One Week with Cristina!

Total serendipity!

We're finally ready to announce Cristina's two trips and it just so happens that today is her birthday! From all of us here at BAD, tantissime bellissime cose, salute e soprattutto Felicità!

What can I say about Cristina that hasn't been said already.
Yes she really is the First Lady of commercial Shark Diving - and together with her new friend Rusi with whom she shares a deep, intuitive understanding, love and respect of the animals, she is also probably the best Shark handler on the planet. Being who they are, people who do things out of passion and not for fame, they would obviously balk at the notion - but if ever there were two people truly deserving the attribute of Shark Whisperer, it would be them, not the legion of self promoting wannabees out there!
Please don't tell her I said so, but all of us here really do like and admire her very much - professionally but very much also as a beautiful human being!

Anyway.
We are honored that Cristina has decided to come visit us again in 2012 - and you can join her for an exciting week of Shark diving and Shark education!
You can find all relevant details here and I hope that you will agree that this an experience any lover of Sharks can simply not afford to miss! One caveat however: as always, this is not about the adrenaline and what has been called extreme Shark diving. It is about learning about the animals and witnessing respectful Shark-human interactions, also by Cristina who is the only person we have ever trusted to do so with our Sharks - but again, do not expect to see her experimenting with tonic on the Bulls!

This is prime Bull Shark season and space is limited. Really!
Total numbers on our dive are strictly limited and we already have other bookings, so please, do book early in order to avoid disappointments!

See you in May!

Cristina about Shark Diving Procedures - awesome as always!

 Cristina and Blacktip Reef in the SRMR - stellar pic by Ozzie Sam - click for detail!

What can I say that I haven't already.

I'm a big fan of Cristina, and this both from a strictly personal but above all, from a professional standpoint where she continues to cement her position as one of the foremost industry voices in advocating conservation, common sense and long term sustainability.

Her latest post does not disappoint.

Once again, here is the definitive list of what constitutes good commercial Shark diving: no rocket science by any means but alas, apparently already too complicated for a few irresponsible operators, see last week's posts about the erosion of commercial Shark diving in Guadalaupe - and yes, I'll certainly leave it at that!

And what about

I have read blogs about the need to have personal freedom to interact with sharks however we like. While the concept is absolutely correct...?

Totally - but with one big caveat.

It is absolutely correct when it comes to private undertakings where everybody is welcome to find their own piece of the ocean and to experiment. After all, that's precisely how all commercial Shark diving operations were established by a few adventurous, brave and often crazy pioneers!

But not on commercial Shark dives - especially in the presence of bait and especially with those large potentially lethal predatory species!

But of course I'm repeating myself.

You can find our take on this subject in countless posts, e.g. here, here and here to name but a few more substantial ones, so no need to dwell.

So here's to Cristina and to somebody finally taking heed of her sage words.

And yes, and pigs...

Cristina and the Soup!

 Bella foto! :)

It really looks like Cristina can do no wrong.

Whenever I go snooping on one of her two Facebook pages, I'm continuously amazed at the seemingly unconditional love of her fans who will applaud whatever she does or says, and this apparently regardless of the content or context.

Good on her, she has certainly earned it.

So here's to Cristina and her fans.

But above all, here's to her fans taking the time to really understand, and then heed the lessons of her latest post on the website of Shark Savers. Indeed, unless properly educated, most people will never understand why Sharks are different from other Fish - and yes, in order to be accepted and thus lead to positive results, that education needs to come from people who understand and respect the specific circumstances and cultural framework they are operating in.
Well said as always, brava!

And you certainly don't have to look as far as Asia.

I'm quite sure that this article will ignite the usual firestorm, the more as the author appears to be fully aware of the conservation status of Tigers, which is Near Threatened.
But repugnant as killing and eating Tiger Sharks may be to me and hopefully most of the readers of this post, let's also be clear about the fact that with the exception of Florida, catching and killing Tiger Sharks in the USA is perfectly legal, likely because the authorities tasked with managing the fishery deem that it is sustainable. After all, Near Threatened means Not Threatened and from what I hear, Tigers are among those Sharks whose US populations are apparently very much recovering (but beware of shifting baselines!) after much better Shark management measures have been put into place.

But the conservation status is obviously not the whole story.
As Neil writes, the meat is full of urea and also, like the meat of many large predatory Fishes, it contains methylmercury, making it only partly suitable for human consumption - but that's not a conservation issue, that's a matter of public health and as such, it falls within the authority of the FDA that so far is however limiting its advisory to pregnant women and children only.

Long story short?
I love Sharks and would personally never, ever kill one - but once again, that's merely a personal stance that got nothing to do with conservation.
Like it or not, the fact is that in the real world, the vast majority of people do want to consume protein including seafood - even, at least in my experience, the vast majority of divers who will vehemently campaign for marine conservation but then order Fish and Lobster for dinner!
And as long as that's the case, I remain of the firm conviction that sustainable wildlife extraction has to be part of the mix - and this very much including the sustainable fishing for Sharks!
This at least in theory: when it comes to the practice, it remains highly questionable whether achieving true sustainability is even possible - certification or no certification!

