Taiwan - calling the Bluff!

Shark fins in Taiwan - pic by Shawn Heinrichs. Click for detail

Taiwan has recently announced that they want to ban Shark finning.
I was under-impressed then and having recently discovered the sheer scope of Taiwan's declared Shark "bycatch" in the WCPFC, I'm even less impressed now. Having depleted their own seas, Taiwan's appalling distant-water fleets scour the global oceans and the Shark fins (certainly NOT the meat and skin!) are offloaded in distant ports and then airlifted home.
That's where the massacre happens and I very much doubt than any Taiwanese fins-attached policy will be enforced that far from home.

Plus, legislation like that is archaic and comes much too late for any endangered Shark species, the more as it has become painfully evident that most countries simply lack the resources, and the political will for ever monitoring and enforcing those rules.
What is required now are fishing bans, not band-aid solutions.

Kudos to Matt for having cut through the BS.

David - last Day: Vote Vote Vote!

As I'm checking the results, David is in third place.
He had regained the lead but a big push by his opposition has set him back once again - talk about a photo finish!

Voting closes at noon pacific on November 30th.
Please, we need one more vote from everybody to help the only marine blogger in the field, and Shark research.

Please give your vote to David here.

Feeding Tiger Shark Eggs to Japanese Eels - Really?

Scarface by Sasha - fodder for aquaculture?

Abstract.

Although feed made from the eggs of the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias is currently used to rear larvae of the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica the superiority of these eggs over other shark eggs has not been proven.
Moreover, we need to find new materials of diets for rearing eel larvae if we are to meet future demand for mass production of glass eels. We formulated test diets from the eggs of the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier or the gulper shark Centrophorus atromarginatus and used them in feeding experiments. Larvae fed a diet made from tiger shark eggs or gulper shark eggs survived for 21 days after hatching and had adequate growth rates.

However, their survival and growth rates were inferior to those of larvae fed on the diet made from spiny dogfish eggs.

Well, thank God for that!
Tiger Sharks are not oviparous but aplacental viviparous and thus the eggs would have to be harvested from within the animals, meaning that the Sharks would have to be killed. The paper is here and could somebody please have a Japanese friend find out how those eggs have been sourced? Do these findings imply that the future mass production of Eels is going to establish a market for Shark eggs and lead to more targeted mass killing of Sharks?
Aren't Fish eggs bloody good enough?

Howly mackerel - always something new huh!

Red Alert - David falls back to Number Two!

Please vote here for David Schiffman!
Your vote will directly benefit Shark research.

But only if he wins.
One of his competitors has rallied alot of support and things do not look good at all - but we can turn this around with one last big push!

Please vote now and then again tomorrow.
Vinaka!

Alisi - making Fiji proud!

Bravo Alisi!
Alisi Rabukawaqa is Fiji's reigning beauty queen and next week, she will contest the Miss South Pacific Pageant in Samoa.
Alsis's mother hails from Caukadrove where the islanders are related to the Shark God Dakuwaqa, and she has decided to honor her traditional covenant with the Sharks by championing Shark conservation at the pageant.

“Sharks have a critical role to play in keeping the marine ecosystem in balance.
As Pacific island people who rely heavily on our marine resources we must be in the forefront of protecting these resources and support initiatives that drive governmental policy changes to save sharks from extinction and at the same time protect the future health of our seas.”

Very well said, you are making Fiji proud!
Story here.

David - one last Push please!

Please keep voting for David.
His lead is being challenged and it would be a crying shame if he ended up losing in these last three days, the more as part of his prize would be invested into Shark research.
You can vote every 24 hours.

Voting is easy and you can do so here.
Vinaka!

You bet your Wrasse!

This is the proposed Commonwealth marine reserve - details here.

Meet Barry.



I must say, kudos to the Australian government!
They have decided to go ahead and establish the World's largest MPA.
Here is the official media release, here are resources about the proposal, here are details about the 90-day public consultation and here are details about public information sessions.

