Playa del Carmen - too late already?

Honestly: I fear it is!

From a witness report.
The sharks are being fished out right now (see attached photos).
There was a great agreement with the local fishermen in Playa del Carmen and they had stopped shark fishing completely. At the beginning of December however, a fisherman from a neighbouring town captured and killed 21 bull sharks, following which the Playa fishers decided that if he could do it, so could they.
Twenty nine 2 m+ bulls have been killed in the last month or so, and no-one is seeing any live sharks at the dive sites. I have just heard that there have been a couple of decomposing finned bull shark carcasses found on the reef in the last week - great advert for Playa!


How incredibly sad!
With that in mind, how long will it take until the site will recover - if all that fishing stops TODAY? Keep in mind that if Steven Spencer's account is in any way accurate, and I think it is, then those Bulls may already be the quasi totality of the animals visiting Playa del Carmen during the Bull Shark Season!

Are they part of a larger population from where new individuals may be recruited?
Maybe - but at risk of stating the obvious here: Sharks are not Teleosts and have no planktonic larval stages that may be carried in by the currents and decide to settle. Instead, any Bull Shark repopulating Playa del Carmen will have to leave its current home range and swim there. The motivation for doing so may derive from a past "good experience" and if so, the Sharks with that individual memory may now be dead; or, juveniles may be following adults and if so, those adults may now have been killed; more likely, Playa may be re-discovered by some roaming Sharks much like Fiji is being slowly re-discovered by the Humpback Whales. Yes those links are about Tigers - but Bulls occupy a similar trophic niche and certainly roam as well, albeit probably within smaller ranges.
All very possible - but this mechanism is bound to take a very long time indeed, likely way too long for any specialized Shark viewing tourism to survive commercially. And as the Shark tourism revenues will dwindle, the revenues from Shark fishing will look that much more attractive.
Yes, it’s a vicious circle!

But whatever the final outcome - there are lessons to be learned here!
And before anybody should feel that I may be attacking him personally and starts calling me names: this is not against anybody.
This is just, once again, a reminder that we all need to be careful !

Forget the romantic image of The Old Man and the Sea.
Granted, the artisanal fishermen in Playa may still fit that stereotype - but in general terms, the image could not be more misleading! Commercial fishing is big business and the fishermen are motivated, smart and dispose of the exact same, if not more resources than we do! Do you really think that they are not looking at tracks like these and not already finding ways to exploit them? Do you think that they're not already ogling the much-publicized mass spawning of the Snappers and scouring the scientific papers for the location of other Fish aggregations? Why do you think that I've erased the co-ordinates of the GW Café from my post?
Or, think Guadalupe: what do you think will happen to those GWs if the operators don't get their act together and the Mexicans close the site?

And lest you start mumbling that this is merely some "conspiracy" to promote Fiji against Mexico or the like: same-same here in Fiji!
This is what has happened last year.


Yes this is one of our Bulls and these are some local Polynesian fishermen.
We were only alerted after the fact and that Shark ended up being killed. But it had been caught within our protected Shark Corridor and we were thus able to mobilize our Reef Wardens and the police. Suffice to say that I'm absolutely certain that those guys will never, ever kill one of our Sharks again! (:

That is, if we don't stuff it up!
The Fiji Shark Project is geared towards long term sustainability. In theory, it has all the ingredients to run forever, to the benefit of the Sharks and of all its stakeholders: the villagers, the Country, our staff and even the local fishermen who profit from the spillover effects of the marine park and of course, the Sharks!
But take a wild guess at what would happen if we had the alas inevitable accident (there, I've said it!) on the Shark Dive and could not document that we had done everything humanly possible to prevent it!
Hence the ever tighter security protocols and hence my constant reminder that in our industry, safety must be our primary concern - despite of the incessant clamoring by some of our customers for more more more!

If the Playa disaster can have a meaning, it is this.
We can discount it as the inevitable result of a commercial Shark diving project that appears to have been poorly planned and poorly executed, and revert to business as usual; or, we may take pause for some reflection.
Are our animals sufficiently protected?
Are our current protocols the best we can imagine?
And if not: what can we do to improve on that, RIGHT NOW?

And lastly, if you plan to set up a new operation.
Start quietly, by furthering research and ensuring that the site is adequately protected and that you are empowered to enforce that protection - before publicizing the operation! And when it comes to choosing your protocols: this is an excellent start!

To those trying to fix the situation in Playa: wishing you the very best of success!
Suggestion: a stay of execution - enact a temporary chumming stop pending an agreement with the fishermen. Right now, the chumming is aggregating the remaining Sharks and only helping the fishermen find and kill them.
Please drop us a line if there's anything we can contribute.

Playa - killing the Golden Goose?

Dooh - click for detail!

And I cite,

“Esperaba a que llegara la temporada, pero nunca llegó. Todas las tiendas se quedaron con los flyers, con los posters, los turistas preguntando por el tiburón toro y no hubo ningún tiburón toro para ver."

Indeed - read this.

The Bulls Shark season in Playa has been a total bust and now that it is over, the venerable Saving our Sharks has thrown in the towel and basically announced that they are stepping back and handing the responsibility of managing the Shark dives to CONANP and the operators, to wit in the words of Google Translate - and yes I'm being lazy but I'm sure you get the gist,

#News 
Self-regulation is key! Let's work for hope! We are in a moment of transition. 

Playa Del Carmen. An example worldwide! 
This town is the only destination in the world where the diving of attraction with sharks is recognized and regulated legally, this puts us in the eyes of the international community. The future of this activity is in the diving community of playa del Carmen and the competent authorities.

Each of us can influence the destination! 
Self-regulation by tourist service providers is key! Today we managed to integrate the activities of interaction with bull shark to the legal framework of the corresponding authorities. The National Commission of protected natural areas, through the reserve of the Mexican Caribbean biosphere, is the authority responsible for the surveillance of the activity, without forgetting the responsibility of good management by each of the tourist operators. 

#TogetherWeCan! 
Disinformation has been one of the hardest obstacles to beat. Saving our Sharks cannot continue with the management of sharks in playa del Carmen without the proactive participation of the entire diving community that performs responsibly this activity. 

This case of success for the conservation of this species is endangered due to: 

• Excess load capacity. 
• Lack of follow-up of the rules 
• Lack of economic cooperation 
• Unfair competition between diving centers and independent divers (low prices) 
• Lack of surveillance by the authorities 

Among other factors... 

In the following link you can see the conference presented on January 29 at the planetarium of Playa del Carmen explaining more thoroughly the problem and possible solutions. The participation of the whole community is indispensable for the continuity of activity! 

What is required?

#StrongMeasures: Collaboration and unity for: 

1. Solving the payment of the fisherman's compensation with legal fishing permit. (due at the beginning of the month) 


2. Community Payment for the supply of equitable bait where the entire diving community is included that takes advantage of this resource. 


3. Self-regulation for compliance with loading capacity and respecting schedules. 


4. Union of diving centers to form committees and decision making. You can create a new association or join the already existing as awd or union of Caribbean divers. 