Talking of which - whatever happened to this stupidity?
And does anybody know whether the vociferous Ms Reed has ever come true on her proud announcement that she would be saving sharks in the USVI? No Fin no Sharks no Future, or whatever - right?
Just asking! :)

But I'm clearly digressing as usual.
Enjoy Cristina's post!

Cristina: non c'è due senza tre!

Cristina doing her thing in the SRMR - stellar pic by Ozzie Sam. Click for detail!

La Zenato has done it again!

Check out her brilliant newest blog post.
Like her previous posts here and here, it ultimately amounts to nothing more than common sense.

Indeed,
In this context, a simplistic approach that calls for stopping fishing all together is not going to work, is not realistic, and is set up for failure.
At some point the need to sustain food sources for a community clashes with the need for ‘ecological sustainability.’

And thus, this is the lesson I learned in Fiji:
Viable protection needs to come from within the place where sharks are located, it needs to be understood and promoted by the local people, and it needs to be presented in a spirit of cooperation and understanding. My personal opinion is that we need to support education and engage in an open conversation with all parties involved, including ourselves, the visitors.

Could not agree more - with one caveat.
With human development having run roughshod over marine resources, there are now too many people wanting to eat too little fish - and if that is true, both sides of that conflicting dichotomy need to be addressed.

There is only one solution, and that is, to achieve real sustainability.
And if so, it means that we must find ways to allow for those depleted fish stocks to recover; but at the same time, we must finally have the courage to speak out about the ultimate cause of the current problem, i.e. human population growth and the growth of the individual ecological footprints.

That is of course an eminently political challenge.
The clash Cristina mentions is real, especially in those developing countries where eating fish is a necessity and not merely a luxury - and I doubt that any amount of education alone will ever be sufficient to achieve the necessary consensus.

Long story short?
What I'm trying to say is that democracy is great - but when times are tough, democratic processes do not always lead to the best solutions.
Right now, what we need is leadership, and consensus will hopefully come at a later stage when the benefits of those bold measures will become apparent to everybody.
Thankfully for Fiji, it appears that we have just that.

Enjoy Cristina's post.

Cristina - Shark Love?

Source.

Watch what happens at 1:45ff...

Amazing isn't it.

A pal writes,

The romantic in me says it's LURVE. 
The cynic says the shark is assuming that position to have ectoparasites removed - and simply following what it takes to be the ecto-parasite-removing creature when it retreats. I think this shows how we, as hug-loving mammals, are hard-wired to misinterpret what is presumably going on - and hence how easily the idiots (Ritter, Treadwell et al) can go off the transcendental deep end. 

Yes and no!

Clearly, those are conditioned Sharks that as a minimum have been habituated to humans insofar as they appear to have lost their natural fear of them. This is one of the known side-effects of provisioned Shark dives that when they are conducted responsibly, leads to less agonism = defensive aggression - the flip side being that the resulting familiarity can lead to the well-known problems with those infamous beggar Sharks, hence the need for good protocols.

So yes those Sharks may well want to get cleaned.

Jimmy did show me equally amazing footage of Lemons snuggling up to divers at the Tiger Beach cleaning station, and equally only being rewarded with a friendly rub. Both Jimmy and Cristina have removed squillions of hooks, and the Sharks may indeed regard, and thus seek them out as some sort of cleaner organism as a consequence.

But maybe it's something else?

Specially in the case of Cristina that induces a trance-like state (not tonic!) by stimulating the Sharks' snout, the Sharks may simply come in for the resulting, obviously pleasurable sensation. Does that equal LURVE and affection and the like? Methinks not, it may be more akin to us, ahem, visiting a brothel - but it is totally amazing nevertheless!

And now?

Does this mean that we should all swarm out and start giving Sharks affection, or whatever, by conditioning them to come in and get petted?

Certainly not!

Back then in 2008, Patric asked

Is it not enough to "witness" these animals in all their grace and elegance? Do we need to touch them and ride them as well? Do photographers really need to shoot inside a Tigers mouth? Do we need to throw pokey-sticks at them? Where does it end, where do we call the game and set the safety goal posts?

And for me, the answer is crystal clear.

Like I never cease to repeat, Shark dives need to be regarded as wildlife encounters and subsequently, conditioning needs to be kept at an absolute minimum = limited to attracting otherwise shy species, and ensuring the necessary degree of safety. All else is just simply unwarranted and often disrespectful showmanship that benefits only the human, with only more risks for the animal.

Cristina and Jimmy of course get a pass.
Mind you, this not because of what they do but because of who they are!