Like always, the various conservation groups are not happy.
This is part of a larger plan to manage Australia's marine bioregions and as I've posted here, there are clear warnings that when it comes to the South West Bioregion, government is not heeding scientific advice and muzzling scientists on top of it. I completely ignore whether the same may be the case in the specific case of the Coral Sea - but when heavyweights like Pew and the WWF express concerns, the proposal may indeed fall short of what would be really required.
As it appears that iconic sites like Osprey and Marion would not be suitably protected I would have to agree.

But perfect or not, it's a great start.
In the end, it's up to the Australians.
The consultation period has just started so there is ample scope for all interested Australians to have their voices heard. As always, the end result will have to be a pragmatic compromise where the legitimate (!) aspirations of all stakeholders will have to be considered. This is only fair and not much different from what is happening in the USA and like there, it has to be applauded. That is, provided that the principles of ecosystem-based management are being rigorously applied - and when it comes to that, I am not too sure!

Let us hope that good conservation will prevail in the end.
But in order for that to happen, the conservationist vote will have to be mobilized.
Here's the online submission page, here is a shortcut via Protect our Coral Sea, and I'm sure many more similar initiatives will follow.
Best of luck!

Fiji!

Story here.

Angelo - into the Future!

Granted, it has required professional help - but never has he looked better!

Well well.
Angelo has delivered on his promise to piss off hundreds of friends and relatives - and now, he is planning on raising the next generation of drunkards!

Congratulations!

Finger of Death!

Brinicle - yes this is a link!

Alistair is right - this is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
Comments by the BBC here.

And this is how it was filmed, equally ridiculously awesome!

Only Bycatch?

Blue Sharks in pre-tsunami Kessenuma, pic by Shawn Heinrichs - click for detail.

And talking about the WCPFC.
The following Shark bycatch figures have been reported for five Spanish surface longline vessels operating in the region in 2010.

• Blue shark = 717 mt
• Shortfin mako = 218 mt
• Oceanic whitetip shark = 0.5 mt
• Sandbar shark = 0.1 mt
• TOTAL = 935.6 mt

And then, there is the following Note: The EU-Spanish surface longline fleet has never carried out finning practice in Pacific Ocean.

Yes you've read it correctly: that would be five vessels!
Here are the total Blue Shark figures for other countries.
Australia 13.90 mt; China 506.00 mt; Japan 7,624.00 mt; Korea 1.44 mt; New Zealand 712.00 mt; Samoa 0.19 mt; US 7.00 mt.

Sound plausible to you?
May the Spaniards still be at it?
Having emptied their own waters, may they have come here under the umbrella of the European Union in order to target those Sharks whilst pretending to be fishing for Tuna? Remember that those "bycatch" figures mean that those Sharks were retained, i.e. killed!
Does that hypocritical Note still make you happy?

This is what the Shark Alliance writes.

Over the last decade, European participation in the Hong Kong fin market, led by Spain, has grown from negligible levels to nearly a third of total declared imports.
This share is likely to be an underestimate as fins taken by the Europe’s distant water fleets may be credited to other countries.

The fact is that those Sharks could have been easily released.
Blue Sharks are particularly hardy and here is what this document by Pew teaches us.

According to the IUCN, bycatch is one of the most devastating threats facing sharks.
Although some RFMOs have prohibited the taking of a small number of threatened species, the problem of shark bycatch has been largely ignored, and no meaningful or effective action has been taken to adequately address the issue.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was estimated that 300,000 metric tons (t) of shark catch, nearly a third of the global total, were the result of unregulated bycatch landings. Sharks are caught in different fisheries such as trawls and gill nets, but pelagic longline fishing is considered the most significant source of the bycatch problem.

Longline vessels that fish with wire leaders or use squid for bait in a shallow-set manner have the highest levels of shark bycatch. In pelagic longline fisheries, sharks often make up more than a quarter of the total catch (target and bycatch).

