Interview with Gary!

Shark men: Rusi, Alex and Gary at Shark Reef

How can I possibly do the man justice.
We will always differ on the finer points of culture vs abject savagery - but peanut butter or no peanut butter, Gary Adkison will always remain one of my heroes for whom I have nothing but the biggest respect and admiration.
Plus a whole lotta Love, with a capital L!

We first met in 2001 when he was running the legendary Shark dives at Walker's Cay and the rest as they say is history.
When first developing the Fiji Shark Project, I reached out to Gary who graciously and enthusiastically agreed to give us a hand in turning a lot of lofty ideas into something tangible. It is he who first introduced us to Juerg with whom he has developed and still manages the Bull Shark Tagging Programme; it is he who has also made the introductions to his former dive shop manager and now BAD shareholder Andrew; and it is he who has been invaluable in helping us define our initial Shark diving procedures and in coaching us through the thousand vagaries of managing a Shark diving operation. They will undoubtedly disagree - but Gary and his wife Brenda have been absolutely crucial in every single step of BADs history and for that, we shall always be indebted to them.
But mon, before you ask: not to the point of sharing my cheese!

Gary met Alex the Sharkman here in Fiji in 2009.
That was the International Year of the Shark and we had invited Alex to witness what we were doing in Fiji, namely organizing Fiji's first national Shark conservation campaign. Shark Reef was really starting to blossom, with healthy corals, scores of Fishes but above all, ever growing numbers of Sharks and I remember those weeks as a time of great conversations, great dives and mutual bonding.

They have been friends ever since.
Alex has finally found the time to re-vamp his website and Gary is the first to sit through one of his legendary interviews - and I must say, fantastic job! This is my Gary: one of the original salt dogs, a pioneer of Shark diving and Shark conservation (!) and above all, just a really nice guy!
Chapeau my friends!

Enjoy Gary's interview!
And if you are as fascinated as I am: start reading Gary's autobiography A Life Underwater here!

PS - Nice comments by David here!

The Story

Shark men: Gary (right), our iconic Rusi and Alex the Sharkman.

Bless Gary!

Every picture truly tells a story!
After I posted that old picture of Gary and the Tiger Shark, he took the time to write me a moving message about the story behind it - just for me and not meant for public consumption. But having asked, he's granted me permission to post it. I love it as it so eloquently documents the transition from macho Shark killer to passionate Shark advocate, and what a good man my dear friend Gary really is.
Here is Gary's reminiscence of that fateful day.

Dear Mike,

You know that photo of the shark and myself has a story with it that I want to share.
I lived in the Gambier Islands in remote eastern French Polynesia for many months when I was sailing around the world. I would go out with the natives everyday and photograph them free diving black pearls and shooting fish for the village. One day we went out in three dugouts to spear a seasonal schooling fish they called Nanui (like a Bermuda chub) in the lagoon. There were many sharks around due to the amount of fish being shot and large amounts of blood.

I was snapping away at the grey reefs and blacktips with my camera when the tiger showed up.
This is in 1980-81 and most folks knew nothing about shark behavior or how to read it. The tiger was amped up and initially went after a couple of the native free divers, chewing on their fins. The tiger then came at my wife, who kicked her away repeatedly while backpedaling to get away. It even bit one of the outrigger logs on one of the canoes!

I carried a bangstick in the bottom of my dive bag that someone had given me before I left to sail around the world and I had never used it.
However, it was in my dive bag in the canoe that day. I quickly rolled into the outrigger canoe, grabbed it and rolled back in the water just in time to see the tiger turn and charge at me. To this day I really did not know what I was going to do with the bang stick but when she came at me and tried to bite the stick in my hand I rolled over her back and shot her behind the head.

Ultimately I got a rope on her tail and towed her back to the village behind the outrigger canoe.
There was a great celebration in the village and they feasted on the tiger shark that night. I was the honored guest because I had slayed this magnificent beast. In Polynesian fashion the celebration was done out of respect for the valiant shark. Never in a boastful way.
The chief of the village presented me with a tooth from each side of the jaw of the tiger shark and those are the same teeth I have worn around my neck now for 30 years!

They are a reminder to me of how we fear what we do not understand.
It is a symbol of man's ignorance. That photo of the tiger and I..... is like another person. A person who did not understand that the tiger shark was only doing what it was meant to do. That day in the lagoon.....we created that seemingly dangerous encounter by our spearfishing for the village. In retrospect, I have relived that day a thousand times in my head and early on realized that all we really had to do was get out the water and let her enjoy another day of life in her world.
We were the intruders...and not the other way around.

I would say that that one experience with the tiger shark set the tone of how I would dedicate the rest of my life to understanding and helping others understand this misunderstood creature.
Hopefully she did not die in vain.

All of us old timers in this business of sharks have similar experiences.
Most of us just did not know how limited the ocean and its resources were when we were young. It was a path of ignorance....to knowledge most of us walked. We saw the changes ourselves first hand. We did not read about it. We lived it and saw it each time we went underwater in our work and travels around the world. At least we were wise enough to see the damage for what it was and try and change the tidal flow as best we could with education of others.

Take care old man!

Love 'ya mon!

Great Post by Gary!

Source.

Well said!

But first, watch this.

And here are Gary Stoke's comments.