The other molesters, not so much - but once you've logged thousands of Shark dives, devoted your life to Shark conservation but above all, removed hundreds of hooks, you too will be entitled to some rather superfluous, and clearly not reciprocated Shark LURVE - petting, scratching, hugging and kissing included!

In diesem Sinne - happy Shark diving!

Common Sense in Shark Diving?

Walker's Cay Chumsicle, by Pat Anderson.

Interesting day!
First, there is this simply stellar (!) post by Cristina who has brilliantly analyzed the topic as only someone with years of experience coupled with a profound knowledge of the animals could have done! Felix is of course absolutely correct in saying that in the end, it amounts to nothing but a lot of common sense - but therein of course lays the crux insofar as the latter appears to be a scarce commodity indeed!

Case in point, the following video.
A friend sent me the link with one comment only, and that is sigh...
Indeed - check it out.

Boy-oh-boy...
No, I'm really not gonna embark into a rant as some may wish.
In the end, those guy are doing nothing bad - they just obviously appear to have no clue and are making simple beginner mistakes.

But is that really necessary?
Does one have to try and re-invent the wheel and learn everything the hard way?
This is not the 70ies where everybody wanting to feed Sharks had to do it on his own and embark in risky experiments - now there's an established world-wide industry with tried-and-tested protocols, there's e-mail through which one can contact and ask the established operators, there's YouTube where to watch the established feeds with plenty of examples of how to do it correctly.
That is, provided one has the humility to want to learn from others which may well be the problem here?

Anyway, those guys are feeding Caribbean Reefs.
It just so happens that thanks to UNEXCO, the correct protocols may well be some of the longest-established on the planet. From what I can discern, there are essentially three established ways to do this safely:

• Chumsicle feeding was developed by Gary and Brenda Adkison at Walker's Cay and consists in rigging up a big block of suspended frozen bait where the Sharks will come in and grab a bite. It is being practiced with other Sharks like Greys and Reef Blacktips elsewhere like in Yap but to my knowledge, it has been discontinued in the Caribbean after the demise of Walkers'.
  The problem associated with this technique is twofold insofar as a) it requires access to a lot of Fish and to a capacious freezer, something only few locations can afford and b) it culminates in a frenzy, called the Shark Rodeo at Walkers', whereby one Shark will grab the last big chunk and dash away followed by a throng of highly excited competitors, something that is uncontrollable and ultimately dangerous.

The other two established feeding techniques enable the operators to always control the amount of food that is being introduced - and thus, to control the behavior of the animals by being able to counteract any incipient feeding frenzy, something those Reefs are particularly prone to, making them some of the most dangerous and unpredictable species to work with.
They are

• Pole feeding where food is being handed to the Sharks by means of a longish metal pole. This is principally being practiced at Stuart Cove's and very safe.


• Hand feeding like it is done by Cristina at UNEXCO and replicated world wide, among many others by us. It is certainly not completely safe for the feeders and requires enhanced safety procedures and a great deal of circumspection and ultimately, empathy and experience
  

So what about the video.
We feed Grey Reefs that are very similar in temperament, and here's what I can see - not meant to offend or belittle anybody but instead, meant as constructive criticism, DaShark style!
The general rule: when regularly doing something dangerous, you got to stack the cards in your favor!

• Clients. We require full body dark wetsuits, black gloves and absence of shiny and brightly colored gear. That's really global standard in order to minimize contrast and avoid mistakes by the Sharks - meaning that should there be an accident, you will be accused of not having followed globally accepted standard procedures, which is not where you want to find yourself! Especially in limited visibility, pasty flailing hands sticking out of black sleeves look like bait and will eventually get nailed.
  But kudos for lining up the clients and keeping them separated from the action!


• Garb of the feeder. Like those dudes, both Cristina and Stuart's use full-body steel mesh suits courtesy of Jeremiah. But, they also protect their head to the extent whereby the guys at SC even wear helmets! There is a reason for that!
  I see one bite on the mask and the head-butting is just insanity and will eventually lead to tears, promise! Here, we only use gloves but we just hand out the food on the fly and don't wrangle like those guys - so either do the former or get yerself a steel mesh hood!


• Feeding. That pokey stick is way too short and badly handled. The bait did slide too far down the stick and the Shark was not able to get it off, with the clumsy handling of the feeder risking to injure the palate and break off teeth. Get a longer stick or add another point so the bait stays at the tip like on a fork - or even better, at least as long as there's only a few, just feed them by hand!


• Feeder positioning. Laying on one's stomach confers no stability and no control of the situation, and is a recipe for disaster. Instead of flailing about helplessly like in the video, stand, or kneel on one knee with the other foot in front. That allows you to turn around and control the movement of the Shark by leading it with one hand - or to feed it on the fly like we do.


