bahamas involving the crew of the Gulf Stream Eagle and a mysterious overturned vessel surrounded by Tiger sharks.

We contacted owner/captain Mark Rose in Florida to get the back story. The story he told us was too grim to blog about then, but now the story can be told. It's one of desperation and high seas drama unfolding in the dead of night off the coast of the Bahamas last week.

Warning-this video covers adult themes.

Documentary-Island of The Great White Shark

The critically acclaimed new white shark documentary Island of the Great White Shark just released another online teaser for your review. It will be featured at the Harvard Museum of Natural Science in July with filmmaker Richard Theiss:

Island of The Great White Shark-Documentary
Uploaded by sharkdiver68

Stopping Shark Finning-It Starts With "One"

One boat, one fisherman, one website, one blog, one resort in Asia.

Today another big hotel chain made a bold decision not to serve sharks fin soup to it's patrons-reserving a limited use for high rollers.

Resorts World Asia has set also aside a continuing $70,000 USD budget for shark research and launched a Marine Conservation Fund.

It starts with "One".

SINGAPORE: Growing affluence is fuelling demand for a popular Asian delicacy – shark's fin.

According to a recent survey carried out by Singapore's Environment Council and US-based conservation group Wild-Aid, 70 million sharks are killed each year to meet the demand for shark's fin, resulting in a reduction in the number of sharks by as much as 90 percent over the last 20 years.

However, the popularity of shark's fin soup among customers often means that most restaurants cannot afford to drop the dish from their menus. Louis Ng, executive director, Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES), said: "In the past, if you didn't serve shark's fin at your wedding dinner, others would term you as cheapskate."

To support conservation efforts, one of Singapore's upcoming integrated resorts - Resorts World at Sentosa - said it would not be offering shark's fin on its menu when it opens in 2010. It does not, however, rule out exceptions.

Krist Boo, Resorts World at Sentosa, said: "In the private gaming rooms, if a high roller asks for shark's fin, we will serve it and that's a business decision." Together with its move to keep shark's fin off its menus, the resort has also launched a Marine Life Fund as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.

It has set aside some US$70,000 (SGD$100,000) for 2008 and 2009 to fund research and conservation efforts, and up to US$700,000 a year when the resort opens in 2010.

Basking Sharks and Science-Great News

Off the cold dark waters of the U.K a shark mystery is slowly unraveling.

Researchers have recently tagged and tracked giant Basking sharks to discover they are deep water-long migration critters after all. Similar research on Whale sharks is showing the same behaviour patterns.

Isle of Man Britain's biggest shark species has been tracked for the first time for thousands of miles from waters southwest of the Isle of Man to Canada.

Until now little was known about endangered basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) when they moved outside British waters, but scientists have confirmed that the animals travel huge distances and plunder deep waters for food. The discoveries were made with the help of two sharks, known as A and B, who were tagged last year.

The detailed pattern of movements will now enable scientists to identify new ways to protect sharks from harm in British waters. There is still a risk of hunting in other waters, however, because of the shark's highly valued fins, which are a delicacy in some countries.

Mauvis Gore, who is involved in the project, said: “Such long-distance migrations have implications for population genetics. Despite protective legislation, the numbers in the northeast Atlantic may show only limited recovery if mature adults are exposed to exploitation in other oceanic regions.”

3 shark attacks hurt tourism in Mexican resort area

Close to ten days of wall to wall shark media coverage and we still do not know what kind of sharks were involved in these unprecedented attacks.

As far as sharks are concerned knowing what species you're dealing with is 90% of how best to avoid them.

IHUATANEJO, Mexico (AP) -- No one could remember a shark attack along this resort-studded stretch of Mexican coast popular with surfers and Hollywood's elite. Many of the large predators had been pulled from the ocean by fishermen. So when sharks attacked three surfers in less than a month, two fatally, it was unthinkable.

The latest attack came Saturday, when a shark chomped down on the arm of surfing enthusiast Bruce Grimes, an American expat who runs a surf shop in Zihuatanejo.

Grimes and a handful of other surfers were out on dark, choppy waters when he felt something lift his board. He managed about five strokes before teeth sank into his arm. "Shark!" he screamed, wresting his arm back. Grimes made it to shore, escaping with a few gashes.