They very much echo what I posted quite a while ago - this with the difference that back then, I was highly skeptical of the various grassroots initiatives in Asia, and could not have foreseen the effects of the Chinese crackdown on corruption. Now I stand partly corrected - although upon seeing that enormous amount of fins it appears clear that the fin trade may be reeling but is not about to simply vanish anytime soon. And of course the other drivers for the persistent astounding Shark mortality continue, meaning that the fight is far from over.

But I'm digressing as always.

All I really wanted to say is bravo Gary!

Feeding Bull Sharks in Fiji - the Paper!

This pic by Doug is so good that I catch myself using it time after time again - click for detail!

Finally!

Stating that I'm mighty proud would clearly be the understatement of the year!

Opportunistic Visitors: Long-Term Behavioural Response of Bull Sharks to Food Provisioning in Fiji
Juerg M. Brunnschweiler, Adam Barnett

Abstract

Shark-based tourism that uses bait to reliably attract certain species to specific sites so that divers can view them is a growing industry globally, but remains a controversial issue. 
We evaluate multi-year (2004–2011) underwater visual (n = 48 individuals) and acoustic tracking data (n = 82 transmitters; array of up to 16 receivers) of bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas from a long-term shark feeding site at the Shark Reef Marine Reserve and reefs along the Beqa Channel on the southern coast of Viti Levu, Fiji. 

Individual C. leucas showed varying degrees of site fidelity.
Determined from acoustic tagging, the majority of C. leucas had site fidelity indexes greater than 0.5 for the marine reserve (including the feeding site) and neighbouring reefs. However, during the time of the day (09:00–12:00) when feeding takes place, sharks mainly had site fidelity indexes smaller than 0.5 for the feeding site, regardless of feeding or non-feeding days
Site fidelity indexes determined by direct diver observation of sharks at the feeding site were lower compared to such values determined by acoustic tagging. 

The overall pattern for C. leucas is that, if present in the area, they are attracted to the feeding site regardless of whether feeding or non-feeding days, but they remain for longer periods of time (consecutive hours) on feeding days. The overall diel patterns in movement are for C. leucas to use the area around the feeding site in the morning before spreading out over Shark Reef throughout the day and dispersing over the entire array at night. Both focal observation and acoustic monitoring show that C. leucas intermittently leave the area for a few consecutive days throughout the year, and for longer time periods (weeks to months) at the end of the calendar year before returning to the feeding site.

So this is it.

Like we never tire to say, BAD has essentially been established in order to manage a Shark research and conservation project and consequently, everything we do is geared towards those aims whilst generating just enough income to compensate the various stakeholders and ensure our long term survival.

So far so good - touch wood!

But of course the beginning was everything but easy.

I had reached out to Gary Adkison when formulating the Fiji Shark Project, and when Juerg lost his Bull Shark research site in the Bahamas, Gary suggested that he go check out the crazy dude who was trying to set up a Shark MPA in Fiji. I desperately needed to find a conservation-oriented researcher, something that in those times was far from common; and Juerg desperately needed to find a new and and above all, reliable Bull Shark research site for his Bull Shark Tagging Programme. We met, took each other's measure, liked what we saw and decided to give it a try.

Gesagt getan and the rest, as they say, is history.

That was in 2003.

Ten years and countless adventures, discussions and heated debates (!) later, I must really say that it was a match made in heaven. I really, really like and respect Juerg and the feeling is likely reciprocal, the more as we really completely see eye to eye on conservation matters (sometimes less so on research techniques), are completely result-driven and despise  bullshit - and we even share the same degree of incisive humor!

But I'm digressing as always.

Back then, Shark conservation was very much in its infancy and the exclusive domain of a handful of idealistic and rather clueless loons (and probably still is!), we were both essentially rookies, and progress only happened in baby steps and with plenty of setbacks. This also on the research side where the first generation of PAT tags was rather temperamental and where for ethical reasons, we had burdened ourselves with the challenge of trying to tag the animals underwater, first intra-gastrically and then externally.

But Juerg and Gary did persevere and eventually got it done - and this very much despite the vocal objections of your truly who developed an increasing distaste for the invasive techniques.

Love you guys! :)

At the same time, we started our long term monitoring.

This is a first (and by no means last!) look at our enormous data base where we have so far meticulously recorded close to 10 years, or approx. 4,000 individual baited Shark dives in the Shark Reef Marine Reserve. Over those years, we have named and monitored more and more individual Sharks and have been keeping particularly detailed records of presently approx 150 individual Bulls.

The paper is the comprehensive analysis of only one subset of those observations, i.e. simple presence/absence data, this in comparison to several years' worth of acoustic tagging data of the same 48 individual Sharks.

Thankfully it is open access - read it!

The take-away message as I see it is this.

This particular Shark dive has been operating continuously since 1998 and it is fair to state that if there has ever been a population of conditioned Sharks, it would be the Bull Sharks of Shark Reef.

And yet,

• Our Bulls remain wild animals.
  Once they have discovered Shark Reef, they do come back; but at the same time, it is quite obvious that they continue to roam the area and undoubtedly fulfill their ecological function like any other non-provisioned Bull Shark, much in line with what we postulated years ago - and now we have the peer-reviewed science to back it up!