5. Creation of a common fund or trust, for management, surveillance and improvements of the area.


6. Coordination with authorities for the surveillance of tourist operations.

And then, please peruse the video.

There, you can learn about the countless exeplary research and conservation initiatives by SOS and the substantial costs that entails - and then, you may want to notice that only a paltry 11% of the operators have contributed in the past 4 years, and to which extent each of them have stepped up to the plate.

And, you can also see why the bulls did not aggregate, and read about the issues of overcrowding and price erosion.

All very sad really, unnecessary and demotivating.

But lemme make it easy for you - long story short?

Forget about all the different "explanations" ranging from Climate Change to the Bulls having been fished away - none of them is correct.

The reality is much more simple and also way more pathetic.
And as always in these cases, it reeks of hubris, greed and stupidity.

• The Bulls did come to Playa like they do every year.
  But as per the slide at the top, they haven't been aggregating at the feeding site because they were seeking some conviviality with the divers but instead, because they were being chummed in - and the latter meant incurring a lot of upfront costs for buying the bait ahead of the season and then storing it, and then a lot of work for driving out to the site and establishing an initial presence that then needed to be continuously reinforced with an adequate amount but also quality of bait. In the past, this was being performed by essentially, Phantom Divers along with a very few other dive shops, with everybody else then mooching on their hard work.
  
  But this year has been different.
  Let's just say that somebody has taught everybody else a lesson about the need for cooperation and coordination - see below. And because chumming has been inadequate, the Bulls have not aggregated - the question obviously being, has the lesson been learned?

• At the same time, the whole scene has plunged into chaos.
  Playa has more than 100 dive operations, many of which don't even sport own premises and/or any notable infrastructure let alone staff, but instead merely consist of a few folks operating a website; and then during the Shark season, there is a substantial influx of illegal foreign Shark whispering dive guides migrating to Playa who are further undercutting everybody's profitability by offering dirt cheap bare-bones Shark dives from hired boats with rented gear.
  All of these second- and third-tier operators are not only unprofessional and outright dangerous, they are literally not invested in the local dive community and most importantly, they don't follow the Code of Conduct.
  And as a consequence, Playa's whole Shark diving scene has progressively been caught up in a downward spiral where there has been no more solidarity and cooperation, quality and safety have been compromised, nobody has anymore been making any real money, and the pathetic backstabbing and badmouthing, even of SOS (!), have become simply intolerable.
  I say, what a fucking disgrace - talk about shooting oneself in the leg huh.

• And lastly, the pressure on the Sharks is just not sustainable.
  On any given day, they may be no more than 20 Bulls - but there are approx 400 divers, notabene daily, being taken to see them!
  In industry lingo, that is called cattle diving, and countless examples of such multi-user sites have shown that it just does not work unless the operators self-regulate and/or the authorities intervene with regulation.

And that's it.

So simple and at the same time, so sad and pathetic - and above all, so totally self-inflicted and preventable.

So what now?

The solutions are obvious and contained in the above announcement by Saving our Sharks - foremost of which the URGENT necessity to observe one's agreements and compensate the only licensed Shark fisherman whose license is still valid despite of the recent Sanctuary designation, as the different involved agencies appear unable to coordinate their efforts.

And if not - and if so the damage may indeed be irreparable.

Alas, in the short term I'm not at all optimistic.

Without the continued leadership of Luis' SOS and Chino's Phantom Divers, I fear that nothing good and/or lasting will happen - and from what I can discern, both those gentlemen are pretty much disgusted and unwilling to continue making the huge investments in time and resources to keep the industry afloat.

And CONANP, the official regulator?

There too, I fear that they are highly unlikely to have the willingness, know-how and means to step in and provide the needed leadership and supervision.

So yes, barring a miracle, kiss Playa's Shark dives goodbye!

And in the long term?

Like the whole of the Riviera Maya, Playa's tourism industry is experiencing some challenges and in that context, Shark diving has been one of the few touristic highlights and a life line for the local dive industry as Shark divers do not care much about those things and will keep on coming - like they did during our 2006 coup when our other tourism sectors experienced steep declines. 

With that in mind: may this fiasco be an opportunity to finally get the local authorities onboard in regulating and supervising (!) the industry, by e.g. issuing exclusive (!) licenses that would be conditional upon strict adherence to the Code of Conduct but also, upon proof of real investments in the local dive industry = as in there being real dive shops with physical locations, and local staff, and a selection of dive gear, etc?

In view of the continued failure to properly regulate Mexico's Whale Shark industry I'm not terribly optimistic - but then again, as they say, hope springs eternal.

As always we shall see.

Yes I know: in view of the rather pathetic situation here in Fiji I'm probably the least qualified to preach about peace and harmony - but contrary to here where each operator has their own exclusive site and cooperation is a choice, Playa has a single multi-user site where the users have no such choice at all.

Yes there are way too many bad and dangerous dive shops that need to be put out of business - but starting with GSD member Phantom Divers, there are also a few really good and ethical operators that could decide to associate and turn things around = I'm thinking about establishing an exclusive Shark diving association, with a limited number of members with exclusive licenses offering exclusive, sustainable and profitable Shark dives to a limited number of clients.
That sure must be possible - or not?

So what is it gonna be?

Are the operators gonna stop the badmouthing and backstabbing, step up to the plate financially and physically, eat some humble pie and go make amends - and all earn some good money together as a consequence?

Or are the stupidity, egos and hubris just too big, and are they gonna choose to lose that important income, and down-scale or even close down as a consequence?

Folks, the choice is yours.

Good luck everybody!

Playa - excellent Progress!

Source.

Great stuff!

Check out this table.

It really looks like the collaboration among the Bull Shark dive operators in Playa del Carmen is starting to bear fruit. Those initial 30,000 pesos are a nice contribution towards setting the required buoys delimiting the Shark diving area, and tagging more of the Sharks. This year's tagging tally is over 12, meaning that Saving our Sharks is making giant strides towards finally unraveling the mystery of why the Sharks come to Playa (likely to pup - but where?) and where they go once they depart again which is one of their declared goals.

Incidentally, that money comes from two sources.

Donativo are the funds collected via an array of "tip boxes" where the customers can make voluntary contributions; Aportación are per-diver/per-dive contributions by the dive operators that contrary to what we do here, are being paid out of cash flow and thus impact the bottom line - but of course they are good business in the long term.

So here's to Phocea, Pepe Dive Center and of course Chino's Phantom Divers for truly walking the talk by making a real, hands-on contribution to Shark research and Shark conservation!

Please show them your appreciation by choosing them when booking your next vacation there!

I must say that I'm impressed.

After the adoption of the code of conduct, this collaboration is yet another milestone in establishing Playa as one of the best and most sustainable global Shark diving hotspots.

Well done everybody!

Playa - more dead Sharks?

It just never stops does it.

Check out these pics - and these!

From what I can understand, these are fishermen from Puerto Morelos, half way between Playa and Cancun, and they may, or may not be sneaking over at night to capture those big pregnant Bull Sharks that visit Playa during the pupping (and diving) season. Apparently, they dispose of the relevant fishing permits (but not for Playa!), making this legal - but certainly not right!