• Wrangling. Those are just gratuitous and dangerous shenanigans - totally 70ies and totally uncalled for! Those animals are there for one reason only and that is, to get a piece of Fish - so give it to them & refrain from the pseudo-love or whatever all that hugging and grabbing is meant to signify!
  Maybe one day the Sharks will approach you for other reasons - but to achieve that, go at it slowly and with respect, develop some empathy and mutual trust, and that over many years, like Cristina has obviously done.
  

Anyway, just a couple of remarks.
If I may make a final suggestion, hop on a plane to the Bahamas and go talk to those guys. This is one global industry and I can assure you that everybody will be more than willing to engage in a conversation and give you some tips borne out of decades of experience, as it is in everybody's ultimate interest that things proceed as safely as possible. Hell, you should even do a few dives, look at how they they do it and maybe even give it a try yourself under supervision!
That obviously requires the humility of realizing that one's capabilities are woefully inadequate - but real men who feed Sharks are surely big enough to admit their shortcomings?

Or not?

Cristina, bravissima!

From Cristina's first blog post.

If you are in the position – based on experience – to question why you are asked to behave or not in a certain way and feel that the rules are not pertinent to you, then abort the dive and seek out a different operator that works better for your needs.
If you enter the water behaving against the instructions of the dive leader or operator, it is not only disrespectful, but could be dangerous, potentially jeopardizing your safety and that of others sharing your trip, the operator and the sharks.

Mamma mia - absolutely brilliant!!

But then again, I expected nothing less.
La Zenato is one of only a handful of people I totally respect for how they understand and handle Sharks. I've had the great pleasure of observing her on our dive and with our animals, and from day one is was glaringly apparent that she just got it, quel certo non so che.
Compared to the real Shark people, I'm still very much a rookie and as a consequence my opinion really doesn't count for much. But the boyz were blown away and even Rusi was totally impressed and can't wait for her to come back - and lemme tell 'ya, having had to personally labor for more than a year before earning my first smile from him, that really is the highest endorsement I can possibly think of!
In fact, he has asked Cristina to become our first and only guest feeder, ever!

Anyway, I'm digressing as always.
Enjoy Cristinas post here - and above all, pay close attention to what she's got to say because as always, it is as good as it gets!

Manipulating Sharks?

And talking of not messing with Nature.

Stellar post by Cristina!

When people accuse me of “teaching” sharks to attack divers, I remind them that sharks have learned to feed from human boats, fishing lines and spears from the first day our species entered the water to procure food for ourselves (hear hear!)
If sharks truly associated humans with food, in the Bahamas we would never be able to go snorkeling or free diving. Every single shark in our waters would have learned by now to approach and attack each person in the water. Yet spearfishermen — who often lose their catch to sharks — are the first to tell you that they can be swimming for hours, looking for prey without seeing a shark, and as soon as they spear a fish, a shark appears out of nowhere to steal it. 
Where was that animal all along? 

Doesn't get much better than that!

Of course, and I'm quite confident (!) Cristina will concur, it does not mean that Sharks are nothing but big puppies and that everybody should start feeding them! Rather to the contrary, her post explains that it needs to be done responsibly - and you can read on Cristina's post, and on this one she has penned earlier, what doing so entails.

Anyway, great job - bravissima come sempre!

Cristina - another great one!

Pic: Unexso

Please read this latest post by Cristina.

Great stuff, by a person who really loves but above all, understands and respects the animals she works with. And... she's a Shark Angel! Just goes to show that not everyone there is a narcissistic bimbette! And here's a another brand new interview!
Brava!

And I did a bit of rummaging around.
Did you notice her description of the students, those who get it and those who then go home to boast? A great example of the former is Marina Gottlieb Sarles who wrote this beautiful piece after having just watched Cristina do her magic - really, really nice, and kudos for that.

And the others?
I'm still searching - but fear not, I've already found a couple of rather epic pagliacci!
Keep watching this space! :)

Tonic - bad for the Sharks?

Tonic on OWT - source.

Hmmmm.

Read this.

The author did contact me a while ago asking what I thought about the topic, at which I replied, c/p, Methinks yer wasting yer time there… those sharks can easily stomach a bit of stress… compare to when they get hooked and have to endure long fights … or better, compare to those 100m being killed every year and ask yerself, where should you invest your time… 

Well, she has obviously persevered.

I must say that I'm rather underwhelmed - by the persevering, by the quasi-verbatim parroting of Wikipedia, and by the I believe inaccurate and confusing content. Not a big deal really, and I was gonna ignore it - but now both David and Domeier have chosen to chime in, and it is obviously creating a bit of a kerfuffle which is actually orders of magnitude more irritating than the post itself!

So there.

But first, watch this.

This is the real tonic.

Sharks go into a catatonic state when flipped upside down, and this has been used by researchers as a comparatively non-invasive method to restrain Sharks when working on them, e.g. when inserting acoustic tags etc. Contrary to what Wikipedia claims, it appears to work with most Elasmobranchs as witnessed by the above but also countless other pictures and video of all kinds of Sharks of all kinds of sizes.