• Effects at large spatial and temporal scales appear minimal.
  This is consistent with all research into provisioned Sharks, i.e. that there may well be conditioning on site but that typically, the long term migrations and life history in general remain largely unaffected.

• Feeding does not appear to significantly effect the Sharks' diel patterns, this with the only exception that they will spend more time at the feeding site on feeding days - however only to depart and continue their usual daily roaming patterns. Note the observation about night-time foraging at and possibly even within the Navua River - very interesting and eminently testable!

• Same-same for their propensity, or lack of, to approach humans.
  There are obviously pronounced differences at the individual level, something I experience on a daily basis - but despite of the fact that there are Sharks that are decidedly more friendly (or bold), it is equally true that none of them comes begging for food when there is no bait in the water. In fact, the observation that during the time of the day (09:00–12:00) when feeding takes place, sharks mainly had site fidelity indexes smaller than 0.5 for the feeding site, regardless of feeding or non-feeding days may be an indication for the fact that the presence of bait barely compensates for the notorious shyness of this species!

• Long-term exposure to feeding does not appear to cause any conditioning in terms of dependence on that food source.
  One could stipulate such conditioning if the data showed increased presence over the years - but the fact is that the data appear to absolutely negate that hypothesis, as e.g. illustrated by the site fidelity indexes for 2004-2011 of Crook, a friendly old-timer and voracious hand feeder., to wit 0.48, 0.20, 0.16, 0.24, 0.23, 0.22, 0.14 and 0.47  (Table S1), an observation that is consistent for all monitored Sharks.

• The Shark Corridor appears to confer a solid degree of protection.
  Yes the animals do regularly leave that area - but site fidelity indexes that are larger than 0.50 indicate that the protected area is apparently large enough to have a positive effect.

Long story short?

Granted, strictly speaking, this only applies to Fiji Bull Sharks that are being fed in Fiji and not to "Sharks" in general - but after Aleks' paper on Caribbean Reefs and Neil's Tiger Shark paper, we now have one more indication that one cannot simply draw conclusions from other research showing conditioning, and possibly negative consequences for other species: not from those Lemons in Moorea, not from the Southern Stingrays in Cayman - and certainly not from teleost Fishes that appear to have a higher propensity for being conditioned, let alone the proverbial bloody Bears!

On the contrary and with the caveat that this may well be species- but possibly also situation-specific (see the Moorea Lemons where there may be procedural issues), it appears that those larger Sharks may just be a tad too smart for the simplistic cause-effect bullshit spouted by our detractors.

In fact when it comes to the risk they pose to humans, I'm of the strong opinion that provided that those baited dives are conducted responsibly, those "tame" Sharks pose less and not more of a threat! Yes I'm obviously speculating - but after thousands of Shark dives, I've earned myself the right to do so!

And their long term life history?
If there there is one constant observation among all papers analyzing Shark provisioning, it is that over the longer term, the animals keep their normal migration and mating/birthing patterns - e.g. think of the GWS in Lupe, the Playa Bulls and the Bimini GHH that are all seasonal irrespective of the fact that they are being fed! This is once again a strong indication that feeding causes no harm, at least not to the Sharks that are being fed.

Anyway - is this cool, or what!

Keep watching this space.

As I said, this is only the beginning, meaning that our data base contains the answers to many more questions. And, we're already conducting and are about to roll out several more new large multi-year projects that will hopefully lead to new important insights - especially about reproductive and possibly even natal philopatry that would greatly assist us in refining local Shark conservation measures.

In the meantime, enjoy Juerg and Adam's paper!

PS thanks Patric!
PS2: thanks Georgina!

The Running of The Bulls!!!

You read correctly, the team at BAD are waiting with bated breath for the running of the bulls; not the 4-legged variety though.

Late December into early January are the months when the mature bull sharks will return in droves from their annual birthing/mating migration. This year they departed our local waters in September whereupon we were left witnessing mostly juvenile sub-adult bull sharks and the odd adult straggler who, for whatever reason, decided not to leave Shark Reef with the other adults.

Joining us this year to meet the bulls on their return are the team from The Bull Shark Tagging Programme, Juerg Brunnschweiler and Gary Adkison. If you have questions regarding bull sharks, or other shark species for that matter, the New Year period would be a great time to pick the brains of two highly respected figures in the shark world. If you would like more information on how to join Juerg and Gary and learn more about the research at Shark Reef Marine Reserve, contact us here...

The Nadi Workshop - Spillover!

Top left-to-right: Api, Ben and Tumbee
Middle left-to-right: Ingrid, Colin, Perry, Juerg and Netani
Bottom left-to-right: Gary and Angelo - click for detail!

Apologies - I'm currently simply too busy to blog.

Just this.

Looks like the big Shark meeting has been a great success as told here by Angelo.

And it has had direct repercussions for us.

Several participants have made time to come and say hi, and most have managed to partake in a  stellar Shark dive with plenty of Fiji Bulls and great viz. It just so happens that our dear friends Juerg and Gary are visiting, resulting in the rather epic picture above where the notable absentee is Demian who merely managed to squeeze in a short cameo before gallivanting off to some other remote destination where he's championing the cause of Sharks.

Fortuitous or not, a meeting like that will always have consequences.

Keep watching this space!