Solutions?

There has been a national and international outcry, and there is a petition. 

Good luck with that.

My call, granted without disposing of the full picture.

Our Fiji Shark Project hinges on compensating the local stakeholders and thus making conservation more lucrative than fishing - and it clearly does work.
With that in mind, here's what I would do - already hinted at in this post.

• Get the Shark dive operators to work together - yes I know, that's a long shot. And if that's not possible, assume leadership and do it solo. The others will follow due to competitive pressure, like the guys down the road were forced to follow after we established the SRMR.

• Establish a Shark dive levy of USD 20.00/pp/pd on top of the regular price for the Shark dive. Divers love paying for conservation, so that should be easy.

• Disburse those funds to the fishermen (not the authorities), ideally earmarked for something concerning their families, like e.g. children's tuition, etc.

• In exchange, obtain an agreement about a seasonal fishing ban for the critical habitats involving a) a ban on targeted Shark fishing and b) a ban on gear that is likely to result in Shark bycatch e.g. gill nets, wire leaders, very strong fishing lines etc.
  This is much easier than trying to establish a year-round Sanctuary or MPA, the more as it can initially be merely a private agreement with the local fishermen thus not requiring legislation that is always a tedious process. But do aim to get some legislation confirming the above in the long run, if only at the municipal/local level. Having established a track record of cooperation will certainly help!

• Establish patrols - maybe even involving the fishermen that could be paid from the Shark levy. On top of that, maybe the staff of the Shark diving operators can be deputized like we've done here - remember that apart from the conservation aspects, you would be defending your own business assets!

• Bring in the research in order to get the data for further refining the process.

Just my two cents as always.
Wishing you the very best of success - and if you want to discuss, you know how to reach me!

Fuvahmulah - Barbarians at the Gate!

Plenty of Tigers guaranteed!

 

Check this out.

Great huh.

I've been there a couple of years ago and can assure you that it is really like that, and even better, to the point that I've been trying to go back there ever since.

Many ages ago I landed myself a nifty little job as leader of exploratory dive expeditions and check-out diver for new dive destinations that led me to explore some of the remotest, most memorable and sometimes scariest dive sites long before the advent of organized mass tourism - and Fuvahmulah still conveys that rare feeling of exploring new frontiers where every dive is still an adventure harboring the possibility of unique and unexpected encounters - see e.g the other videos on this page.

And at a time where diving has been largely commodified that's just simply awesome.

 

Even Fuvahmulah itself is totally unique.

Dubbed The Galapagos of the Maldives, it sits all by itself, completely exposed to wind and offshore currents in deep oceanic water and thus acts as a beacon and pit stop for large ocean wanderers. It is also not your archetypical Maldivian tourism island that only sports a single sprawling hotel installation on a atoll motu, but is instead fully inhabited and merely features a few charming small family-owned guest houses along with a few modest eateries - but that too only adds to its charm.

The people to go with are these folks, hands down.

I had heard about the place from clients who mentioned a crazy Russian and her partner - but Tatiana and Panda are everything but. And this is me saying it so you better believe it!

Instead, these are smart, extremely knowledgeable, responsible and highly experienced people running a highly professional dive operation together with a great team of super motivated locals, and diving with them is both great fun but also super safe.

And lemme tell 'ya: the latter could not be more important.

The simply fabulous Thresher Shark dives are (drift) diving for grown ups in oceanic conditions and often substantial depth and challenging surge and currents, followed by open water decompression and live pickup - so you better have guides who know exactly what they are doing. And they most certainly do!

And when it comes to the world famous baited Tiger Zoo dives that often feature dozens of large Tigers, following the correct protocols is everything - and these guys sure have it down pat. And yes this would again be me saying it, the more as they've shown me the protocols that are spot on and exhaustive, including the all-important evacuation procedures and first aid training!

Which brings me straight to the title of this post.

It's much like what happened in Playa where Chino did all the pioneering work, only to have a hoard of moochers fly in and piss on his parade, or Bimini where everybody rushed in and as a minimum spoiled years of research by the Sharklab. 

Now that Tatiana and Panda have done all the heavy lifting and pretty much single-handedly put it on the tourism map, Fuvahmulah is being overrun by dozens of local copycats and wannabee Shark whisperers with little more to their credit than a GoPro, an Instagram account, an opinion and a mouth.

 

And like last year in Playa, this can only end up in tears - especially at the Tiger Zoo which in the high season is already operating at the very limit of sustainability. When I see those arrogant idiots and their clients wanting to change those excellent procedures and even institute free diving, in baited conditions and at the entrance of the island's only harbor with scores of vessels zipping around overhead I can only shake my head in disbelief - but then again, this is so pathetically same old same old isn't it.

Rule number one: never, ever let the inmates run the asylum!

So folks, don't be fooled by the images and the hype.

Especially in Shark diving, there really is no substitute for experience, professionalism and quality - and being a local, and giving stupid discounts, and showing you nice pictures and video, and spinning some nice eco-BS are all no substitutes for that. Not in Fuvahmulah, not in Playa and also not here in Fiji where we too continue to hate on each other but at least have our own dive sites.

Incidentally, Playa has improved dramatically.

The pandemic has weeded out the worst assholes, and most others have finally discovered the virtues of cooperation, leading to a solid season with acceptable Bull Shark numbers (thanks Chino for the baiting!) and somewhat reasonable revenues for everybody.  

And yes, Bimini has become much more orderly too.

When it comes to Fuvahmulah, it'll take a while.

Assuming the safari boats come rushing in as usual, the high season will likely be a bloody clusterfuck, after which business volumes will dry up and many of those folks will thankfully go bust and hopefully wander off in search of greener pastures.

But it aint gonna be pretty.

So, again, be smart and go with the best - seriously!

And should you be on a safari boat, do insist that they do, too, instead of trying to do it on the cheap with some local pal, the more as the victim of that fiasco would be you!

Just sayin'!

Enjoy - because you most certainly will!

PS - Oh FFS.

 

I've barely posted this, and here they come - and it's even worse than I feared.

The inmates have already taken over and are free diving at the Tiger Zoo, and developing some inane pelagic Tiger Shark dive, obviously baited like their illegal dive in Hawaii. And they are obviously empowering women and helping the poor locals and fighting marine pollution - something that has already been done by others for years, and this without it being used for self-aggrandizement! 

And of course it's all about Shark conservation - in a Shark sanctuary! 

 

And talking about eco clap trap

for generations we have recycled the fish scraps into the sea to fertilize the fisheries 

Seriously? 

Literally all fishermen who clean their catch throw the scraps into the ocean, and this everywhere!

Recycle and fertilize my ass!

Lord have mercy...

 

And we're back to square one. 

Like a wise man said years ago - incidentally about the very same folks

It stopped actually being "about sharks" a long time ago. 
It's about the individual and what the sharks as a vehicle to notoriety can do for them

And I can most certainly leave it at that.