"There wasn't any time to panic," he said. "I thought: 'Don't want to die. Don't want to lose my arm.' "

Only later did the 49-year-old Florida native learn a local surfer had been killed by a shark at a neighboring beach the previous day. Less than a month before that, a visitor from San Francisco, California, was killed while surfing another nearby beach.

Before that, shark attacks were unheard of in Zihuatanejo. University of Florida expert George Burgess was in the area Wednesday interviewing witnesses, going over autopsy reports and checking beaches to find out why the sharks had suddenly become so aggressive.

Shark Diver On "Wejetset Magazine"

It's always nice to get noticed in your time and today Shark Diver was noticed in a big way by Wejetset Magazine the webs source for all things travel gear related.

Over the years we have noticed a number of sites like these. Keeping fresh travel content alive on these sites is always a challenge.

From the initial look these guys are masters of the art and we look forward to seeing more sharky content up in the coming months.

Oh, and by the way, we highly suggest snagging the Magnetic Sudoku which provides endless gameplay and portability...you know, in between 90 foot shark dives somewhere tropical.

Nominating Frederic Buyle's Photography-Magazine Cover

Every once in a long while comes an underwater image so stunning, so perfect, that you just sit quiet for a minute or two enjoying every single thing about it.

This is one of those images. Please vote for this image by clicking this link today. The image is called "Dancing With Tigers".

To actually be able to "capture the moment" is every photographers dream. To capture that, and everything else is pure magic. Well done Frederic!

Latest shark diving hot spot? Boncuk Bay, Turkey

The latest hot spot for shark divers is not Isla Guadalupe but, as it turns out, Boncuk Bay, Turkey.

While we're not sure about the commercial appeal of Sand Bar sharks as a main item, any site in the Med that is reusing sharks instead of killing them has our support.

The hardest part about this new dive site is just pronouncing the street names.

MUĞLA - Doğan News Agency
Boncuk Bay situated in the Gulf of Gökova, a long narrow gulf in Muğla province in southwestern Turkey, will open for shark tourism in the upcoming months and has been sealed off to tourists at present.

The bay has been closed to domestic and foreign tourists. Serving caravan tourism for more than 30 years, the facilities in Boncuk, listed among the top 100 natural paradises of Turkey, have been sealed off. Currently, officials in Boncuk do not allow the entry of caravans coming from different parts of the world. Locals claim although the project is one that will save the sandbar sharks, which are harmless to humans, it is a blow to the long-established tourism business in the region.

Boncuk Bay, located within the official borders of Çamlıköy Village in the Mediterranean resort town of Marmaris, was declared a protected site in 1990. Last year, officials from the Environment and Forest Ministry, Dokuz Eylül University's Faculty of Fisheries, and the Underwater Research Society, or SAD, carried out some examinations in the bay.

Following the examinations, the Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas declared Boncuk Bay a protected area since it is home to Carcharhinus Plumbeus, sandbar sharks.

Currently, Boncuk Bay is closed to tourism activity. Officials have placed a number of buoys in the water to restrict boat cruises, fishing, swimming, and scuba diving in the bay. Entry to the bay both from the land and the sea has been barred.

On the other hand, the Boncuk Camping and Tourism Facility, the only existing facility in the bay, has been sentenced to a YTL 18,000 cash fine for it repaired its toilets without official permission and its operating permit has not been renewed. The administrative authority in the region informed managers of the facility that the area has been appropriated for protection of sandbar sharks before it sealed it off.

Boncuk Bay is the only spot in the Mediterranean and the second in the world for proliferation of sandbar sharks that do not pose any danger to humans. Foreign tourists who come to the bay now have to change their destination to neighboring resort towns simply because they cannot enter the bay.

Bikini Shuts Doors To Sunken WW II Fleet...and Epic Shark Diving

Mounting financial losses have forced closure of scuba diving at Bikini Atoll — the premier tourist destination in the Marshall Islands — after 13 years of operations.

The inability of the national carrier Air Marshall Islands to get passengers to and from Bikini in the past eight months when both its planes were crippled with mechanical problems, coupled with skyrocketing fuel prices, undermined a profitable scuba diving business that lured visitors from Europe, America and Australia to this former nuclear test site, Bikini Atoll Divers manager Jack Niedenthal said Tuesday night.