Trip Reports!

Nice! :)

Some of our clients really publish great stuff.

Case in point, this report by Gary and Trish who are some of the most memorable people that have visited this year - not only because they are real nice people but also, because they've forgone corporate life and embraced what appears to be a permanent nomadic lifestyle and really seem to enjoy life at the fullest.

The picture at the top is by Gary, and you can admire more here.

And  here are a nice travelogue and video by Steve Fish.

Enjoy!

River Sharks - no Drama!

Bum - very pregnant!

Did I really say tomorrow???
Well, as we all now, Time is relative. Enter Fiji Time, like Tonga Time a hitherto largely overlooked third consequence of Einstein's Theories of Relativity!

But here it is...
Stan and Jone have once again done an outstanding job and delivered a well-rounded and informative piece of pro-Shark media.
You may want to note how real Pacific Islanders perceive Sharks as a natural and unspectacular element of the Marine ecosystem: none of drama and stupid generalizations that are so typical of the various pundits and armchair warriors polluting the blogosphere and the mainstream media. Case in point, check out this evil abomination: mind you, "reporting" about the exact same topic!
And compare it to the hysterical hypocrisy of the so-called "natives" over in Hawaii!

This, and an upcoming spectacular paper by Eroni, Victor and Juerg are the results of our road trip in July where we set out to find Fiji's Bull Shark nurseries. We have found them - and much more!
As always, keep watching this space!

What really blows me is the interview with Rusi..
If anybody deserved the title of Shark Whisperer, it would really be him.
He is normally silent and outright humble - but put him in front of one of his beloved Sharks and his personality changes completely and his understanding of the animals and the way he interacts with them are just simply totally unreal. Over the years, we've hosted our fair share of visiting "experts" - and every single one of them has told us how incredibly impressed they were by how Rusi handles the big Sharks.
I cannot begin to tell you how personally rewarding it is to now see him come out of his shell and talk (!) for minutes (!) about the need to protect them!
Vinaka Rusi, you are simply the best!

Gary is of course one of my heroes.
He has been part and parcel of the Fiji Shark Project since its inception and regularly pops by to inspect its progress and to assist in Juerg's ongoing research projects. His help and his guidance have been invaluable and the Fiji Shark Dive is as much his baby as it is ours - and I may add: much to the contrary of the progress in the help and guidance Juerg and yours truly are trying to extend to Gary! That has been an abject failure!
But we shall persevere!

But as usual, I'm digressing.
So here it is: Enjoy!

Sea Shepherd in the South Pacific?

First things first: read this.
The Fiji Blog is the official blog of Fiji's Ministry of Information.

What followed was a flurry of e-mails.
My friends being who they are, there was a lot of laughing, smirking and conspiratorial winking - so for the record: Beqa Adventure Divers have nothing whatsoever to do with that.
We are a foreign owned company and have no bearing whatsoever on what Fiji's government do and say. As Sea Shepherd HK's fiery Gary Stokes reveals, we limit our activities to feeding Sharks for money and to pursuing our ego-driven campaigns - and yes, we generally just stand on the sidelines and claim to be conservationists whilst having the audacity to critique others for actually doing something!
Well said!

PS! Gary has reached out & we're cool - I think. :)

Anyway.
What we did do, was to politely turn down a request by the SSCS for a few days of filming in the SRMR. As I said here, we want nothing to do with the dolphinization of Sharks, and we also certainly don't want to be in any way associated with Sea Shepherd's radical brand of conservation.
Having met him years ago, I don't like him much - but I do respect Watson for being one of the preeminent marine conservation activists. What I however hate are the personality cult, the hyperbole, the bullshit media, and the fanaticism and glaringly uncritical adulation by his devote followers - and let's not forget the simply atrocious poetry, barf!

Remember?
And if not...


Huge H/T to David!!!

Oh yes yes, I'm critiquing - again!

We were reinforced in our decision when a SSCS representative started making the rounds here in Fiji.
There was talk of an Animal Planet shoot, of two vessels coming here to hunt for illegal Shark finners, of roping in Ratu Epeli, of buxom bimbettes frolicking with Sharks etc. - in brief, some kind of Shark Wars, or whatever, combined with the usual self promotion by the Shark Angels, both of which I particularly despise.

But now, I read this.
Looks like someone has been listening, as this is really rather good, and kudos for that!

But is this the whole story?
You be the judge of that.



Well well.
Looks like nothing has changed after all.

I say, this is not the Pacific Way.
Nobody is asking anybody to put his life on the line (or was it, putting her life online? Detail detail!), and we down here have zero need for self-appointed deputy sheriffs, the more as this could once again lead to unwelcome political implications.
What we do require is intelligent, informed, committed and passionate people who help in advocating and then, implementing locally appropriate Shark management and conservation strategies, and this in a constructive, respectful and consensual way. This means hard, quiet and persistent work on the ground, and pursuing strategies that are diametrically opposed to Watson's interventionist approach.
This also means providing for resources for capacity building, monitoring, enforcement and prosecution - meaning time, talent and money and not foreign vessels playing policeman whilst starring for sensationalist reality shows.

Long story short?
Better change the playbook - or you'll be quickly celebrating the requiem for Operation Requiem!
My honest advice - free of charge!