 

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Playa del Carmen - Lessons?

Please read this.
Yes that was two years ago and one would have hoped that by now, everybody had understood that message, maybe with one addendum: you need to get the local stakeholders involved.

I'm sure you know what happened in Playa del Carmen.
And if not, there's a plethora of newspaper articles and blog posts bemoaning the killing of nine pregnant Bull Sharks with approx 50 pups and the damage this has inflicted to the Shark population, the dive shops and the community in general. As a reaction, we now have an advocacy group, petitions and shark advocates calling for the protection of the Sharks during the season.
That's a good thing and fingers crossed that it's not too late.

What is not good is that it did not have to come to this.
A friend writes, I was never a fan on Phantom Divers in Mexico and yes, I dove that site quite a while back. It seems to me they have been hamfisting the encounters from day one. Probably too harsh but the fact is, this was obviously poorly planned and executed and as Steven Spencer correctly remarks, the feeding has undoubtedly aggregated the Sharks and directly led to their demise.

Where I however believe that Steven errs, is when he claims that this proves that Shark feeding dives are bad.
They are simply not. If conducted responsibly, they harm neither the animals nor the customers, provide for economic alternatives for the people who would otherwise kill the Sharks and very much contribute to dispelling the negative stereotypes.
Again, if conducted responsibly!

What this incident however does, is to once again reinforce my strong belief that we need to first and foremost assume the stewardship of the sites we develop and promote, and this from the very beginning - very much along the lines of Patric's Noblesse Oblige. Had the local dive shops and the people promoting this dive established the necessary protection and cooperated with the local communities from the outset, this would not have happened, period.

Which brings be straight over to this.



Totally EPIC - pun intended!
I really wish I could say something positive about this, the more since Oceanic Whitetips have become so critically depleted that any site offering reliable encounters is nothing short of miraculous and worthy of being promoted - if the diving is conducted responsibly!

But not like this!
Let there be no doubt that these Sharks are dangerous and that anybody conducting commercial dives with this species needs to set in place proper protocols. From Wikipedia, citing Compagno

Groups often form when individuals converge on a food source, whereupon a "feeding frenzy" may occur. This seems to be triggered not by blood in the water or by bloodlust, but by the species' highly strung and goal-directed nature (conserving energy between infrequent feeding opportunities when it is not slowly plying the open ocean). The oceanic whitetip is a competitive, opportunistic predator that exploits the resource at hand, rather than avoiding trouble in favor of a possibly easier future meal 

Interesting and probably true.
The pros have known it all along - but latest since that fateful attack in the Red Sea, everybody should know that snorkeling with Oceanic Whitetips is just plain stupid, the more as the Sharks are highly inquisitive and will readily approach SCUBA divers and allow for those coveted in-your-face wide-angle shots anyway. As to hand feeding those Silkies whilst on snorkel and without wetsuit - oh well, whatever.

Now, it appears, this site is about to go mainstream.
This was once one of Jimmy's discoveries and signature dives sites that would experience sporadic visits by the Shear Water. Next year, it appears, the Sharks will be subjected to a solid six weeks (click on Diving) of daily baiting.

Will that aggregate the Sharks? Will it change their behavior?
And if so: is anybody developing bomb-proof commercial Shark diving protocols and much more importantly, is anybody talking to the local stakeholders, namely the game and the commercial fishermen to at least develop some local consensus about their value to the local economy and the need to preserve this valuable resource? Yes there's a push for the nation-wide protection of all Sharks in the Bahamas - but this is not a done deal quite yet, and those Whitetips that are being publicized and aggregated may well still be fair game in April, meaning that any Shark fisherman wanting to kill them may do so in total impunity.
What can be done to prevent that?

Please, think about it.
Please, learn the lessons from Playa del Carmen.

Playa del Carmen - great Follow-up!

I must say, I really enjoyed this video by Eli.
It's a tribute to his friend Carlos "Charlie" Estrabeau, the head feeder of Phantom Divers in Playa. Charlie comes across as a real nice guy, very much of the mold of other Shark feeders I know, very personally committed and full of love and respect for the animals he works with.

This is also a nice follow-up on the terrible news that have come out of that site.
Good to see that a bunch of committed people have decided to take action and that progress is obviously being made. Fingers crossed that they will succeed in getting those Sharks protected, as they should be!

Enjoy!

Phantom Divers join Global Shark Diving!

Behold!

Needless to say that I'm elated.

Ever since I started blogging, about the then problems in Playa del Carmen, e.g. here, Chino and his group of passionate Shark divers at Phantom Divers have been advancing in leaps and bounds.

Thanks to the remarkable progress both in terms of conservation but also protocols, Playa is now  among the very best and most sustainable Shark diving destinations anywhere. This has taken an enormous effort both personally but also very much financially, and I must really commend them for their unwavering tenacity and passion.

So welcome aboard my dear friends - this is highly welcome and highly deserved!

GSD will of course continue expanding, albeit slowly.

We are really fully beholden to our mission and principles, meaning that potential candidates need to undergo a  rigorous vetting process where they must above all document a proven track record in every single one of our principles - and lemme tell you, with every candidacy requiring the consensus by all members, that is a tall order indeed!

But, we're already working on the next candidacy!

Onward and Upward!

HT: Eli, for having made the introductions. Thanks brother! :)

Mexican Caribbean Biosphere Reserve!

Source.
 

Great news!

Read this.

Looks like Playa's Sharks and especially, their habitat are about to be protected, meaning that the petition by Saving our Sharks has equally been successful. Quintana Roo has been experiencing an explosion of only partly controlled tourism, and this measure could not have come soon enough.

And the Shark tourism activities?

There, too, news are excellent as it appears that like in Guadalupe, baited Shark diving will be tolerated within the Biosphere but only provided that the operators adhere to the code of conduct and possibly, that they join and thus contribute to the efforts by Saving our Sharks.

Bingo.

This once again goes to show that given the necessary leadership, responsible dive operators can make a huge difference. As a reminder, Shark diving in Playa and the push to protect them have all started with Chino Loria and Phantom Divers - and the rest as they say is history.
 

Obviously, Phantom Divers are a member of Global Shark Diving, you global alliance of responsible and long-term sustainable Shark diving operators.

Well done!

 

Sustainable Shark Diving?

Really?
 

And now, to that post by RickMac.

But first.

Avuncular? WTF!

That's a whiff of a pico-fraction of a galaxy removed from Yoda, and I don't like it a bit - but then again, coming from the guy at the top, should I even care?
But I do like this - spot on!

Anyway.

Lemme cite.

My very personal and subjective (although I also suspect accurate) summary on what I’ve observed to date is that there is money to be made on shark dive tourism and it is a powerful incentive to “get in on the action,” regardless of experience and awareness of lessons learned.  And like all businesses, there’s a continuum of what I would consider sustainable practice… some are deeply invested in good training, supervision, and safety and some are in it to simply turn quick profit.

Indeed, astute observation!

Now, this is frankly nothing new.