Air Marshall Islands, a government-owned airline, did not fly from October until earlier this month, stranding dozens of divers late last year who had to be evacuated from Bikini by ship after planes repeatedly broke down. Although Bikini has been open for a new season since February, the national airline did not resume flights until early May and only two groups of divers have managed to get to Bikini this year.

Bikini was heavily booked in advance for both 2008 and 2009. But since airline disruptions began hurting Bikini in late 2007, the tourist destination has been hit with a wave of cancellations by divers wary of being stranded on Bikini if the now one-plane airline suffered a breakdown.

Conde Nast Traveler Magazine called Bikini Atoll one of the "Top 50 Worldwide Island Escapes." It was also the sight of a two-hour, live broadcast feature in 2004 by the Discovery Channel during its annual “shark week” program, and has been featured in dozens of dive articles since opening its fleet of World War Two wrecks and large shark population to divers in 1996.

Niedenthal said the Bikinians’ U.S.-invested resettlement trust fund has been hit by losses, dropping from just above $100 million to “the low $90s (millions)” and as a result the Bikinians could no longer sustain financial losses from the dive operation in the face of both poor air service and spiraling fuel costs.

“After 13 great-though-challenging years as one of the premier wreck diving and fishing tourism sites in the Pacific, Bikini Atoll will be closed to tourists as of June 11,” Niedenthal said. “We have made this decision due to the situation of our local airline, Air Marshall Islands, and also because of the rapid rise in the world price of fuel, which has made all of our operating expenses just skyrocket beyond our means.”

In August, the Bikini council will meet to plan out its 2009 budget and decide whether to reopen Bikini for diving next year, he said.

“Given the challenges our trust fund is facing because of the recent poor performance of the U.S. stock market and a recession-bound U.S. economy, the prospect of opening next year appears very doubtful,” Niedenthal said.

Closing down the Bikini dive operation is “very hard on the Bikinian leaders and our people as all of the proceeds from the operation have gone toward purchasing food” for the displaced Bikini Islanders, who live dispersed on three different islands in this western Pacific nation.

The first nuclear tests at Bikini in mid-1946 sunk a target fleet of American and Japanese warships, including the world’s only dive-able aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga.

Billionaire Paul Allen’s mega-yacht Octopus spent a week at Bikini in February, and one dive group flew there last week — the only divers to visit the atoll since last October.

They could be the last ones to enjoy Bikini lagoon’s underwater secrets.

Riviera Beach dive boat finds shark-mauled body in overturned vessel

UPDATE: We spoke with captain Mark Rose from the GSE this morning about this entirely sad event. According to him this vessel might have been overturned for at least two days. The Bahamian gov has not released the names of the three deceased-speculating that this group may have been Haitian refugees.

BY ANDY REID Sun-Sentinel

After jumping into the ocean to look for life on an overturned fishing boat, Riviera Beach dive boat captain Jonathan Rose realized the sharks got there first.

Rose and the crew of the Gulfstream Eagle were on a dive trip to the Bahamas with 22 passengers Sunday when the U.S. Coast Guard saw an overturned vessel near Memory Rock, north of West End. The Coast Guard aircraft was on a search for a missing sailboat from Fort Lauderdale when it found the overturned boat. Rose and his 115-foot boat were nearby and he offered his help to Bahamian authorities.

Rose said that when he got into the water, he thought he saw two life jackets tangled in fishing line floating by the boat. As one drifted away, his crew realized they were bodies and that at least one had been attacked by sharks.

"They started yelling for me to get out of the water," Rose, 26, said by satellite phone Monday.

Once Rose was back on board, he and his crew tied the overturned vessel to their own and dropped anchor. They were able to pull only one of the floating bodies from the water and decided to search for any others.

Rose swam beneath the boat and found two more bodies in a forward cabin. He said he pulled them onto his boat as one of his crew mates swam nearby with a spear to ward off two 12-foot tiger sharks swimming around them.

"We knew it had to be done," Rose said. "It's only fair and proper for the families to have closure."

The Freeport News reported Monday that the bodies of two men and one woman were recovered from the 35-foot vessel, thought to have overturned in water 8 to 22 feet deep. The nationalities and identities of the passengers had yet to be released, the paper reported.