It is certainly stressful but likely not life threatening and considering the alternatives = chemical sedation or restraining with ropes or hauling out of the water, I find it an elegant way to profit from a natural phenomenon and can certainly live with the bit of discomfort it causes - as probably can the Sharks!

So what about this rant?

What I find appalling there is the disrespectful forced manhandling that serves no other purpose than to create a stupid macho show for stupid tourists. That may have been cool decades ago but times have changed - now it is only pathetic and we in the industry should be better than that.

Now, watch this.

Yes this is obviously Cristina.

Ethically, the big difference here is that there is no forcing: the Sharks are obviously eager to approach her, to the point that I hear that they will sometimes push away other Sharks from her knees in order to get the "treatment".

But this is not tonic immobility!

Contrary to the real tonic that is being linked to e.g. mating, I cannot imagine any "natural application" where a Shark's sensitive snout with the many nerve endings and ampullae may ever be stimulated in this way. 

I'm clearly speculating - but I believe that the rubbing may possibly lead to sensory overload, i.e. some sort of trance-like state and/or that the sensation may be highly pleasurable, both of which would explain the total relaxation and the fact that the Sharks are apparently coming back for more and even competing for Cristina's attention. 

In any case, this is not at all what has been investigated by those researchers, and the findings of the various papers about tonic cannot simply be applied willy nilly to these specific situations!

And those pics of Eli and the Tigers?

Watch.

Does that look like tonic to you?

Whilst I can see that Eli tries, so far unsuccessfully, to stimulate their snouts, the Sharks don't appear to enter a trance-like state but instead remain in constant movement and are never really relaxed, to the point that I would argue that I see signs of irritation and/or lack of orientation. Yes the Sharks do come back for more - but IMO they do so because that's where the bait is, not because they desire more manhandling.

What Eli does, is merely to use a trick to flip those Tigers on their back that can sometimes result in one to multiple rotations around their axis - and the posted pictures of inverted and/or vertical Tiger Sharks are completely misleading as they merely depict a totally transitory state.

All this is possibly slightly stressful - but it harming them? Most likely not!

Ethical considerations?

Yes contrary to the example from Cuba, the Sharks appear to approach voluntarily - but this is essentially a circus act showcasing a person manhandling big predatory Sharks. I must say that I'm on the fence on this one which is obviously highly subjective - but I anticipate that in a couple of years, we will look back on it like we now look back unfavorably on the ubiquitous Sharks wrangling of the eighties. And this may even apply to Cristina's show and before you start, yes, even to our hand feeding of Sharks!

When it comes to the latter.

We still believe that hand feeding is the best and safest way to showcase our Bulls - but as the number of Bulls has continued to increase, we have continued to adapt our protocols and are now hand feeding way less than before, this not for ethical reasons but principally in order to manage the risk to our feeders.

May we once be forced to phase it out completely? Who knows, possibly yes - but not quite yet!

But I'm digressing as always.

Tonic or no tonic, tricks or no tricks, feeding or not: there are now simply too many unprepared and reckless people interacting closely with Sharks in places like Tiger Beach and alas, Bimini. And like the idiotic riding, the trend appears to be ever increasing, to the point that quite recently, some imbeciles have even tried to secretly set sail to Guadalupe to go and flip a GWS for some moronic show on Shark Week. I hear that they got stopped by the authorities - but they or others may try again elsewhere, and I must say that I don't like any of these developments.

Shark feeding is easy, and inducing tonic and the likes possibly too - but to do it sustainably and safely over a long period of time is not a question of bravery or of mastering some simple skills but instead requires dedication, knowledge and quite a bit of serious risk management, something Eli appears to be increasingly aware of.

And I see very little of that.

Instead, I see too much yahoo bravado and adrenaline chasing, too much self promotion, too much profiteering, too much outright stupidity - and way too less knowledge, and respect, admiration and love of the animals.

Once again the question is, quo vadis.

And alas, I'm not terribly hopeful.

Touching Sharks - Wildlife Harassment?

Source.

OK, first rant of the year.

This is thorny - but I just got to get it off my chest.

It concerns this hypocritical article by the increasingly irrelevant Executive Director of the increasingly irrelevant Shark Angels, and this comment by David.

Da che pulpito?

When it comes to Andersen, meh.

It is merely a continuation of this hypocritical rubbish, and instead of further debasing myself, I can certainly keep it with Martin who states.

Here is the problem with what Julie says.
She is known to the public, because of all the pictures of her, touching sharks. Now she says that she wishes some of those pictures would not be so public and that other people would not touch sharks. So let me get this straight, after she got her fame by touching sharks, she doesn't want others to do the same and she says it's not an ego thing? She does however have no reservations about using that fame when it suits her. I guess she just doesn't want others to get in on the action. She also is talking about sharks, like they are all the same. Well, it does say that she's an expert, so it must be true. It couldn't be that there are sharks that are social and touch each other and others that don't do that, at least not without eliciting a violent reaction. I wish we would just stop paying attention to all these wanna be shark whisperers and self proclaimed experts. Just because someone touches a shark, or goes outside a cage, where it is not legal, doesn't make them an expert.