Yours truly and back then, Patric Douglas of Shark Diver have been blogging about the future of Shark diving for years, and for the need of the industry to reform and move towards a more long term sustainable model. Back then, we were being decried as troublemakers and party poopers - but ten years later, the public appears to be shifting towards a more authentic and holistic experience, and much of what did preach back then is now increasingly being proffered in the mainstream. With that in mind, this is a great chance to elevate Shark diving to the next level.

Plus, now, we dispose of the science.

Not of just two papers like Rick asserts but actually, of quite a few. They all come to the conclusion that whereas there are certainly local effects, Shark provisioning appears unproblematic at the ecosystem level i.e. over large spatial and temporal scales, meaning that overall, the impact on Shark populations is negligible to nil.

Not convinced?

Don't speculate - show me the fucking evidence to the contrary and no, rubbish like this doesn't count! And incidentally, no, the Shark feeding in Playa did not precipitate the attacks in Cancun. The Bulls in the Riviera Maya are sexually segregated = provisioned females in Playa and non-provisioned males in Cancun!

And since those events, progress has been remarkable!

Just sayin'!

But of course those local effects are eminently relevant.

It is there where we will discern the biggest discrepancies based on the specific protocols, or lack of, of the operators, and it is there where the various initiatives will hopefully have the biggest impact, by emphasizing the good and reforming the bad.

And yes, some notable NGOs are starting to take notice.

Considering the dead-set opposition to any form of Shark feeding I've encountered in the past, this is certainly progress. I'm not a fan of breathy announcements and will not comment on Rick's name-dropping which is both partly inaccurate, premature and certainly not for him, nor for me to do - but yes, this may or may not eventually result in an initiative to develop a common code of practice and if so, I for one would certainly welcome that! 

This however with the following caveat.

Nice to have academia and the NGO intelligentsia look into our industry and hopefully give us some valuable unbiased pointers for improvement - but any such code will only succeed if there is considerable industry buy-in. And for that to happen, any such rules will not only have to reflect some eco wish list but also be flexible and above all, factually and economically practicable!

But again - at this stage it's nothing for me to comment about and certainly not fodder for social media! 

And then, there is now Global Shark Diving.

We did the soft launch at DEMA and the response has been simply overwhelming. Like I said, potential new members are undergoing a meticulous screening process and will only be accepted if they are already truly invested in conservation and research. Failing that, any aspiring members will first have to establish track record and will only be considered once they are able to produce tangible results on the ground. Our principal asset and the one factor setting us apart from similar ventures is market leadership and credibility - and we will certainly not risk losing that because of shortcuts due to friendship or economic expediency.

But worry not: more members are going to be announced very shortly indeed!

And BAD?

We will continue to do what we've been doing all along, and that is to lead from the front. We may or may not be the best - but we're certainly among the leaders in Shark ecotourism and have every intention of keeping it that way!

The establishment of Fiji's first national marine park via a ground-breaking public-private partnership has been a great milestone. But of course the proof is in the pudding, and we have no doubt that for it to succeed and be picked up elsewhere, the honor bestowed upon us needs to translate into a lot of hard work on the ground. To that effect, we have started establishing new baselines by recording the current coral cover and conducting a census of all the Fishes and Sharks. We will also considerably enhance enforcement by conducting more frequent patrols and by training further honorary fish wardens. And finally, we are currently developing yet another project that will hopefully have repercussions Fiji-wide and even abroad.

So, keep watching this space.

Like always, it's not a matter of making announcements but of coming up with actual results - and I can say, so far so good!

To be continued!

Playa Bulls - challenging!

Source.

Who would have thought!
Conservation is always complicated - but Shark conservation being linked to the willingness to learn to speak English?

Check out this video about the Bull Sharks of Playa del Carmen!
Dunno what has really happened since that post in January - only that more Bulls have been killed just around the corner.
Eli?



And incidentally, here's another example of how frustratingly complicated and in this example, totally counter intuitive (!) conservation can be!

BUT!
The fight goes on!

Playa - it's complicated!

Many of the Bulls that are being caught in Playa are pregnant females. Source.

This is the situation on the ground.

There are no easy solutions here.

I still believe that this may be a start - but of course that's only the theory, and translating those lofty goals into practice may well turn out to be impossible. People are people and egos are egos - and with I hear dozens of more or less specialized, more or less knowledgeable and more or less conservation-oriented Shark viewing operators competing over those Shark tourism dollars, generating that all important solidarity within the industry is likely to be a monumental challenge.

But then again, nobody said it was gonna be easy - right? :)

Anyway, please watch it.

Great job, kudos!

Welcoming Friends!

Great fun!

Behold Jorge El Chino Loría and his badass jefa Elena La Táfana!

For new readers of this blog: Chino is the big boss of Phantom Divers, and they in turn are a member of GSD, your one stop shop for responsible, safe and long term sustainable Shark diving across the globe!

I must say, I respect the man enormously.

Over the past years, he and the outstanding team of SOS under the leadership of Luis Lombardo have invested a huge amount of time and money into completely turning around the situation in Playa del Carmen from a huge problem (scroll down to the earliest posts in the link) to a huge win for everybody whereby this has now become a world famous Shark diving destination with a cohesive Shark diving industry with its own code of conduct, and where the Sharks are finally being protected.

Anyway, we're having a great time.

We're also hosting Martin of Shark Diver, and the dives and conversations are simply stellar = I can already say that the networking will undoubtedly lead to new initiatives and more cooperation, and to renewed solidarity vis-a-vis the latest irritating meddling (and e.g. here!) by our detractors.

And the big question?

How do the Fiji Bull Sharks compare with the Caribbean Sardines?

Go to Playa and ask Chino!

 

Please help the Sharks of Playa!

Source - and yes that looks like a subadult Bull, a small endangered Hammer and possibly a good-sized Mako.!

We never do petitions, for obvious reasons.

But this is different, so there.

We will make an exception when there's a worthwhile cause, with good people working on the ground, and when that team ask for signatures because it will help them sway their interlocutor, normally some politician or the like. One example was the push to get Florida's Lemon Sharks protected that was spearheaded by the likes of Doc, Walt Stearns and DaMary, etc, and where somebody within the FWC suggested that it would be good to show public support. That endeavor was ultimately successful and I hear that those signatures did in fact help sway the legislators.

And now we have a similar situation in Playa.

The picture at the top documents the latest, and perfectly legal haul by the only licensed Shark fisherman on that coastline. I must also add that that fisherman is the same person who used to target and kill those big Bull Sharks - but a lot has happened since that post, and he has now agreed not to fish for them during the tourist season when they migrate to the region, possibly in order to pup. So there has definitely been progress - but still, those dead Sharks are disturbing, and not anymore commensurate with the many marine conservation and ecotourism projects that are popping up all throughout Quintana Roo.

Hence this petition.

Launched by the outstanding people of Saving our Sharks and as always, very much enabled by my friend Chino of GSD member Phantom Divers, it aims at establishing a no-take zone for Sharks around the local barrier reef system. This follows years of dialogue, cooperation and lobbying with the local authorities, meaning that it has a real chance of succeeding.