A fourth person also was confirmed dead, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson.

Conditions had been rough in recent days, with 20-knot winds and 3- to 5-foot seas, Rose said.

Rose's family has been making trips to the Bahamas for 30 years. His father, Mark Rose, said Jonathan has been diving since he was 3 and that he knows how to protect himself around sharks.

Helping with searches and rescues is part of a life lived on the ocean, according to Mark Rose. He said about four or five times a year they end up hunting for lost boats and even helping stranded refugees.

Sunday was different, according to his son.

"It was a pretty horrible sight," Jonathan Rose said. "It's just not something you can get out of your brain."

$1800 for wine on a Shark Shoot? It must be California!

One of the more interesting moments for us here at Shark Diver was the wine order we had to put together for a recent film shoot in the Bahamas.

Turns out the entire crew was French, and stereotypes aside, they loved their wines.

Typically when we put a shark shoot together we get calls for standard shark gear, cages, chum, cameras, what you would expect for a few days at sea with big sharks.

This unexpected 12 case wine order was a chance for me personally to showcase some talents that only Shark Diver seems to possess in the film and television world...in depth knowledge of good California wines.

Needless to say, of the entire film project, this took the most time and needed the most attention. After all there's no way on god's green earth our California based company was going to ship "subpar wines" to a bunch of Frenchmen who would be at sea for 10 days in the middle of the Grand Banks, Bahamas.

The final word? They liked our wines.

Shark vs Croc=Crikey, Great Shot!

For wild animal photogs being at the right place at the right time in Australia is almost as easy as taking the lens cap off your camera.

Then again if you happen to be Paul Van Bruggan a certain amount of underwater thrill always helps. While traipsing through the woods the other day he happened upon this remarkable scene...and shark photo of the month:

"We looked across and saw a shark's tail coming up out of the water and then a crocodile's head came up and grabbed it." Mr van Bruggen said the crocodile knew exactly what it was doing, dragging the shark on to unfamiliar dry land before finishing off its prey.

Shark kills surfer off Mexico's Pacific coast

Bad shark related news from Mexico yesterday as yet another surfer shark attack and death was reported. This time less then 6 miles from a previous fatal attack and death of an American last month.

Incredibly, as we were blogging about that attack, another surfer was attacked in the same area. While environmentalists managed to stave off an all out shark hunt last month up and down the coast...this time we're not so sure they'll be as effective.

ACAPULCO, Mexico -- A shark injured a 49-year-old American surfer Saturday off the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the third attack in a month.

The Mexican Navy deployed personnel to warn people about sharks at beaches in Zihuatanejo, a resort northwest of Acapulco, according to a Navy official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

He said authorities have not closed beaches in Zihuatanejo, but people were being advised against swimming. A day earlier (Friday), a 21-year-old Mexican surfer was killed by a shark off a nearby beach. The two attacks came a month after a shark killed a San Francisco man surfing in the same area.

Local Civil Protection director Jaime Vazquez Sobreira said the American attacked Saturday lost his thumb but managed to get to a hospital on his own and was in stable condition. The Guerrero state Public Safety Department identified the man as Bruce Greems but did not give his hometown in the U.S. Vazquez Sobreira said he lived in Zihuatanejo. The U.S. Embassy confirmed an American had been bitten by a shark but did not have additional information.

Mexican authorities used baited hooks to catch sharks last month after the attack that killed 24-year-old Adrian Ruiz of San Francisco. Local conservationists protested the hunt, and it was not immediately clear if authorities would do it again.

Arturo Sabas de la Rosa Camacho, the Guerrero state environment secretary, said the government would hold meetings in Zihuatanejo next week with tourists, environmentalists, shark experts and fishermen to determine what actions to take.

"We need scientific explanations for the shark presence, and if it's because of climate changes," he said.

Cold currents and an abundance of giant squid and other prey may be attracting sharks to the area, said Jose Leonardo Castillo Geniz, a shark expert with the National Fishing Institute. He said a large shark presence was unusual for the region.

