Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Is Sean Van Sommeran a Liar and a Cheat?

Marine debris - this is apparently SVS' tag

Who knows!

You may want to read this brilliant post by Patric.
It concerns this alarming report by Dr. Michael Domeier on the Marine CSI Facebook page.

I must say, I have a grudging admiration for SVS.
They guy is clearly passionate about Sharks and Shark conservation, and contrary to the petitioning Facebook warriors, he's actually out there doing stuff for which I totally respect him! But on the other hand, I totally dislike most of his opinions and especially, the way he has chosen to present them - and no I'm not gonna engage in some debate, Socratic or otherwise!

And Domeier?
I've certainly not been kind to him in the past, something I now regret. No not really in terms of the issues I have raised - but because even during the Junior controversy, the man has always come across as a true gent and because his research is just simply stellar.
Incidentally, if you ever want to talk with any authority about GWs, you simply must read the book he has edited! It contains all of the relevant peer reviewed science, and Domeier's revision of the life history of the Eastern Pacific GWs will simply blow your socks off, promise!

But this is not about those two people.
They are who they are, there is obviously a long and complicated history and they certainly appear not to like each other - so forget the stories, from the dipshit page no less, about stolen tags, Junior and Architheutis etc, they are just a symptom of that wonderful Californian GW research community and got zero incidence here.

This is about this story, and I cite.

After the massive shark was brought ashore, someone spotted the algae-covered white tag near the base of the female shark's dorsal fin. She saw Van Sommeran's contact information on the tag, then called and emailed him...
The wife of one of the fishermen - Paulina Leon - asked him about a possible reward. In the past, anglers in the area have returned transmitter tags to researchers for reward money....
After a few brief communications with the woman, Van Sommeran is still trying to get more pictures and information about the shark.

This is apparently that e-mail, posted here, c/p.


White Shark Landed off Mexico, a Rare Catch for Panga Fisherman; it may have carried ID tag from California according to reports:

2012/4/9 Paulina L.

Hi
This is Paulina, I just called you because we found one of your shark
detector, haha how do you name it?
How can I send it to you?...
you can call me back at --- --- 17 02

Note the date of that e-mail.
But the Shark was only caught one week later???

As I said, who knows.
But my money is certainly on MD!

PS: further comments by MD here.
150-odd comments on that dipshit Facebook page later, everyone is till waiting for an explanation of how a mysterious Paulina Leon could write an e-mail on April 9 about an event that happened on April 15...

6 comments:

Horizon Charters Guadalupe Cage Diving said...

Yeah, like a fisher-woman in small seaside town in Mexico would intuitively place an object next to the tag for scale.

SVS is indeed scrappy, and as u know I was pulling for him.

This is a debacle but only until you watch Scott Cassells take on the same shark...man oh man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtRAuC_zVBg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Seems there was more than one person trying to media bareback that unfortunate shark.

Sean R. Van Sommeran said...

--
here is my direct statement following informants alerting me to sharks being poached and tags collected:

"White Shark Landed off Mexico, a Rare Catch for Panga Fisherman; it may have carried ID tag from California according to reports" .....

I made it rather clear that a tag may have been recovered, not only that but the tags in question were being held for ransom, allegedly the tag was sold to some individual for a sum of $200.oo ...

Photos and numerous local sources (including a Santa Cruz person who owns home in area where poachers operate and can also vouch for the tags ...

Domeier is just reacting to my wire breaking information regarding steep uptick in white shark poaching and jaws and fins sales out of Baja,,, hes' resentful that I (as usual) am making the important observations and my experience makes him resentful because I am way better in the field than he is ... that's it, hes got money, Ive got skills and over 20 years of white shark research experiences; Ive seen hundreds of white shark predations and behaviors he never will.... I think hes only ever seen one white shark predation EVER !!! He said so... Spoiled rich guy ...

Meanwhile the tag isnt the first tag recovery we've gottan from MX and he's not interested in allowing my research to flourish and so is squelching the notion (as if it were not possible) and attacking my credibility for having received the valuable information..

Lets debate...!!!

Anonymous said...

Sean
I have no idea as to what the details are about this Baja shark issue. However, you claim to be the much better researcher. When I do a search on Michael Domeier I find a book on great whites and several first author publications. When i do the same with you I can only find a few papers where you are co-author (generally with lots of co-authors). In 20 years of white shark research why have you not published any first author papers?

Sean Van Sommeran said...

To the Anonymous author:

I was speaking in terms of practical, applied, experiencial knowledge and depth of experiences in terms of observing naturally occurring predations and years in the field.

He's well off, educated person for sure; I just wanted to make it clear he doesnt impress me and his allegations are hollow and Im here to debate him about it and the other remarks he's made.

Thanks, tho, why not use your own name.

Anonymous said...

Are you, SVS, the originator of this grubby page:-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Dr-Michael-Domeiers-application/215192741838700

or

http://tinyurl.com/bluvl4o

Yes or No?

Anonymous said...

Hey, SVS, where did you go?

SVS, Yooohooo!!!

Sean!!!! Sean!!! Sean!!! - now don't go all shy on me!!! Come and talk! Start with answering the question above...

...Nope. Still silence.

...Anyone heard from Sean recently?

Sean buddy, where are you?

CALLING SEAN VAN SOMMERAN!!!

Sean, are you out there?!?!?!

Mr PSRF, what happened to you???

HELLO!

...Looks like he ran away.