More than 70 percent of blue sharks survive after being hooked on a longline and brought onboard, and an additional 80 to 95 percent of the discarded blue sharks are expected to survive the release process.
In the U.S. Atlantic, pelagic longline fishery survival rates are even higher, with 97 percent of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) and 87.8 percent of blue sharks surviving the fishing process.

And then, there's Chinese Taipei, i.e. Taiwan.
Their small- and large scale Tuna long liners have caught a whopping 10,989 metric tons of Blue Shark in the region - notabene as bycatch!
And take a wild guess as to where that "bycatch" is being offloaded!

And what about Fiji?
Take a look for yourself and draw the inevitable conclusions!

Whale Sharks as FADs?

Remember this video about bycatch?

Well, it gets worse.
This is so sick that I first thought that it was some urban legend - but the more I look, the more it appears to be true.
How utterly disgusting!

From Australia's Proposal to the WCPFC.

Whale sharks and cetaceans are particularly vulnerable to being encircled by purse seine nets, due to the propensity of tuna to form schools around whale sharks and baleen whales, or for toothed cetaceans to be attracted to the same prey as tunas.

Observers have recorded that 3.2% of purse seine sets are intentionally set on cetaceans or whale sharks, while logsheets only record such targeting as 0.2%.
Observer data also demonstrate that all other set types can encircle whale sharks and cetaceans unintentionally, with 60% of observed whale shark interactions occurring in sets classified as ‘unassociated’ (i.e. as free schools of tuna) and 38% of toothed cetacean interactions occurring around anchored FADs.

The paper concludes that: “It is clear that purse seine sets on whale sharks are a combination of both targeted sets and inadvertent capture".

Kudos to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, or PNA.
They have already banned the practice and are now proposing a ban for the whole region. Since this is a proposal coming from fellow Pacific islanders and not dictated from outside, prospects for its adoption look good - that is, IF AND WHEN there will be a WCPFC meeting! Apparently Palau is experiencing severe power outages and the December 5-9 meeting has been cancelled.

Here's what you can do.
In line with their recommendations last year, Pew have started a petition aimed at convincing the US delegation to support the setting ban. And here is a similar petition by Greenpeace. And if you are a Pacific islander and have the usual contacts - how about some 1:1 talanoa and education!
This needs to be stopped!

Congratulations Terry!

Bravo Terry Goss!

He has just won the Grand Prize in the Marine Photobank Ocean in Focus contest and will be visiting the Galapagos with a friend on a Lindblad Expeditions cruise. I did once join the venerable Lindblad Explorer ages ago and can attest to the fact that it will be the adventure of a lifetime!
Very, very cool indeed!

Very cool picture as well!
You can read more about it, and Terry in this interview and you can view more pics of the same Blue Shark on Terry's website. Terry is of course a veteran of the Shark Dive where he has been able to capture what remain some of the best shots ever of our Sharks, including this iconic portrayal of Scarface and Rusi.

Click for detail - seriously!

But that was ages ago!
Things have changed and we got more Sharks than ever, tho the visits by Scarface & Co are becoming ever rarer, likely due to competitive exclusion - in fact, we haven't seen Scarface all year and can only hope that she's embarked on one of her usual walkabouts like in the past!
Still, the dive is getting better and better, with Bull Shark numbers literally exploding!

Whatya think Terry - time for an encore?
And the answer to your question (just saw it now!) of course is yes in late May, early June! :)

David - inching up to the Top!

Curiouser and curiouser! Oh yes - that would be him!

David keeps fluctuating between third and first place.
Is that enough for Andrew to start posting those pics?

Please keep voting for David - remember, you can do so every 24 hours!

Awesome Image!

Picture by David Litchfield/Nature/National Geographic Photo Contest.

Click for detail!

Europe - big Progress!

Looks like Europe is starting to listen.

Just got this link from the Alex the Sharkman.
Congratulations to The European Fisheries Commission where I continue to be a fan - and yes, to the Shark Alliance as well. This is not a done deal quite yet as it is only a proposal and the national Fisheries Ministers have to ratify it, so here's to those guys doing the right thing.

