Shark Chick - curiouser and curiouser!

Source.

Wow wow wow!

But first.

Andrew Scerbo feels slighted.

As per my reply here, apologies. I thought that in my last post, it was clear that I was linking to this thread containing the picture - but obviously, this has led to confusion which I regret. It is Andrew who has first pointed out the discrepancies in the posted picture of the Shark bite, and all credit for that belongs to him alone.

Anyway.

I've woken up to a myriad of e-mails, the story keeps evolving, and this is what I read.

• On Sunday = before  the pic was outed as being a fake, the privileged Shark chick states.

  Clean bite refers to quote a minor injury relatively speaking and anyone who knows me in person knows I am barely 5foot3 and any injury does look mammoth.

  Meaning that the picture is legit, but that the injury looks bigger than it is.

• Yesterday = after questions are being asked, she states.

  A picture was used that I posted to Instagram with no caption and no explanation.

  The caption and explanation being...?

• On her website, under Corrections and Retractions, this is what she had posted. The page is currently "in maintenance" - let's see if afterwards, even that statement will be corrected and retracted! :)

  Pictures of alleged injuries vary site to site and may have not been vetted by Elissa. 

  No they don't vary. There is only one. So, has it been vetted, or not?

• Then Andrew notices that several and not only two pairs of staples are identical.

• Then David reports that more than 80% of her Twitter followers are fake.

• THEN, out comes this article that pisses off Andrew.

I'm done with this.

By now it should be clear to everybody that this is, for lack of a better word, highly bizarre. That Corrections and Retractions link on her website alone (read it when it's back up!) is a red flag for pathological behavior - and I can certainly leave it at that.

Just this.

These things don't happen in isolation, or like I said a while ago.

The Heroes and heroines, warriors, whisperers, experts, specialists and whatnot are all legit if the moniker is being assigned by others - but when it is self promotion and really nothing more than branding, it becomes irritating.
Does sharktivism really need its own version of the Kardashians and the associated frothy adulation and gossip? Maybe – but like in real life, I don’t like it one bit!

Think about it please.

We really got to stop adulating those self promoting frauds, narcissists and media whores.

Seriously!

PS:



And here.

I don't seek out the spotlight like a number of other scientists

Hahahahahaha 

PPS: 

the take home message for today is that the old eco-tactic of fabricating events to boost your cause is no longer viable

PPPS: David as always (well, mostly...) brilliant

It's all very well rounding on Elissa, getting the pitchforks and flaming torches out but maybe we might want to start looking at the more uncomfortable truths, that the people looked upon as bastions of Shark Conservation because they ride sharks ("for the sharks"), wear bikinis ("for the sharks"), make crappy TV ("for the sharks"), get you to donate your hard earned money to their projects which don't actually do anything ("for the sharks") or simply spend all their time on Facebook telling you how brilliant they are ("for the sharks") aren't actually doing it "for the sharks," at all but instead, are doing it solely for themselves and that these narcissists are merely creating more narcissists who do nothing other than push their brand at people who believe they are helping by supporting them in doing so?

PPPPS: Christine Haines

Last summer I joined the nosharkcull movement because I was appalled that sharks were being killed and maligned for being sharks.
Over the course of the trial I learned alot about the politics in environmental groups. And it's not nice. I was shocked to find that these groups were just as hypocritical as the wrongs they were fighting. They used misinformation, sex, phsychic connections and other questionable practises with as much abandon as the wrong they were fighting. I was sure that the tactics used by some people and groups were not right. I have unliked and unfollowed some organisations because I think that while the cause is right the methods were wrong and only served to reinforce the stereotype of the cosmic, tree hugging, hippie type of activist that would stop at nothing (including deliberate false and misleading information). I want a group whose ideals agree with mine and who deals in scientific fact. My illusions were shattered but at least I'm wiser.

P5S: Have you seen this?
Now she is a bloody "PETA Celebrity" = more fucking branding even whilst trying to make that totally insincere retraction?

NO NO NO NO NO!
There's only ONE (1) Shark celebrity in Australia, and her name is Valerie Taylor - this for 50 years of pioneering diving with Sharks, for countless equally pioneering Shark documentaries, for having been instrumental in having the Cod Hole, the Gray Nurse, the GWS, Ningaloo protected.
Not the home schooled brat that keeps re-editing the footage daddy took of her whilst they were vacationing in the Bahamas. Definitely not this forgettable calculating self-obsessed chick that has ZERO ACHIEVEMENTS apart from volunteering on a SSCS boat like dozens upon dozens of other volunteers.

GO AWAY!

Chris Lowe - excellent Article!

And I cite - the link is mine.

The rise in public and media interest is closely related to the increased focus from a wide array of elasmobranch conservation organisations, many of which religiously sound alarm bells, but often without any need or use for the supporting science....

While sounding the alarm is necessary and will always be needed to promote change and conservation, I worry about its effect on how we do science. I see an unfortunate trend where the best way to make our science important and relevant is to focus on ‘the-sky-is-falling’ issues. Of the past 20 elasmobranch-related grant proposals and manuscripts I’ve reviewed, more than 80% have resorted to ‘the sky-is-falling’ statements to justify the importance their research, regardless of whether they offered a concrete remedy. In addition, there are already signs of ‘the-sky-is-falling’ science having the undesired effect of generating hopelessness among the public and, more disturbingly, among legislators. Crying wolf without good cause is weakening managers’ ability to implement adequate strategies.

Absolutely correct!

You must really read this brilliant article by Chris Lowe, the President of the American Elasmobranch Society.

Well said!

And since we're at it.

Think the recent deluge of pics of the aloha chick posing next to big sharks is conservation like she would have you believe?