PS: David - brilliant!
PS2: Patric on the Watson Doctrine & con-ninnies here!

And the saga continues...

A Miracle, Culture Shock, Sex, Mayo, Midwest, Sailing and DEMA. And Jam!

First the Good News:

Manasa is making a miraculous comeback after a near-fatal Heart Seizure!

Expect Papa to be back on board shortly, where he will continue to entertain, frighten, amuse and intrigue you. As for being allowed to go back to his beloved Sharks, fingers crossed! Because that's where he belongs!

Our heartfelt thanks go to the Suva Private Hospital, Dr. Pawar and especially, Dr. Ian Linton who flew over from Oz to zap him back to life. And to all of you who were kind enough to send him your support and best wishes.
Vinaka Vakalevu, from the bottom of our hearts!

With Andrew over in Orlando for DEMA (Booth 2049 - and don't miss our brand-new spectacular edit at Gary Adkison's presentation!), the Staff are bravely manning the fort. The current Indians hail from frigid Moskow - talk about culture shock, both ways!
Будем!

When I rushed over at the beginning of October, I couldn't resist hopping in to check out who was still around.
The bulls were still plentiful but kind of standoffish and immagine my surprise to discover the first tell-tale cuts on Crook (click on image) and Granma who both turned up with male escorts!
According to our database, that would be at least one month early. After last year's mild El Nino, Fiji is experiencing a mild La Nina phenomenon and the water was warmer than expected. Are we maybe witnessing an early mating season? Does that mean that they'll be back early, too?
A Xmas running of the bulls?

In any event, we're ready.
Juerg is coming for a full three months in December to conduct an array of experiments and lectures; John Earle will do a new fish count; Gary and Brenda will host several film productions and generally be their usual combination of Wisdom, Chaos, Love, Testosterone and Midwestern Heritage - as in toasted Peanut Butter- Bacon- Lettuce- Mayo- Camembert sandwich with plenty of Ketchup! And Jam!

All-in-all, plenty of opportunities for everyone to learn heaps whilst having loads of fun! And for you image hunters out there: January and February are hot, I mean HOT, with heaps of action, warm water, often calm seas, sunshine and good viz. This is when the pros flock in to get the killer shots (and inevitably succeed).
Need I say more? Drop us a line and book your dive!

And last but not least: there's a feisty newcomer!
She hasn't hand fed yet but judging from the way she's been courting Rusi, it's only a matter of time until she joins the ranks of the regulars. We've named her Topsail, for obvious reasons.


Welcome to the Club young Lady!

Shocking!

Yes Andrew is disgusted!

There's days when I despair.

Like today.
I discovered a veritable cheesemaking masterpiece in a local supermarket.
The iconic Caprice des Dieux is a recipient of the coveted Golden Cup of the Bon Goût Français and and a global ambassador of Gallic savoir vivre. To stumble upon such a treasure in Suva, Fiji can only be called miraculous. Never did an exiled gourmet exclaim Hēurēka (literally!) with more joy, gratitude and fervor!

Life in the islands quickly teaches you that when presented with such serendipitous and unique opportunities, one has to act decisively.
I cleaned out the whole stash.

I also decided to share this epicurean trouvaille with a good friend.
Well, I guess one could say that no good deed goes unpunished.

Enter Gary Adkison.
Gary is like a brother and in many ways, one of my heroes.
He also happens to be the object of an idealistic, and i now realize, hopelessly naive long-term rehabilitation (or should I say: habilitation?) project by Juerg and myself aimed at exorcising him from his fatal addiction to American junk food.

An initial shock therapy in Florida ended in a spectacular failure.
Equally spectacular were the results of a subsequent detoxification program where we availed ourselves of the complicity of his loving and endlessly patient wife Brenda. As time went by, she managed to gradually habituate him to periodic ingestions of unpatriotic fare like Weisswurst and Gravlax. A particularly promising milestone was reached as recently as August 2 when he managed to imbibe, and then pronounce Château Margaux without biting his tongue.

Upon his arrival in Fiji, we sequestered him in Andrew's house and kept him on a strict and wholesome diet of local delicacies like dhal soup, kokoda, dalo and tavioka from the lovo and above all, yaqona and Vegemite sandwiches. His habitus quickly improved to that of a happy, albeit marginally rubicund Hulkster lookalike.

Looks like we overlooked a jar of contraband chunky peanut butter.

Yes, you better believe it: that would be a peanut butter - Caprice des Dieux sandwich!
The sacrilege has been reported to the Quai d'Orsay and sources within the DGSE confirm that should he ever have the audacity to set foot onto French soil, he will will be apprehended and marched straight over to the next available, and preferably rusty guillotine.


Oh well.
Love'ya big mon!

Bon Appetit?

Commercial Shark Diving is quickly morphing into a global industry and as always in such cases, the transition doesn't come easy.

Whereas the anti-Shark-diving lobby, scientific and not, continues to successfully pester us with their allegations, we just seem to be unable to get our act together, circle the wagons and mount a credible common defense.

Granted, selling Sharks to the public at large will always be a challenge.
The opposition's arguments feed on our primeval fears and convey the illusion of intuitive plausibility. Very hard to refute as in order to do so, we would need hard and unequivocal scientific data. And those are so far lacking. Having said this, I know of at least two papers, one from South Africa and one from Australia, that postulate that what we do has no discernible behavioral consequences. Actually, make it three, as Juerg's recent research on Shark Reef may well come to the same conclusions.