And there's more good news for Sharks.
The European Union has signed the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species Memorandum of Understanding for Sharks. Again, it's not the finished thing but certainly big progress.

Kudos.
I must say that coupled with the Shark protection measures in Florida, the Silky Shark protection by ICCAT and the protection of the Porbeagle in Europe, this past week has been pretty awesome!

So who's next?

Pilfering Whale Sharks - one more Video!

Remember?

Rio, 1992.

Talking of Rio, this is Severn Suzuki.
She held this incredible speech at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro nearly 20 years ago. She was 12 years old.
Yes it's old stuff and you may have heard it before - but you may want to listen one more time.

Sound familiar?

Eu Finning Regulations - Decision pending!

Please read this.
It's only one, albeit important element in a whole list of improvements to Europe's Shark conservation laws that are being advocated by the Shark Alliance.

The decision is today.
Fingers crossed!

Marine Conservation - Caution: depressing!

Rio+20?
The task is so immense and the prospects, so bleak that I'm tempted to break out into yet another wail of despair.

Check out this infographic by Pew.
You can scroll horizontally with the wheel of your mouse, and then click on each field for an overview and then click again for supporting documents. It makes for tedious and never happy reading and is the disheartening storyline of big and then unfulfilled commitments, and of the seemingly unstoppable demise of Earth's biodiversity.
Still think that a couple of petitions will solve that?

The Oceans?

SOFIA 2010
State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture - 2010

• 32% overexploited, depleted or recovering
• 52% fully exploited
• 15% underexploited or moderately exploited
  

WORLD POPULATION: 6.9 billion

Now of course we're 7.0, and counting.

Solutions?
Pew have many good recommendations which are set out in this report.
Alas, I fear that like advocating bold and decisive action to curtail Global Warming (or for the matter, the US and European deficits), it is little more than wishful thinking.
Wise plans and big words are one thing - but trying to convince the global population to renounce to growth and instead, to even accept a decrease in individual consumption and one's perceived material well-being is political hara-kiri, and the so-called Leaders know that.

Still, we got to persevere.
There's always a glimmer of hope and that's what we got to continue believing in.

Shark Shirt!

This is cool.
No not really because of the design - ours are much nicer! :)

But, I did learn about the Fair Wear Foundation.
Scroll to the bottom of the product page and you'll learn everything about the shirt's production, which is a good thing. Plus, half of the profit is going to the Marine Conservation Society who among other things advocates the protection of Basking Sharks.
So from that perspective, it's a buy well worth considering!

But ours are much nicer!

More Sharks and Bikini Bimbettes!

Enjoy!

The Inevitable Next Step in Shark Movies -- powered by Cracked.com

ICCAT - some Progess!

Silkies in, I believe, Malpelo - awesome!

Not Success, as the Pew bemoans?
As always, that really depends on the the POV and having had no big expectations, I am quite pleasantly surprised!

The fact is that they are now protecting the Silkies which is great.
Yes many other species undoubtedly do need better protection (good report here!) but once again, conservation is very much a step-by-step process whereby one has to be willing to (grudgingly) accept compromises and also, to acknowledge the realities on the ground - including the ever-present political shenanigans!
But I agree, no progress on the issue of limiting bycatch despite of plenty of highly viable alternatives and also, the failure of tightening the finning regulations are indeed a disappointment.

Which brings me straight over to the Bluefins.
In the context of ICCAT, Sharks are really little more than a side distraction. The real issues at hand are the management of maybe the fisheries for Billfishes (including the non-endangered Swordfish) but above all, that of the endangered Northern Bluefin Tuna. More details about the status of those Fishes right here.
As anticipated, there has not been any revision to the TAC but instead, the attention has been focused on curtailing the widespread shenanigans which is a good thing and very much conducive to reducing the numbers of Tuna that are actually being landed.

So although not being happy, I am quite satisfied.
Yes much remains to be done but at least the direction continues to remain the correct one!