Think again.
It's nothing more than the same old self-promotion for, gasp, money - and the inevitable tired old image of her riding a GWS, a protected species, is not only not conservation, it is instead evidence of illegal out-of-cage diving and also animal harassment  = really nothing to be proud of!

So much for "don't be fooled by appearances, I'm more than just a pretty face" as per her recent plea. I say, as long as the chick continues to define herself through those stupidities, caveat emptor - and yes I can certainly leave it at that!

And the Sharkette taking some other random galeophobic gal Shark diving?

I wish it were that simple! Every single one of us Shark diving operators does the very same thing on a daily basis, albeit sans the bombastic noise, the self promotion and the media hype! Were that a legit conservation strategy, the decline in Shark populations would have been halted decades ago!

Plus let's never forget that those same tame friendly Tiger Beach denizens remain wild animals that would have no compulsion whatsoever about snacking on some unfortunate Haitian boat people they would chance upon - meaning that using controlled Shark diving as some kind of "proof" against the hazard of Shark strikes is both stupid and totally misleading!

It's like I said quite a while ago.

The fishermen in, say, Indonesia, UAE and even Spain where the slaughter is happening really don't give a shit about those shenanigans but will only stop fishing for Sharks and killing them as bycatch if and when adequate legislation will prevent them from doing so. Case in point: as we speak, a group of generous philanthropic individuals and foundations are anonymously (!) pumping several million dollars into Shark conservation - and guess what: bimbos and Sharks are not a part of the global strategy mix!

But I'm digressing as always.

All I really wanted to say is, read Chris Lowe's excellent article.

Enjoy!

PS: Case in point: what is better, the drama about some random galeophobic chick, or this? :)

Baiting and feeding Sharks - good or bad?

Oh for crying out loud!

After those two incidents, the shit has hit the fan.

Out of many, read this defense by Martin, and then this and this by some ultracrepidarian chick at Nat Geo, and this misleading piece (the Nautilus did not break, but did certainly bend the rules correction: the video evidence now shows otherwise; and the Solmar has a history like many others) by some other ultracrepidarian chick on Earth Touch News.

Nah don't worry.

I'm not going there - but if you really care, feel free to consult my 50-odd posts on the subject. Or if you cannot stomach that, simply do re-read this one from 4 years ago.

Just this.

Burgess needs to comb the data he has been hoarding for decades and come up with evidence about a causal connection between Shark provisioning and unprovoked, let alone predatory Shark strikes. There is none - but until then, he really needs to shut the fuck up. Pavlov my ass - or did those dogs bite and devour unsuspecting bystanders?

Yes the Shark diving industry needs to always improve.

Provisioning has effects, albeit overwhelmingly (!) only locally and temporarily, and those effects need to be identified, investigated, understood and then mitigated and managed. Our best players know that and have started to associate in order to promote a more long-term sustainable product; and the others need to reform and failing that, they need to be exposed - and now there is a public tool for that.

So don't whine - rate!

And finally.

We are not the problem. 

Commercial and recreational overfishing, climate change, ocean acidification, pollution and habitat destruction are. But we are certainly part of the solution - even the worst ones among us!

So go barking there, not here!

End of rant!

Privileged - and fishy?

Source.

It's all becoming very strange very fast.

Check out the analysis at the top.

The picture of the Shark chick's injury is unquestionably (!) a fake, with the two pairs of staples at the center clearly identical, and this down to the individual pixels - thread here.

And why am I not surprised.

NZ Cage Diving - the End?

Source - very much worth reading!

Well well well.

Read this.

So the infamous saga of those haphazard cage dives off Stewart Island appears to have come to its very much expected and I may say, very much deserved! ignominious end.

Like I said way back here, there was a need for a social license (yes Austin and Charlie!), and for outreach by the researchers - and both have been appallingly lacking. And yes, a big Thank You to the Shark pornographers - and a big honorable mention to the Ramsey chick whose inconsiderate pronouncements did further inflame the situation and torpedo the research by NIWA!

So, well done folks!

Hoping that yer fucking proud of yerselves - and considering the actors, equally hoping that this is the end of that travesty!

PS - not so fast, sez Peter Scott the enabler of all that demented Shark porn on Discovery.
Oh well then - to be continued...

PPS - ultracrepidarian garbage here - Dunning-Kruger anybody?

Effective!

This I believe is about saving the Whales.
And some furry animals, too!

Do you care about the details?
Really? If so, here's where you can find more pix information!
All I can say is that it sure beats hanging a fully clothed chick from some fishing hooks in order to save Sharks! In London, the capital of the global Shark fin trade! Nah, I'm gonna spare you the link - but if you insist, Google "Sea Shepherd hangs some ugly Woman from Hooks" and take it from there!

And (I hear you ask with bated breath), have the Japanese stopped killing Whales as a consequence?
Sure they have!

Lupe - same old same old!

Oh FFS - read this.

Indeed, fucking image of the day no less - click for detail!

And of course, it's once again the fucking Sea Escape and the bloody Ramsey chick along with her demented circular echo chamber of self-promoting #Instagram sharkettes. 

For years now, those bloody attention-seeking disrespectful morons have been brazenly breaking the rules at Guadalupe and adding insult to injury by publicly flaunting their idiotic feats on social media. And let there be no doubt that starting with the name of the head Shark molester, it's nothing but one big calculated scam, a continuous celebration of gratuitous vanity and a succession of vacuous platitudes where the animals are merely being abused as props and conduits to perceived fame and money.

Seriously, what a fucking disgrace - the perpetrators and those who applaud them!

And the fucking authorities?

Is it really true that they are too corrupt, or too cowardly to finally enforce their own rules, and to finally cancel the license of the operator and finally ban those people?

We shall see shall we not!

The world is watching!