Could not agree more!

And how about David's comment.

But first things first: I really, really like the guy! 

He's passionate, intelligent, witty, eloquent and incredibly erudite - but like I've just told a common pal, the young padawan needs a reminder that erudition is not always a substitute for experience!

This is what irks me.

Wildlife harassment is a legal term that in essence states, don't interfere with the wildlife unless authorized to do so, and by that metric alone, David is of course 100% correct - that is, provided that those Shark interactions are covered by the law! Are they? Because, again, no law no harassment - detail detail!

At the same time, however, much of David's research and that of his lab are predicated upon catching and manhandling Sharks - which albeit being perfectly legal, undoubtedly useful and sometimes even vitally necessary and thus not wildlife harassment in the legal sense, is nevertheless often brutal and does subject the animals to an experience that is orders of magnitude more traumatic than anything which is being reproached to the divers!

And if so, is David really in a position to lecture others?

Plus, there is this.

Contrary to David's sweeping statement, those different interactions between people and Sharks are by no means equivalent - maybe under the law (provided that it exists!) but certainly not in fact!

When Jimmy posted his video of Tarantino, a prominent researcher sent me a message telling me that he hated the anthropomorphizing but that he was wondering about the Shark's motivation as it was hard for his science brain to comprehend that video clip.

I did really appreciate that. In my experience, most Shark researchers understand very little about Shark behavior and human-shark interactions, this because behavior in general is difficult to describe to start with but above all, because far too few of them have spent enough time with the animals to properly understand them in the first place! There are obviously notable exceptions, like Juerg or after close to a year diving with us, El Diego - but it is glaringly apparent that David ain't one of them and I must really say, sutor ne supra! 
 

We in the Industry, on the other hand, spend heaps of time with the Sharks but often lack the training to properly describe what we experience, and often get too emotionally attached to the animals to continue being objective.

Be it as it may, take the example of our Rusi.

He has now logged 20,000 plus dives with those Bulls - d'ya think he may have learned something about them, and that it may be worth listening to what he's got to say? Or to Cristina? Or for the matter, to Jimmy?

So what about those interactions.

What we and from many many conversations, our peers have learned, is that everything is situation specific. One thing we all agree upon, is that especially when it comes to those large, long lived carnivorous species, any two Sharks are as different as any two people. At least on those regular baited dives where many of the regular Sharks appear to be highly conditioned and tolerant of the presence of divers, there are clearly individuals that seek personal interactions whereas others clearly want their space all the way to retaliating against people that are too pushy.
Obviously much of that behavior is mediated by the bait - but there are occasions where getting fed does not appear to be the primary motivator and where we then inevitably resort to the dreaded anthropomorphizing by defining the Sharks as being  friendly, or cheeky, or sneaky, or cute. Pathetically unscientific I know - but nevertheless, something is going on, and the fact that it hasn't yet been described scientifically does in no way detract from the fact that it exists, that it is noteworthy and that it warrants further investigation!

So, which interactions are acceptable and which not?

The way I see it (and granted this is highly subjective) it really depends on the actual situation but also on the motivation of those people, see e.g. here where I also state that what may be OK today may well become obsolete in the future. Assuming the Shark does not get injured (and it rarely does), it really boils down to an ethical debate - and there, sensibilities and opinions will inevitable differ.
But before anybody thinks that I generally welcome those interactions - I generally do NOT! Sharks are no pets and the ocean is no fucking petting zoo - and abusing them as underwater scooters is an abomination!
 

But instead of pontificating further, how about some examples.
Everything except for the science pics fulfills the definition of wildlife harassment - but maybe in real life, things are not so unequivocal but instead, a tad more nuanced?

Yes it's legal, yes it's research, yes the Tigers are incredibly resilient - but that line choking the gills is wrong wrong wrong! Source. 
 

No it doesn't harm the Shark - but is this really conservation like asserted - or rather, pathetic self-promotion or just simply stupid? Source.
 

I got no problem with this - zero! From what I understand, the animals come in voluntarily, and even compete for Cristina's petting because it is quite obviously enjoyable to them. Source.
 

Totally against. This is the forced tonic I've ranted about here. Source.

I actually find this endearing. This is Rusi giving Monica, a Shark he has been working with for the past 10 years, a little pat after she popped by and hovered within inches from his face on yesterday's dive.
  

Any questions? Source.

No no no - but that was then and I'm quite sure that they would not do this now - so here's to evolution! Source.

The problem here is that I'm not even sure that this is Cristina. There are now too many copycats and what was once unique and thus amazing has been trivialized and is increasingly becoming nothing more than a gratuitous stunt. Source.