More details on the measures here.

David - back to Square One!

Lucky David!
He was trailing way behind - but the numbers of his competitors were just to good to be true and it turns out that there have been some shenanigans going on at the Blogging Scholarship contest.
Trust the ingeniousness of blogging students and their fan base!

Long story short, everything has been set to zero.
The voting period has been extended by one week to November 30^th and you can now vote once every day.
The new voting page is here.

And, there's good news for us, too!
In exchange for our support, David has now declared that if he wins, he will use part of the money to support his lab's ongoing shark conservation research, including adopting a satellite tagged shark in the name of the blog's readers and holding a contest to name it.
And if that were not motivation enough, Andrew the Southern Fried Scientist has announced the he will post an increasingly embarrassing picture of David for every day that he leading in the vote count - and I hear that there are many!

Please cast your vote for David.
Vinaka!

Florida - the Bull Shark next please!

Badass Bull, by Sasha!

From a message by Doc.

The way I see it the bull shark is the true top predator in the Eastern coastal zone (New York to Brazil).
This shark is a perfect example of adaptive radiation where one species finally evolves to feed on member of closely related species. As THE top predator bull sharks must play a strong controlling role on its prey and exert a significant stabilization factor as well as supporting biodiversity.
For all these reasons and more the bull shark should be protected even more than the other LCS sharks like hammerheads, lemon sharks, reef sharks etc and rays---species that bulls prey on and to some extent control.

Bingo!
One of my favorite standard question to the many visiting Shark researchers is, why do you think evolution has selected for Bull Sharks to look like they do. Surely, this enormous non-hydrodynamic bulk must be a disadvantage - so where's the advantage?
Inevitably and after much pondering, the answer turns out to be, in my rather liberal interpretation, because this is the ultimate badass Shark!

Indeed!
Bulls are by no means specialized predators of Elasmobranchs, see their incredibly diverse diet here - but they do prey on Sharks and with that stature and formidable dentition, they are very well equipped to do that with overwhelming power and devastating results and thus at minimal risk to themselves. In brief, by looking like they do, they can prey on whatever they please - and they certainly do!
It's good to be the Bull! :)

Yes ours are quite timid and really, totally endearing - but let there be no doubt about what they could do if they wanted to!

So here's my wish for Florida.
Now that the less problematic species have been successfully protected, could somebody please start advocating the protection of the true apex predator? Yes it will politically difficult, not least because Bulls have a terrible reputation because they do sometimes kill people - but as Doc says, they are the ultimate regulators and if anything we always profess about trophic cascades is true, they do deserve special protection.

Any takers?

Dolphin-safe Tuna - Video!

Talking about David.

Two of his most memorable posts are his award-winning The ecological disaster that is dolphin safe tuna and Dolphin-safe tuna: conservation success story or ecological disaster?.
Please do read them.

Enter Greenpeace.
They are tackling unsustainable practices within the Tuna industry, and FADs are one of them. Now, they have released this whistle-blower video showing the revolting prectice of purse seining around FADs.

Required viewing!

And talking about the Bikini Bimbettes...

... check out this wonderful trouvaille by Felix!

"We want this show to be about science"???
Wow!

Anyway... enjoy the scientific slo-mo!

Florida - Crunchtime!

Hope for big Tigers like our Scarface!

The FWC is meeting in Key Largo.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
Public Meeting
Key Largo Grande Resort and Beach Club
9700 South Overseas Highway
Key Largo, FL 33037

November 16-17, 2011
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Go there and show your support!
So far, it looks good, meaning that in all likelihood, Florida will protect its Tigers and Hammerheads. The only possible setback would be if they did indeed institute a trophy tag like some have suggested, i.e. a way to continue killing trophy Sharks by purchasing a tag and thus paying a penalty. Think that having to pay extra would in any way deter the likes of Mark the Shark from servicing his VIP clients like Del Niro and Shaq?