Geniz said the authorities should close beaches in Zihuatanejo instead of killing sharks. He also called for aerial surveys to determine what species has been attacking surfers. Aida Navarro, of the environmental group Costasalvaje, urged the government to post warning signs at Zihuatanejo's beaches.

"Killing sharks is not the solution to preventing encounters with humans," Navarro said. She noted that some shark species are under threat from overfishing.

eBay White Shark Jaw Loophole?

We just knew this was not going to be easy, it never is.

Following the discovery of a complete set of white shark jaws for sale on eBay we dug around a bit more and discovered the following website. Frankly for a shark diving company like ours we had thought these kind of sites were all but gone following regulations.

If this sites claims are true, we stand corrected, but it does not take away from the fact the trade in white shark jaws remains a repugnant practice.

Seems wherever there's a market you'll find a seller:

This entire page is dedicated to genuine GREAT WHITE SHARK TEETH. The teeth have come from a large great white (genuine Carcharodon Carcharius) (estimated at an 18-20 footer) caught before December of 1998; after this time they were declared protected, then endangered, so no great whites have been caught since that time.

PLEASE NOTE: Great white shark teeth & jaws can be shipped only within the U.S..

THAT IS WHY THE PRICES OF THE GREAT WHITE SHARK TEETH ARE MUCH HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER SHARK TEETH IN THE WORLD.

We do not go out and catch sharks for their teeth! Great whites were declared endangered since December 1998 so it is ILLEGAL to catch them now. But they are NOT ILLEGAL TO OWN OR SELL. So what are people supposed to do with the ones that are already in circulation? Hide them? Throw them away? No, those that are in circulation are allowed to be traded, sold, resold, collected, displayed, bragged upon, showed off.

So because there are a limited amount of these specimens in circulation.....the value has only one place to go....UP (just like elephant ivory products). Modern Great White shark teeth are not found while diving or digging. They now only come from existing collections.

Nautilus Explorer White Shark "Drop Down Cages"

Good news from the crew over at the Nautilus Explorer going to Isla Guadalupe this year. Drop down cage systems for better shark images:

We are excited to offer a very unique experience to our certified scuba dive clients with a shark cage that can submerge to a maximum of 40 feet. Guadalupe Island has fine and excellent diving conditions with beautiful blue water, 100 foot visibility and seas that are usually calm.

However, it can get windy and it seems to us that the white sharks tend to stay a wee bit deeper on windier days. So, we borrowed an idea from Australia and built a submersible 3 person cage that will offer an awesome view unlike any other. Photography opportunities should be wild. Rebreather divers are welcome to bring their rigs which is a first!! Strict safety protocols will be in place.

Submersible cage diving has been done for many years in Australia and we are very fortunate to have one of the leading shark experts in the world, Rodney Fox, joining us this fall to show us how it's done.

White Shark Jaws for Sale eBay

Thanks to the sharp eyes of blog reader "Samir" we were notified this morning of this recent shark travesty on eBay.

This is what you think it is and yes, it is illegal in the USA to sell white shark jaws and teeth. If this item is still up on eBay you can find it here:

Monster White Shark Jaws

The current bidding is $1750 USD but will always go much higher if left to market driven buyers. The last set of jaws we saw on eBay a few years ago was a $5000 prior to our email campaign. If you have a chance today, and you want to do some good, here's the sellers eBay contact info.

Please feel free to contact both the seller and eBay management at the following contacts to inform them of your feelings about this:

eBay Seller
J.Dizzl

eBay Management
Violations


"A Big Thanks" from the crew here at Shark Diver

Yahoo! Fin Soup Redux

By now those-500 per day-of you who join us here at Underwater Thrills aka Shark Diver know that we are the last people on the planet to sit on the sidelines when news happen within the shark community.

Last year we were all over the place when it came to Internet giant's Yahoo! involvement with Alibaba.com

The issue was the selling of dried shark fins over the Internet and Yahoo!'s one billion dollar investment in Alibaba.com China-who continue to enable the sales of thousands of tons of dried shark fin each and every month. The math works out like this, for every ton of dried shark fin, the bloody harvest is upwards of 700 live sharks. It's ugly economics and even more wasteful than you can imagine when you realize 99% of the rest of the shark goes straight to the bottom of the ocean.

Shark Diver coined the term The New York Stock Exchange of Shark Fins for Alibaba.com and within a few weeks the term stuck.