And how about this one from Bimini!

Are you deeply outraged as always?

You shouldn't be because this is Grant = one of the good guys, stopping a Hammer that is getting way too frisky as per one of his comments here - and whilst fulfilling the definition of wildlife harassment, it is nevertheless perfectly OK!
As I said, things are generally way more nuanced than at first glance!

Which brings me straight to the juicy bit - what about Eli?

Over the years, several regular commentators on this blog have seen it fit to unleash a barrage of expletives on the poor guy. Except for the racial slurs that are unacceptable and also stupid (= his family was there long before the white man took possession and then invented the immigrant), I've let those comments stand - but most of the time, I don't at all agree with them. Many of those commentators that hide behind aliases are pals of mine, meaning that I know that whilst some of them simply genuinely abhor any form of Shark wrangling, others have history and are settling old scores whereas others are engaging in good old fashionable and rather gratuitous Eli bashing (and comments!) without having the faintest idea about who Eli really is.

And I also know that they're all gonna crucify me for what follows!

The fact is that Eli Martinez is one of my pals.

I really do like the dude. He's a really nice, personable guy, he's an accomplished Shark diver, he deeply cares for the animals albeit obviously in his own way, he is really very good at what he does and finally, he really understands Shark behavior and I really enjoy some of his insights, as do my staff - meaning that in my book, he too is one of the good guys and that I do respect him!

Mind you, liking the person does not equate liking everything he does - quite the contrary! It's not like we correspond a lot - but when we do, we often debate like crazy! And I also will not shy away from criticizing him publicly for some of his most egregious stupidities!

Yes he's certainly a macho that likes his extreme Shark diving, yes he likes to showcase himself manhandling those Sharks, both of which I'm certainly no fan of - but that doesn't make him a bad person, that's just who he is! And contrary to all those hypocritical media whores, the cheats and the charlatans I frankly despise, he does not pretend to be anything he is not!

And what about the flipping of those Tigers?

Yes once again it's wildlife harassment - but it does not harm the Sharks that appear completely unfazed and sometimes come back for a second helping. But of course it got nothing whatsoever to do with what I would consider an authentic wildlife encounter. In essence, it's not unlike Cristina's vertical non-tonic: whereas years ago it may have been irritating but nevertheless also fascinating, now Eli's pals are increasingly trying to one-up and out-trick him (and e.g. here) meaning that what was once unique is now a rather gratuitous circus trick, to the point that TB is now the prime example of an iconic dive site that is completely going to shit because instead of having a common code of conduct, the craziest and most disrespectful inmates are running the asylum!

Do I like it - certainly not!

Do I hate Eli because of it - certainly not!

But I'm digressing as always - long story short?

It's great that a lot of people are passionate about Sharks and love to talk about them. And although I often gnash my teeth in utter frustration, I can also live with all the nonsense that is proffered by all those bloviating enthusiasts, the more as most of them don't claim to know it all but are merely voicing their opinions.
But I'm really tired tired tired of the rampant ultracrepidarianism (google it! :)) of all those self-professed whisperers and sharxperts that are making it their mission to educate the plebs!
Can we do better this year?

There, now I've said it.

So, friends, bring it on - may the public crucifixion begin!

PS - David's response here.
Disagree with some of it - fully agree with the part about the  riding and aggressive handling for fun!
PPS - Eli here!

Cristina - troppo carino!

Posted with permission - click for detail.

Totally cute!

Now Cristina got it all.

A statue by Victor, a painting by Pascal, an apparel line by Neptunic - and now even a doll like the Boo Boo!

And (!) an honorary feeder's job with BAD! :)

Happy New Year everybody!

Bahamas - Traction!

This is Cristina who started the ball rolling with her petition.

Finally!

We've been extremely busy and some important stories have not been told.
Like this one: it really looks like the efforts to protect the Bahamian Sharks are well underway!
I like the sound bites by Matt Rand of the Pew and I do especially like the push by the Bahamas National Trust under Eric Carey. This is totally effective outreach and I have no doubt that the effort will ultimately yield a positive result.
Now, if only they could go and educate the fishermen of Cat Island!

Enjoy the following videos, all courtesy of the ever busy The Dorsal Fin.
Great stuff !







And here is again Cristina, courtesy of Joe Romeiro of 333 Productions!



PS: Very smart recap by Patric here!

Shark Diving Tourism - Paper!

Absolutely agree! 

Finally!

I say, this is as good as it gets!

After years of frustration at the various stupidities about our industry that have been proffered by an motley array of researchers and other bloviators with little personal experience but obvious agendas, here comes a paper written by people who being Shark divers have been there and done it, and obviously understand what they are talking about.
And... nice to see the frankly surprising cooperation! :)

Required reading!

The global code of conduct and scoring system?

Absolutely agree! 