Needless to say. the tag would directly counteract the purpose of the legislation.
Trophy Sharks are generally the biggest and oldest, and possibly even pregnant females and thus the most valuable animals.

More info here and here.
Fingers crossed!

PS Excellent news - just got an e-mail informing me that the Shark protection measures have passed - without the trophy tag!
Well deserved victory lap by the Shark Savers here.

Vote for David!

Check out the Blogging Scholarship!

I've just cast my vote for David aka WhySharksMatter.
Southern Fried Science is one of the staple blogs for anybody interested in science and conservation and I must say, I have always enjoyed David's sharky posts, especially the simply epic threads during the Junior controversy - not to mention his dazzling footwork and exquisite fashion sense!

Please vote for David, the more as he's got some catching up to do!

PD David's all-time hits are here!

Give them big Fish a Break!

Likely a big pregnant female - the worst possible loss for the stock!

Very interesting blog post!

It very much echoes a recent conversation I had with Doc where he told me that it is imperative to protect the large mature Sharks whereas in his opinion, a fishery for younger Sharks that would remain within the parameters of their natural mortality was at least conceivable.

Fish species channel their reproductive effort through three main strategies:
opportunistic species have a short life, grow quickly and produce many offspring (e.g., anchovies);
equilibrium species are long-lived, grow slowly and produce few young (e.g., sharks);
and periodic species are also long-lived and grow slowly, but produce many young (e.g., rock fish) [notice that salmonid and intermediate strategies have also been described].

For equilibrium and periodic species, a long life often implies a large body.
In terms of fitness, as an individual grows and ages, its chances of successful reproduction at least once in a life time increase, as though reproduction resembled a lottery whereby the older managed to bet more frequently than the younger (one side of the gamble). Equilibrium species bet a few descendants at each reproductive bout, whereas periodic species bet from thousands to millions. If reproduction fails one year, the long-lived individual can wait for improved conditions in the next year, e.g., more food, more mates, better environmental conditions.

Many multi-million dollar fisheries target relatively long-lived species, and it will be no surprise to find them on the menu or delicatessen section of our favourite restaurant or shop (e.g., tuna, cod, halibut, caviar [i.e., sturgeon]). That many harvested fish stocks worldwide show a temporal trend of decreasing body size indicates not only the selective removal of the largest fish, but also rapid evolutionary responses to compensate for (to escape from!) big-fish mortality, like retarding body growth and advancing the age at first reproduction.

Whatever the mechanism, if we target big fish then stocks become unpredictable and, what might be even more shocking, if we target only small or only big fish, the result might be population depletion all the same.
Thus, conservation of age structure seems to be the key issue. At an ecosystem level (beyond the coverage of this article), when overharvesting concentrates not only on the largest individuals within a species, but on the species that reach the largest sizes, i.e., apex predator species, we are actually ‘fishing down marine food webs’ (read it!) – one of the main anthropogenic impacts on global fisheries.

The main take-home message from Berkeley’s and other studies is that the assessment of stock recovery and exploitation must rely not only on biomass, but also on maximum age.

Fish populations and communities lacking their giants risk depletion and extinction.

SPOT Tags - quod erat demonstrandum!

White shark displaying damage to the dorsal fin as a result of SPOT tag deployment breaks the water at Gansbaai, South Africa during a Marine Dynamics cage diving trip. Photo courtesy of Michelle Wcisel, Marine Dynamics.

Abstract.

We present 15 individual cases of sub-adult white sharks that were SPOT tagged in South Africa from 2003–2004 and have been re-sighted as recently as 2011.

Our observations suggest SPOT tags can cause permanent cosmetic and structural damage to white shark dorsal fins depending on the duration of tag attachment.

SPOT tags that detached within 12–24 months did not cause long term damage to the dorsal fin other than pigmentation scarring. Within 12 months of deployment, tag fouling can occur.
After 24 months of deployment permanent damage to the dorsal fin occurred.