I'm thus highly confident that in the end, people will come to realize that our large predatory Sharks are just as fascinating and worth protecting as any other alpha predator. It has taken decades of dedicated research and marketing to dispel the myth that wolves, grizzly bears, lions and tigers are nothing more than man-hunting vermin that needs to be eradicated, so I guess we must be patient and persevere.
Let's just hope that by then, it won't be too late.

The real challenge right now however seems to be our incapacity to work together.
Keep in mind that until quite recently, diving was considered a dangerous sport reserved for the passionate few. The Shark Diving pioneers were regarded as, and probably were, a special breed of entirely self-taught, adventuresome, thrill-seeking and death-defying macho warriors and equally intrepid amazons and were consequently accorded Hero status.
Talk about an eclectic collection of unique and charismatic individuals with strong opinions and huge egos!

But now, Shark Diving has gone mainstream and is firmly nested within the entertainment industry. As in: I shall pay for a trip to Guadalupe Island and I shall see Great White Sharks - or else!

In the process, the original Heroes are gradually being replaced by media-savvy, nimble and business-minded service providers. Personality cult is being replaced by client service. Adventure and discovery, by interactive and notabene, guaranteed ecological encounters. Roughing it out on the High Seas, by aircon, en suite bathrooms and warm towels. Individuality, by the need for a uniform global product. And alas, sometimes, excitement by bored indifference.

On top of the historical and ever-present personal animosity between the original silverbacks, this has created substantial resentment against what is perceived as a territorial invasion by parasitic upstarts. Having been at the receiving end, but also, having had to dish out my fair share of aggro myself, I know what I'm talking about.

Thus, to finally make my point, getting everybody to sit at the same table, to share our passion, experiences, visions and research in order to devise a common approach supported by unified procedures remains a gargantuan challenge. Once again, we will have to be patient and persevere.

Plus, there is the cultural gap - we may all be one species but sometimes, one has to wonder.

I didn't quite think about that particular aspect until presented with the shocking document below.
It depicts my European friends Juerg and charming Marlen desperately trying to wean Gary Adkison, one of our Heroes, off his addiction to Kraft cheese spread and other all-American junk delicacies. To witness, Juerg is displaying a beautifully ripened original Brie de Meaux and Marlen has obviously contributed a lovingly arranged and simply delicious Assiette de Fromages.

As to Gary - well, what can I say.


Anyway, a belated Bon Appetit - or whatever.
We shall be patient and persevere........

Sharkman!

Sharky stuff: Shark Men Rusi, Alex and Gary on Shark Reef. It's a nice pic of real nice people: click on it!

We had the great honor and pleasure of hosting Alex the Sharkman.

He lives breathes dreams Sharks and has done so since his earliest childhood.
He is a Shark poet, Shark blogger, Shark lover, Shark conservationists and Shark activist. Wherever Sharks are threatened, he will raise his authoritative voice. Contrary to many, he's not only a talker, but very much also a doer, for which he has earned my respect.

I've known about and admired Alex for a very long time and when we developed the Fiji Shark Conservation and Awareness Project in response to his International Year of the Shark , we decided that it was high time that he come and meet our friends at Shark Reef. He has been with us for the past three weeks where he has assisted in Gary's newest tagging sequence and given several interviews to the local media - but above all, he has dived dived dived!
We all had a great time, marked by a shared passion and mutual respect.

Alex, like Nani said, you are now family.
We miss you, and so do our Sharks.

Come back soon!

Answer to a Comment

The anglers are pissed off.

What was a short and noncommittal post mentioning Delray Beach has triggered a surprising response. At the same time, the usually irreproachable and intelligent Sharky has waded in knee-deep and is using the same unfortunate arguments.

Before I post my answer to that comment, here's where I stand on some of the issues raised.

I haven't met Jimmy Abernethy personally and am on record for being unconvinced by some of his apparent procedures (and never having dived with him, I'm also on record for reserving my final judgment on that) and for being disappointed that his signature dive site, Tiger Beach, is not being protected and is being thrashed by other operators.
These ad personam attacks are however totally uncalled for, especially the underhanded reference to the tragic accident of Markus Groh. Jimmy loves Sharks and together with Gary Adkison, he is without a doubt the one person that has single-handedly introduced the most people to Sharks and turned them into Shark lovers in the process. His fans and followers are legion and many of them have embarked on the path of Shark Conservation after having dived with him. This is his legacy - and not the accident, as an equally unfortunate comment has suggested.

Trophy hunting and trophy fishing have no possible justification, ethical or otherwise.
I'm all for hunting and fishing for food, as long as the species are not endangered and as long as the animals are dispatched humanely.
Yes I realize that some believe that the thrill of stalking a prey or of wrestling with a large Fish is "fun" - but this is the 21st century and we must all progress from our troglodyte origins towards being modern and civilized human beings with ethical imperatives. Killing (and also, torturing) animals for the thrill alone will never meet those prerequisites, ever. And I may be repeating myself - real men just don't do that!
This is an example of that kind of behavior - and yes, those were land-based anglers!