Here's the latest news from the shark fin front and as can be imagined, the news is quite unimaginable:

BERLIN, May 22 (Reuters) - Overfishing partly caused by booming demand for shark fin soup, a delicacy in some Asian countries, is threatening the existence of 11 kinds of ocean sharks, an international study showed on Thursday.

The fish, often seen as ferocious sea predators, suffer from largely unregulated fishing for their valuable fins, said the report into 21 species of sharks and rays living in the open oceans.

The experts who wrote the study, organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, also urged governments to quickly impose catch limits.

"The traditional view of oceanic sharks and rays as fast and powerful too often leads to a misperception that they are resilient to fishing pressure," Sonja Fordham, report co-author and deputy head of the IUCN's shark specialist group, said.

Thresher sharks, silky sharks and the shortfin mako are all under threat, said the report, presented at a May 19-30 U.N. biodiversity conference in the city of Bonn.

The sharks, all "pelagic" or living in the open ocean, include large species such as the whale shark and great white shark. Although relatively few compared to coastal and deep sea sharks, a greater number of pelagic species is under threat.

"The increase in demand for shark fin soup in countries like China is a major driver of the problem," Fordham told Reuters, noting that growing affluence in China, where the soup is served as a treat at celebrations, is behind its increasing popularity.

Underwater Times Reports:Giant Squid Caymans

From the good folks over at the Underwater Times the following story of one of our favourite critters in the ocean, the squid.

This rather large 7 foot specimen was found by local fishermen in of all places the Cayman Islands.

After 10 years of diving these islands we have never seen anything like this...apparently no one on the Caymans have seen anything like this either:

George Town, Cayman Islands (May 21, 2008 15:40 EST) A rare squid found floating on the surface of the ocean about 5 miles south of Little Cayman this weekend has been positively identifed as Asperoteuthis.

Local fisherman Derren Burlington, who was taking part in the Brac Jackpot Fishing Tournament, discovered the 24lbs 4oz creature, which is over 7 feet (2.5m) long, on Saturday 18 May at around 9:00 am, and transported it to the Little Cayman Research Centre operated by the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI).

Dr. Clyde Roper, Emeritus Zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution, has confirmed that it is only the fourth specimen known in the entire Atlantic Ocean. He said all other specimens known of this species – a dozen or so – have been found in the Indo-Pacific waters.

Shark Diving Analysis-Mexico, South Africa, Bahamas, California

As Mexico's government presses for new regulations governing shark diving activities at Isla Guadalupe under a cloud of allegations, operators worldwide need to pay attention.

The anti shark diving lobby (for the right and the wrong reasons) is alive and well and what goes on in one place reverberates throughout an entire industry.

Florida's successful and complete ban on all shark diving activities is a prime example of how governments and agencies can make snap decisions based on incorrect information, and sometimes lack of far sighted vision.

Shark diving tourism generates millions for local economies worldwide and is, for the most part, no more dangerous then sky diving. The best case financial example of this is South Africa and Australia.

For other countries like the Bahamas, and to some degree in Mexico, the feeling that commercial shark diving operations do not put back enough into local economies is an all too valid point.

Without dialogue between the commercial operators and the agencies and governments who would over see their activities-the opportunity to build on world class shark eco tourism with proper financial re numeration to territorial governments gets quickly lost in a spiral of misinformation and media hype.

Here's a quick list of governments and their agencies who are, at this moment, debating the merits of commercial shark diving within their territorial waters based on recent events.

1. Bahamas-Tigers, non caged, baited activities

2. Farallones, California-White shark viewing distance from shore, 500 meters

3. Mexico-White sharks, chumming ban

These well known commercial shark diving sites and the media attention they have garnered are interlinked. When divers and anti shark diving proponents speak of shark diving, they often list off the top sharks sites worldwide.

Add to that a rough 2008 shark diving season with a tragic commercial vessel accident in South Africa (no fault), a well covered attack and death in the Bahamas, and a series of random (non shark diving related) shark bites and deaths up and down the California, Florida, Australia and Mexico coastlines.

What you end up with is a perfect storm of negative media with several agencies and government bodies poised to take some sort of action regarding commercial shark diving activities.