Developing a meaningful code that is not too generic will be a huge challenge in view of the highly diverging circumstances in terms of legal framework, location, species etc. - but on top of the general statements (= e.g. don't harass), one could envision sub-categories (e.g. provisioned or not) that could lead to the necessary specificity. Plus, there will have to be considerable industry buy-in - so guys, talk to us!

And when it comes to the rating which I strongly advocate, the challenge will be to avoid the obvious issues of liability for the rating agency - but again, it can, and should be done.

And guess what - people are already working on both issues! :)

So, does this paper make me 100% happy?

Of course not! :)

Precautionary approach?

Like I continue to state, we've been enduring decades of unsubstantiated slander despite of having built one of the safest tourism activities anywhere - and I am really sick an tired of that.

Our track record speaks for itself and with that in mind, I do not at all buy into the recommendation that we need to adopt a precautionary approach on all those assumed potential risks pending more in-depth analysis by the intelligentsia.
E.g. Ben and Cristina have been hand feeding those Reefies for what feels like time immemorial, and this with zero documented side effects and owing to their protective gear, zero incidents. With that in mind, it makes zero sense for them to discontinue anything only because somebody proffers some hypothetical caveat - but at the same time, should somebody come up with hard evidence, I am equally convinced that Cristina would be the first to implement the necessary changes!

So once again - stop speculating but show me the fucking evidence instead!

Or the bloody ban of flash photography!

This stupidity has been the "mainstay" of sustainable Whale Shark snorkeling procedures, see e.g. here. Methinks it was likely once developed by some tree hugging do-gooder and then simply copy/pasted uncritically, and it has been my pet hate ever since. 

I mean, seriously: eye trauma? How does the intensity of an electronic strobe compare to those gasquillions of bursts of UV-saturated sunlight that are hitting the eyes of a WS when it basks at the surface? 

And no - regulation is the very last resort!

But yes I'm digressing.

Not 100% happy - but 99.5% I am!

This is spot-on both in scope and content, and I cannot but applaud the authors for an exhaustive, thorough, unbiased and what is more important, accurate analysis of the issues at hand.

Bravo - job well done!

Cristina and Caribbean Reefie!

Just saw this.

This is why I totally respect Cristina.

This is also why when it comes to those interactions, I do give her a pass: like I've said before, this appears to be completely voluntary insofar as the Sharks appear to actively seek her out  for a friendly rub, and this irrespective of any food rewards - and again, no, this is not the dreaded tonic immobility but something else that is totally amazing and intriguing!

By the same token, there are now so many copycats that the once unique and equally amazing posing with vertical Sharks has degraded to a rather gratuitous circus stunt, meaning that it would probably be best to gradually phase it out.

Anyway, this continues to amaze me.

Enjoy!

Cristina about cageless diving with GWS - terrific Stuff!

Shenanigans - but great pic by Daniel!

And I cite.

People who dive with Great White Sharks without a cage need to be solely responsible for their decisions and actions. You cannot trust somebody else to make a judgment call on whether or not to exit a cage or be around a shark. You need to be able to read every single twitch and movement of the shark, or sometimes sharks, and you need to trust your own judgment and be aware of your surroundings...

Then I would want to take time to just watch the sharks and listen to these people describing what the sharks are doing, why and what is affecting them: weather and behavior, visibility and behavior, presence of other sharks and behavior. I experienced this once in my life with a Great White handler and it was pretty amazing: it felt as if a Great White was talking to me. I spent three weeks on the boat and there was not one day that the handler did not correctly judge the coming behavior of the sharks.

Could not agree more - again!

It has taken me months of observation in order to develop the confidence to venture closer to our Bulls. And to this day, any change Rusi and I implement is being effected in minuscule increments, this for our sake but above all, in order to give the animals the time to adapt to the new circumstances.
Were I to decide to go diving outside of the cage with GWS, I would proceed along the exact same guidelines.

But JSD, see comments, is of course correct.
Doing so will always remain an experiment - and thus unsuitable for commercial Shark diving.
We do not allow our customers to interact directly with our Bulls and Tigers; and by the same token, I and incidentally, 99% of the GWS dive operators remain of the firm opinion that cageless diving with GWS is equally unsuitable in a commercial context. 

And is anybody going to heed Cristina's suggestions?
Hardly, as witnessed by the comments on her post - after all, with 20 years experience of how to safely interact with Sharks, what does she know?
Having perfect control over your hearthbeat?
Indeed (and here)!

And so the shenanigans will continue.
For 10,000 bucks a pop and totally regardless of one's motivation and qualifications, let alone diving skills!

And that, alas, is a promise!

Cristina about removing Hooks from Sharks!

A frequent sight - Bull with hooks contracted when stealing Fish from the artisanal fishermen. 
Pic by Lill - click for detail

Nice post by Cristina!

And here's how it looks when the master does it.

I've posted about it last year and the fact happened probably in 2009-2010.

The Tigers are Scarface and Adi.

Enjoy!