I believe that good conservation should be based on consensual and pragmatic solutions.
But not necessarily always. Sometimes, as in Ft. Myers, the anglers need to be shown the "stick" in order to agree to come to the negotiating table. Very rarely, the pro-Shark faction is just being dealt the better hand and if so, they should certainly play it. The good people of Delray Beach have every right to decide about what happens on their beach and if the decision is to ban Shark fishing, I can only applaud it. After all, my thing is Shark conservation, not diplomatic relations and universal peace and justice.

That said, over to my response.
It got longer and longer and finally, Blogger refused to accept it in the comments section - so there.

Thank you for your comment.

I however disagree with your standpoint in so many ways.

a. Catch & release is not a "good thing" - not to fish for Sharks is.
Yes, catch & release is certainly better than killing - but it is cruel and unneccessary nevertheless.

Look, I'm an angler myself and although I don't target them, I sometimes hook a Billfish.
Like any responsible catch & release angler, I will try and get the Fish to the boat in the shortest time possible and with the minimum of stress to the animal.
That involves maneuvering the boat in such a way that the Fish is not being muscled in during a protracted fight, to the point where it may even die of exhaustion. The release is then effected immediately whilst the animal is submerged and often, it involves "walking" the animal in order to aerate its gills until it can then swim away under its own power.

All evidence suggests that often, land-based Shark fishermen do not act that way, especially when they hook big animals.
The Sharks can only be landed once they are completely exhausted. Often, they get dragged onto the beach where considerable time is spent taking measurements and posing for pictures.
This is certainly extremely stressful for the animals and it is only fair to assume that some will not survive that treatment.
This is not cool.



If they want to gain any "credibility", the land-based anglers must be asked to review their procedures when catching and releasing Sharks.

b. Jim Abernethy (with an "e") is uniquely positioned to comment about the dangers of baiting for Sharks ("chumming" is something else - and I sure hope the Shark anglers don't do that!) precisely BECAUSE he operates baited Shark dives and thus knows intimately how the animals behave in those conditions.

Like us here in Fiji, he does it well away from any beaches and surface oriented aquatic recreationists. And like us, he does not allow any snorkelers, swimmers, nor even free divers on those trips.
And for good reason!
Once you bait for Sharks, they behave differently - even smaller piscivorous species like Blacktips and Carribean Reefs. Whereas divers can minimize risks by displaying adequate behavior, people at the surface become particularly vulnerable to the threat of attracting the Sharks' attention and being bitten as a consequence.

To cut to the chase, fishing (for Sharks but also for other Fishes) and surface-oriented beach activities like swimming and body surfing just don't go together.
Would you feel safe to go and have a dip right next to where some anglers deploy bait or drag in struggling Fish? Really? I for sure would not!

I've said it before: the chicken have come home to roost.
Jimmy and other Shark operators have been chased out of Florida by people claiming that his "chumming" (mind you - way offshore) was a public safety hazard - and now some of the very same groups are claiming that doing the precise same thing directly on the beach is unproblematic!
If there's an issue of credibility, it certainly does not reside with Jim.

c. I was not at the meeting (were you?) and don't know if and what pictures were presented, and how.
But one has only to surf the website of the South Florida Shark Club and view the many YouTube clips featuring land based fishing to see that the behavior displayed is sometimes problematic (and I'm being polite).
In that light, it is really of no importance where the pictures presented were taken - it's pretty obvious that there is no common code of conduct and that the allegations of rowdy behavior, littering, Shark kills, daytime fishing and chumming are certainly plausible.
In fact, I just happen to know somebody completely and utterly un-involved in this matter who lives there - and having asked, that person has confirmed some of the above grievances.

To sum it up, dragging in Fish and Sharks from a beach in a residential area is problematic.
There's a reason why hunters go hunting in the wilderness and not in city parks - and this is not much different.

If the land-based anglers want to pursue their activities in Delray Beach, they will have to assuage the reservations of the residents, the more since many of the anglers don't live there. It is for them, not the residents of Delray Beach, to do the convincing, to come up with viable solutions and compromises and to have their members stick to some acceptable code of conduct.
Barring that, they will need to go fishing somewhere else.

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?

The Shark Bible - review by JSD!

Fiji Bull Sharks - pic by Gary Peart- click for detail!

Finally!

The bible is out.

And JSD has penned a review hat contains a reference to the Fiji Bull Shark - so I really got no choice but post it in its entirety!

So there!

Sharks of the World: A Fully Illustrated Guide (Hardcover) 

It is not every day that a book appears that has the unmistakable authority and quality of a classic; rarer still that such a tome should be the launch publication of a new publisher. Wild Nature Press' Sharks of the World - A Fully Illustrated Guide is such a work. 

We shouldn't be surprised. 
The team at Wild Nature Press has been illustrating and designing elegant natural history books for mainstream publishers for years and has merely transferred its talents to its own publishing house. Nor did this book appear fully formed from the primordial swamp. It evolved from the Collins Field Guide: Sharks of the World of 2005 and has the same authors (Leonard Compagno and Sarah Fowler) and illustrator (Marc Dando), plus the additional taxonomic input of David Ebert. 