This is an excellent undertaking.

Please lend a helping hand by signing the petition.

Thank you.

NZ - does Shark Diving endanger the Public?

Source.

Have you seen this?

And I cite.

About 10 to 15kg of berley was used in a cage dive, he said, which was less likely to attract sharks than the half-tonne of offal dumped by commercial fishermen.

Fishing operators cleaning their catch at the entrance to Half Moon Bay were more likely to attract sharks into the harbour, he said.

Bingo.

Let me once again cite myself.

Fishermen do not only feed Sharks by presenting them baited hooks; many of them attract and often end up feeding Sharks when they drag in struggling fish and when they subsequently clean their catch and throw the scraps into the ocean. Spear fishermen are notorious for attracting, and even conditioning Sharks when they shoot fish and often find themselves embroiled in a competitive struggle over their prey. These people number in the hundreds of thousands and if anybody should be examined for possibly causing an increase of Shark attacks on the public, it should be them - not the few dozen operators conducting baited Shark dives!

Plus,

• Great Whites are fully protected in New Zealand.
  If that protection is to make any sense, one must assume that consequently, less adult GWS are being killed and that the juveniles and subadults have a better chance of reaching the stage where they switch from a fully piscivorous diet to seasonal preying on Pinnipeds. If so, the number of Sharks sighted in the vicinity of those Sea Lion colonies may well be on the increase. As Stewart Island is slowly being recolonized by New Zealand Sea Lions, its attractiveness for GWS may equally be on the rise.

• Shark feeding appears unproblematic at the ecosystem level
  All present research into those baited Shark dives appears to concur that those dives have little to no effect at large spatial and temporal scales. It appears pretty clear that far from becoming dependent on the handouts, those provisioned Sharks continue to fulfill their ecological roles and also continue to follow their normal life cycles as in e.g. mating, pupping and migrating.

• There's no correlation between Shark feeding and Shark strikes.
  Re-read this. In brief and with maybe the exception of SA, the vast majority of Shark strikes occurs in locations where there are no Shark feeding operations - which is even more surprising if one considers that most of those dives have been established in locations that are known for their healthy Shark populations!
  And even if there were some correlation, it certainly does not equate causation!

But of course there are some big caveats.

• There are certainly effects at small spatial and temporal scales.
  Shark feeding often aggregates the animals, and this can have local consequences. As an example, take the increased aggression of those Lemons in Moorea; or the observed competitive exclusion of other Sharks in Fiji and possibly SA and TB; or those postulated local behavioral changes and marginally increased residency in Southern Australia.

• Conditioning via positive reinforcement does likely happen.
  Those GWS are certainly smart and it is absolutely plausible to assume that they may have learned to associate the boat noise with a subsequent feeding opportunity - and with the food being presented at the surface, it as equally plausible to assume that they could be popping up next to other boats in the area!
  The assertion that they may be following the boats ashore is however likely to be humbug - provided, that is, that nobody throws bait overboard on the way home!

• Location matters.
  Many Shark dives have been being established where there are already Sharks, meaning that objectively speaking, the risk profile is unlikely to change - but perceptions matter and like in the case of population centers like, say, Cape Town or Playa, the diving activity and associated increased publicity of Sharks can lead to conflicts with the other local ocean users. Consequently, as a rule, the feeding locations need to be as remote as possible and should definitely not be established e.g. right in the middle of population centers or right in front of popular beaches etc.

• Feeding protocols.
  Like I often state, it is often not about the what but about the how.
  Shark provisioning creates its own risks, and those risks need to be managed - meaning that all protocols should be chosen in function of minimizing the impact on both the animals and the habitat, and on maximizing the safety for the participants but also the public. E.g., everybody will hopefully agree that creating humongous chum trails or dumping indiscriminate amounts of bait to create feeding frenzies is probably a bad idea. Or as another example, we here go to great lengths to condition the Bulls never to come to the surface, lest we get accused of endangering other aquatic recreationists.
  In brief, we need to be in a position to demonstrate that we are always striving to conduct our dives in the most responsible way possible.

And then, there's this

• Obtaining the required Social license and stakeholder involvement are crucial.
  The local stakeholders need to become an integral part of these projects - and this not only through regular awareness, education and consultations but also by letting them partake in the financial windfall, both indirectly but very much also directly. Only this will ensure crucial local support when the inevitable problems will arise.

• Get in the research.
  The best argument against many of the intuitively plausible reservations of our detractors are strong scientific data. As an example, when people got bitten by Bull Sharks in Cancun and everybody tried to blame the Shark feeding operations in Playa, the operators there had the data showing that they were only feeding females whereas the Bull Shark population in Cancun was only comprised of males. Or in our case, our Bull Shark data show conclusively that we are neither causing residency nor any dependency on our handouts, see above.

Long story short?

I ignore the precise circumstances of those cage dives in Stewart Island. Intuitively, I am inclined to assume that they are being conducted responsibly, and that the location is sufficiently remote.

But there appears to be a problem of perception.

If I am correct in speculating that the islands may be attracting more GWS, it follows that  the risk for the Pāua divers may be on the increase. With that in mind, it may be wise to engage in some preventative measures, as in increased dialogue and data sharing with the fishing community all the way to maybe helping fund protective gear like Shark shields etc. And it may also be smart to re-engage with the authorities and the stakeholders, and ensure their support by developing a code of practice everybody can agree with!

But again, I don't know the precise circumstances.

Maybe all of that has already happened, and the current blowback is merely some noise by troublemakers.

But if not, some of the above may be useful.

Good luck!

Elasmobranch Tourism for Managers - Paper!

Shark Reef: happy tourists, happy Sharks! Great pic by Ozzie Sam - click for detail!

And here we go again.

Andrew has sent me this paper, and I am once again irritated.

Mind you it is by no means terrible, the more as it correctly states that  

The strict self-imposed management actions and limited number of shark feeding operators at Shark Reef in Fiji, has resulted in minimal long-term effects on bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) behaviour and diet, and is likely to have had no effects on health and fitness,

and that

Provisioning elasmobranchs, the activity deemed to have the most risk associated with it, can be effectively undertaken if appropriate management is in place (e.g. bull shark feeding at Shark Reef Reserve, Fiji)

But the paper is certainly also not good, either.
Like some of its equally irritating predecessors, it suggests that there is a problem urgently requiring third-party management = regulation, something I most strongly disagree with, especially when it comes to those forever maligned provisioned Shark dives.

It's same old same old.
Over the many years, I've blogged about the latter at nauseam and am actually tired tired tired of the bloody useless controversy - but here goes, just because this nonsense cannot remain unanswered.
Read the links!

1. Threats to Sharks and Rays (and their Habitats)

Sharks and Rays are not faring well.