The evolution has been successful. 
The new book is considerably larger than the old (compare, say, a Grey Reef Shark with a full-blown Fijian Bull Shark) and this must come as a relief not only to readers who wish to feast their eyes on the endless variations-on-a-theme that are sharks, but also to the wonderfully illustrated animals themselves. Packed with musculature and movement, they are now less likely accidentally to swim off the page. Furthermore, the species described herein have grown to over 500 (there are some 90 recently named sharks). 

The book basically divides into 2 parts. 
After the foreword (by scientist John Stevens) there is a grand tour through the biology and natural history of the animals that deals with every topic you could ask for. Illustrated with occasional photographs and a great many colour drawings, as well as maps, diagrams and charts, the intricacies of shark biology as well as crucial themes such as fisheries, conservation and management, are explained. On page 59 one reaches the raison d'être of what has been: the magisterially presented description of every shark from the known knowns to the known unknowns. Each has its own entry which includes a detailed line drawing and goes on to describe size, distribution (via a map), teeth, identification, habitat, behaviour, biology and conservation status. To enrich this section the sharks are also depicted in full colour plates and also via some photographs (of living sharks). These photographs take us far beyond the usual suspects: consider the Greenland Shark (p. 157), the Caribbean Roughshark (p. 162), the Goblin Shark - I kid you not! - (p. 216), the Blackmouth Catshark (p. 347), or the Snaggletooth Shark (p. 437). 

But there is more. 
Appendices include a glossary, discussion of oceans and seas, techniques of field observation and fin identification, recommendations for further reading, a list of scientific and conservation organisations, online information sources, and index. Phew. 

Only an ignoramus would claim that sharks are not sufficiently interesting to deserve so impressive a treatment.
I would defy anyone to pick up Sharks of the World - A Fully Illustrated Guide and not pause in wonder at any number of beasts swimming far off the beaten track: the yellow-striped Atlantic Weasel Shark, the abyssal Demon and Ghost Catsharks, the frankly ridiculous Winghead Shark, the hopelessly uncuddly Bramble Sharks. And that is long before one considers the over-sensationalised superstars such as the Whale Shark, Bull Shark, Tiger Shark and White Shark. 

 I cannot recommend this book highly enough so I won't. I can, however, wonder at how Wild Nature Press can follow this debut with a worthy successor. If they can make the fascinating this enthralling, perhaps they should set themselves a real challenge. Worms of the World, anyone?

Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch. 

Get it!

Stopped!

Remember Mr. Donlon's abomination?

Here's what I got five minutes ago.

Dear Friends

It was just announced a few moments ago that the Ft. Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce and its City Commissioners all voted unanimously to immediately change the upcoming "Are You Man Enough Shark Challenge" to a total Catch and Release tournament with chase boats and live streaming video beamed back to television monitors at the tournament headquarters!

There will be no "shark kill" tournament!

This came just days before a large organized shark conservation and education protest was scheduled this weekend in front of the tournament headquarters. It has been confirmed that the sponsoring business owners were virtually unanimous in their support as well and actually had decided to make the tournament "catch and release" just hours prior to the commission vote.

Margret Meade once said, "Never doubt that a group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.......indeed it is the only thing that ever has!"
There are many heroes in this effort and hundreds of individuals behind the scenes who helped make this environmental victory possible. Those hundreds of you who took the time to write an e mail and voice your concern to the tournament organizers fueled the fire!

Penny Miller who networked and boldly wrote Governor Crist's office and the Ft Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce in Florida strongly voicing her anger at this throwback to an African Big Game Hunting mentality!
Mary O'Malley and Lupo who were relentless in their pursuit of information on the "toxic" shark meat that was ostensibly being given to the homeless in an effort to "spin" killing sharks into a "positive justification" by the tournament organizers. They uncovered the falsehood that the Salvation Army had not even been contacted at all this year by the tournament organizers as advertised on their web page and they did not even want the meat in the first place....toxic or not!
Lawrence Groth who is a tenacious truth seeker that never gave up and pursued sponsors, tournament organizers, wrote blogs and even went "undercover" to film the "secret" shark kill tournament in Sarasota last week and planned the protest event on the Ft Myers side.
Neil Hammerschlag whose academic candor roused the environmental spirit of young supporters and helped turn the Commissioners around and to ultimately get the vote in favor of the sharks passed in commission chambers!
The scientific intervention by Dr. Sonny Gruber of the Bimini Field Station/University of Miami fame and Dr. Bob Heuter, Director of Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota lent credibility and sound insight to this project's goal and gave the tournament organizers a viable alternative to still making a success of a Catch and Release tournament.
And of course....to all the bloggers around the world, Mike Neumann, Patric Douglas, Wolfgang Leander, Heidi Coluzzi and dozens of others on all continents, who raised their voices in protest and demanded environmental reason to prevail.....

Thank you one and all! The sharks won this one today....thanks to a unified effort by everyone. Now with this momentum let us not allow it to fade. Let us all continue to pick the battles and take every opportunity to make a difference for the shark globally. Our children are counting on it....and our planet can not survive without our collective conscience.

The former president of the Nature Conservancy, John Sawhill once said..."in the end, our society will be defined....not only for what we created....but for what we refused to destroy....!

Respectfully,

Gary and Brenda Adkison
Directors Shark Foundation,
USA 954 554 8918

(Sour grapes) story here.