At risk of stating the obvious: the biggest threats to their populations are:

• Overfishing (Targeted and Bycatch)
  Globally, overfishing of Elasmobranchs remains rampant due to widespread IUU and inadequate management, monitoring, enforcement and prosecution.
  Specifically, this equates to a yearly mortality of roughly 100 million Sharks that are  being killed for the fins, their meat but also other products like e.g. squalene. That is clearly unsustainable and also means that whereas some local conservation efforts have been highly successful, Elasmobranch  conservation appears to be largely failing at a global scale.
  And to add to the problem, we are additionally threatening Shark and Ray populations by equally overfishing their prey.

• Global Warming and Ocean Acidification whose impacts are both direct but above all indirect (= just a small example) as every single marine ecosystem in general and all Elasmobranch habitats in particular are being severely affected, and this generally negatively. And of course no Shark or Ray will survive if we destroy their habitat!


• Pollution
  Need I elaborate? And it's by no means only the plastic!


• Human Encroachment
  This results in habitat change and degradation, and also in conflicts all the way to triggering large and indiscriminate responses that may indeed threaten some local populations like e.g. in Australia, South Africa and possibly, Reunion Island.
  

And Shark and Ray tourism?

Yeah, right.

Think that in comparison, tourism is in any way a relevant factor?

Actually, on the contrary!

Not only does Elasmobranch tourism not endanger Shark and Ray populations - but in the overriding majority of cases, it contributes substantially to their protection all the way to being its principal driver!

To wit, even in the most infamous documented case of harmful Elasmo tourism, i.e. that of those Southern Stingrays on Grand Cayman, the population appears to be thriving as everybody there understands how valuable they are to the local economy!

So is everything perfect?

Of course not, see e.g. above - but it is certainly not catastrophic, either!

Specifically:

A. Overcrowding and Competition.

This can be a cause for concern.

Especially in multi-user sites, the competition between too many uncoordinated and/or unmanaged tourism operators can lead to excesses that can inconvenience or even harm the animals.

And if so, and only if the industry itself is not able, or willing to cooperate and to self-regulate, then the authorities may indeed have to step in with some common-sense regulations, like limits in the numbers of tourists and/or operators and/or vessels, or e.g. licenses so that the authorities can obtain some data and/or income for monitoring, or common sense codes of conduct, etc.

But regulation should always be the exception and not the rule lest it becomes stifling or even counterproductive!

B. Shark Feeding.

This is what we have learned over the many years.

• Shark feeding appears unproblematic at the ecosystem level
  All research into those baited Shark dives appears to concur that those dives have little to no effect at large spatial and temporal scales. It appears pretty clear that far from becoming dependent on the handouts, those provisioned Sharks continue to fulfill their ecological roles and also continue to follow their normal life cycles as in e.g. mating, pupping and migrating = there are no described major negative effects impinging on the viability of those populations.


• However, there are certainly effects at small spatial and temporal scales.
  Shark feeding often aggregates the animals, and this can have local consequences. As an example, take the increased aggression of those Lemons in Moorea; or the observed competitive exclusion of other Sharks in South Africa and possibly Fiji (= much has changed since that paper, and many of the intermediate Sharks are back, for reasons unknown); or those postulated local behavioral changes and marginally increased residency in Southern Australia. That said, the effects are clearly rather minor and don't appear to at all threaten local populations.
  
  And some of the other marine life may be affected insofar as they, too, may aggregate and partake in a meal = incidentally much like they do in countless other occasions ranging from organic waste being pumped into the oceans by discharges and e.g. rivers all the way to targeted feeding - and now please do tell me which has the by far greater impact!


• Plus, let's not forget the impact of the thousands upon thousands of people who feed and condition Sharks and other Fishes on a daily basis, i.e. the fishermen and spearos!
  Case in point:
  
  
  
  
  And this is being repeated, mutatis mutandis, countless times wherever there are fishermen = always and everywhere!
   
  --> C'mon, seriously: do you really believe that the incremental effect of a few dozen Shark feeding operators is in any way relevant to the health of Elasmobranch populations?

So let's please be crystal clear about the following:

Elasmobranch tourism does in no way threaten the survival of the populations of the Sharks and Rays it showcases - period!

2. Threats to People

Again, this is obviously about Shark Feeding.
As per the below table, the authors considers it to be extremely dangerous, and also postulate the urgent need for regulation owing to widespread lack of management.
Click for detail!

But if so and Shark feeding is so damn dangerous - how come that actually, we are not drowning in horrible injuries and fatalities?

See below!

So there, for the umpteenth bloody time.

A. Public Safety Considerations.

• There is no geographical correlation between Shark feeding and Shark strikes.
  Re-read this. In brief and with maybe the exception of SA, the vast majority of Shark strikes occurs in locations where there are no Shark feeding operations (like e.g. Florida, California, Western Australia, Reunion or Recife, Brazil)  - which is even more surprising if one considers that most of those dives have been established in places that are known for their healthy Shark populations!
  And even if there were some correlation, it certainly does not equate causation = there is a grand total of zero evidence that Shark feeding endangers the public at large!

• Shark strikes are a human tragedy but a statistical non event.
  They are so freakishly rare (= in fact, please show me a known cause of human mortality that kills less people!) that they will always elude proper science; and by the same token, they will continue to happen irrespective of our efforts to prevent them.


• And again, let's not forget the fishermen and spearos, see above!
  Re-read this (yup that would be more than 10 years ago!) - case in point e.g. here, and then e.g. here and here for the spearos, among many, many such examples! Think that in comparison, a few Shark diving operators are in any way relevant ?

But of course there are some caveats.

• Location matters.
  Many Shark dives have been being established where there are already Sharks, meaning that objectively speaking, the risk profile is unlikely to change - but perceptions matter and like in the case of population centers like, say, Cape Town or Playa, the diving activity and associated increased publicity of Sharks can lead to conflicts with the other local ocean users. Consequently, as a rule, the feeding locations need to be as remote as possible and should definitely not be established e.g. right in the middle of population centers or right in front of popular beaches etc.


• Obtaining the required social license and stakeholder involvement are crucial.
  The local stakeholders need to become an integral part of these projects - and this not only through regular awareness, education and consultations but also by letting them partake in the financial windfall, both indirectly but very much also directly. This will help avoid unnecessary risks (eg by having locals avoid the feeding sites), help protect the animals and ensure crucial local support when the inevitable problems will arise.


• Get in the research.
  The best argument against many of the intuitively plausible reservations of our detractors are strong scientific data. As an example, when people got bitten by Bull Sharks in Cancun and everybody tried to blame the Shark feeding operations in Playa, the operators there had the data showing that they were only feeding females whereas the Bull Shark population in Cancun was only comprised of males. Or in our case, our Bull Shark data show conclusively that we are neither causing residency nor any dependency on our handouts - which right now is helping us make the argument that the present reduction in Shark feeding due to Covid-19 is not endangering our beachgoers!

B. Safety of the Participants.

This is a different matter altogether.
Contrary to the public at large that may be unaware and/or unsupportive of, and thus be subjected to Shark provisioning, anybody partaking in Shark feeding dives knows what they are getting themselves into, and is thus implicitly approving of the activity and possibly even assuming the associated risks.
Still, we strongly advocate that the operators of commercial dives need to keep their clients (and their employees!) safe - and if not, they need to be held accountable.

The following considerations apply.

• Feeding protocols.
  Like I often state, it is often not about the WHAT but about the HOW.
  Shark provisioning creates its own risks, and those risks need to be managed - meaning that all protocols should be chosen in function of minimizing the impact on both the animals and the habitat, and on maximizing the safety for the participants but also the public at large. E.g., everybody will hopefully agree that creating humongous chum trails or dumping indiscriminate amounts of bait to create feeding frenzies is probably a bad idea. Here at BAD, we run a tightly choreographed dive with stringent safety protocols that is often hailed as a template for sustainable Shark feeding, see the citations at the top. Or as another example, we go to great lengths to condition the Bulls never to come to the surface, lest we get accused of endangering other aquatic recreationists.
  In brief, we need to be in a position to demonstrate that we are always striving to conduct our dives in the safest possible way - think, Airline Industry!


• Shark bites will nevertheless happen.
  As Sharks feeding is risky, the risk will sometimes eventuate - and there is really nothing whatsoever we can do about it apart from protecting ourselves (= steel mesh!) and then dealing professionally with the consequences - and if we do, I am convinced that the consequences will be minimal.
  Case in point: it didn't quite happen like that - but a client did get bitten despite of arguably the industry's most stringent protocols, and no degree of management would have prevented it. And he obviously survived because we were prepared in terms of training, medical supplies and evacuation protocols, as everybody should be!

• There are Shark strikes and Shark strikes.
  Whereas Shark provisioning is certainly a dangerous undertaking requiring skills and circumspection, everybody in the industry agrees that the cause for bites during provisioned dives is either a) self defense, b) competition or c) mistakes - not predation = those bites can be serious, but the consequences of a fully fledged predatory attack would be something else altogether!
  Exception - but the guy was certainly asking for it!


• Yes we certainly condition the Sharks, and yes they learn, and this very fast indeed - but they learn to eat bait, not humans!
  It is also absolutely plausible to assume that provisioned Sharks may have learned to e.g. associate the boat noise with a subsequent feeding opportunity, and will thus aggregate when they hear the vessels, or when the operators rev the engines in order to "ring the dinner bell".
  But "turning up" does not equate "attacking"!


• And finally, with one single fatality (or possibly two) recorded in thousands upon thousands of Shark feeds, baited Shark dives are many orders of magnitude safer than SCUBA!
  This is because contrary to ordinary diving where people are routinely being thrown into situations that can prove to be treacherous, baited and provisioned Shark dives are nearly always supervised and choreographed = help is always quickly at hand.
  Also, and provided that (!) we act responsibly, yours truly and every single Shark diving operator I've ever asked have made the observation that the conditioned Sharks become positively tame, meaning that the risk of a bite is lower not higher!
  Case in point: look no further than Florida and Tiger Beach, home of troglodytes, Shark molesters and media whores, and scene of ever stupider shenanigans by self-promoting Shark whisperers and awareness raisers - and yet nobody is being killed as those poor Sharks are quite obviously unendingly tolerant and forgiving!

And there you have it.

When it comes to those Shark feeding dives, I remain convinced that regulation makes only sense in those multi-user sites suffering from overcrowding, and this only when the industry is not able, or willing to cooperate and self regulate, like what is quite possibly  happening in Playa.

Other than that, any incidents are already suitably covered.

Since the participants are most certainly willing, those ubiquitous liability waivers should be allowed to stand in minor cases. And any grossly negligent harm to customers can be adequately prosecuted under existing local legislation, whereas existing OHS regulations will suffice to deal with any failure in training and protecting one's employees.

And that is plenty sufficient.

Possible exception: those new commercial free-diving ventures!

Free diving with large predatory Sharks in baited conditions used to largely be private undertakings but it is now being increasingly offered commercially. From this vantage point, this is bringing about a whole new set of specific risks (= foremost of which the great vulnerability of the customers at the water surface) that the paper appears to completely neglect.

This is novel territory that needs to be closely monitored, the more as those operations are mostly shoestring and largely improvised (and IMO highly sketchy), and with no relevant assets = nothing much to be had should the obvious risks end up eventuating.

But then again, nobody so far has died despite of all the stupid shenanigans, so who am I to say!

3. Long story short?

What really disappoints me is this.
We are in the middle of the sixth, anthropocene mass extinction requiring all hands on deck in order to try and stem the ongoing catastrophic loss of biodiversity - and yet some quarters find it fit to continue wasting scarce resources in terms of time, brain power and possibly also money on these irrelevant trifles.

The actual physical footprint of our industry is tiny.
And yet, we punch way above our weight in terms of outreach but also Shark and Ray conservation and research, and as such are an important agent for positive change = far from being a problem, we are very much part of the solution!
So why this exasperating fixation on wanting to meddle with what we do?

Yes, sure: we need to operate responsibly.

As ecotourism operators, all of us need to strive to have the smallest possible negative impact on the animals and their habitat, and we also need to operate safely - and the vast majority of us actually do!
Furthermore, we continue to learn from our mistakes, and continue to improve and refine our procedures, like we always have. In fact, we now even have an association of industry pioneers, leaders and trend setters that routinely discuss issues and develop solutions - like right now, we are developing Covid-19 protocols!

And if not, the market will do what markets do.
This is a small community where there are no secrets, and notorious transgressors will be quickly weeded out as no travel agent and/or tourist will book dives with operators that are known to be unsustainable and/or exploitative and/or life threatening = which is why I continue to strongly support the establishment of a rating system akin to what has been proposed here! 

But enough said - like I said, I'm tired of this shit.

In concluding (yes, finally!) let me cite myself.

We did not ask for this - and all this incessant nagging and lecturing by people who ultimately have no clue about, and zero investment into our industry is frankly becoming terminally irksome. 

There is now a whole cabal of incidentally mainly female researchers whose academic niche (and thus career and thus income) is predicated upon being considered ecotourism experts, or whatever, and who appear to be operating with questionable agendas and also appear to desperately want to meddle instead of waiting to be asked.

Anyway.

When it comes to the global Shark diving industry in general, there are now one excellent paper and one good one (both, incidentally, by experienced Shark divers!) and several that are not, see e.g. here and also here, and here with links.
And now there is this. 

That's plenty enough, thank you very much.
And now, please, why don't you just fuck off - because we actually got work to do, salaries to pay and tourists to wow!
 

No hard feelings, love you all! :)

2025 - PS!!!!: Talking of Tiger Beach, you may want to research this and watch this. 

In brief, a SharkSchool participant was literally ripped to pieces in a Shark feeding frenzy. 

In my professional judgement, the tragic incident was 100% due to the lousy procedures, blatant incompetence and gross negligence of the operator(s) - and yet from what I can discern, there has been zero introspection by the local industry, and the same lousy procedures continue completely unchanged, and this despite of an ever-increasing complement of demented Tiger-redirecting free-diving sharkitarians, courtesy of the teachings of Ramsey & Co! 

And yes, I can certainly leave it at that!