Great white shark dorsal fin with SPOT tag present over 24 months after deployment.
(A and B) - tag is showing excessive fouling and fin is leaning to the left as a result of the weight; images taken in 2005 at Mossel Bay and without the tag (C and D) and with resulting hole and fin degradation after tag detachment; images taken in 2009 at Gansbaai.

A shark survived this prolonged attachment and there seems little compromise on the animal's long term survival and resultant body growth.
This is the first investigation detailing the long term effects of SPOT deployment on the dorsal fin of white sharks.

The paper is open access - read it!
Nothing to add to what I said here - fix the bloody gizmo!

Western Australia - Great News!

Lets assume that this GW is smiling! Pic by Amos Nachoum.

From one of the articles.

He said Cabinet had also ruled out a major cull of white sharks to reduce numbers, any seal culling or relocation program, the creation of beach pools, and drum line programs to control white shark numbers.

Great!
Don't like the talk about evaluating Shark nets but I guess this is now and that is then, and we'll maybe have to address it if and when it eventuates.
So, let's rejoice!

More here and here - victory lap here.

Tip o' hat: the Saffron Pimpernel.

Baited Shark Dives?

Associating humans with food?

I must say, I really did like this.
Check it out - hat tip: Underwater Thrills.

My call?
This controversy will never go away and it is good for us not to divert and obfuscate but to tackle it head on instead, like Mark Addison does truthfully and I find, rather brilliantly.

The opposition is of course spot on.
We do aggregate Sharks and we obviously do condition the Sharks to lose some of their fear of humans, both of which can obviously lead to more and closer interactions and thus, conceivably but not at all necessarily as they are getting "tamer", to a higher likelihood of Shark strikes.
That's both a fact and also, painfully trivial.

But that is of course not the whole story.
Please re-read this - I mean, the stuff between the rant at the beginning and the rant at the end. :)

Anyway, the long story short is that I believe that Shark baiting (and outright feeding like we do) is neither inherently Good, nor that it is inherently Bad.
It can be either, and this very much based on how it is being done - and when it comes to that, there's certainly the Good, the Bad and the outright Ugly, and I spare you the links!

Fiji?

We here really do spend an inordinate amount of time on always re-evaluating our protocols and obviously believe that we're doing it right - this always under the premise that we do want to attract the Bull Sharks which are extremely shy, and that so far, the scarce peer-reviewed science on the subject has failed to conclusively show any harm that provisioning is inflicting on the animals.
Should the latter change, we will change our procedures - and that's a promise.

And what about the enhanced risk of Shark strikes?
That obviously remains a distinct possibility, at least in theory - but if things are conducted responsibly, it is so low to be really negligible. The Fact is that there are NOT more Shark strikes in the vicinity of baited Shark dives. The overwhelming majority of Shark strikes occur completely elsewhere and are being triggered by completely different circumstances, two of the principal ones being people splish-splashing at the surface and spear fishing.

And the ultimate zero-risk strategy?
Do not bleed and Don’t swim in less than six feet of water!

Or, just stay put on your couch - how about that!

Baited Shark Dives?

Associating humans with food?

I must say, I really did like this.
Check it out - hat tip: Underwater Thrills.

My call?
This controversy will never go away and it is good for us not to divert and obfuscate but to tackle it head on instead, like Mark Addison does truthfully and I find, rather brilliantly.

The opposition is of course spot on.
We do aggregate Sharks and we obviously do condition the Sharks to lose some of their fear of humans, both of which can obviously lead to more and closer interactions and thus, conceivably but not at all necessarily as they are getting "tamer", to a higher likelihood of Shark strikes.
That's both a fact and also, painfully trivial.

But that is of course not the whole story.
Please re-read this - I mean, the stuff between the rant at the beginning and the rant at the end. :)

Anyway, the long story short is that I believe that Shark baiting (and outright feeding like we do) is neither inherently Good, nor that it is inherently Bad.
It can be either, and this very much based on how it is being done - and when it comes to that, there's certainly the Good, the Bad and the outright Ugly, and I spare you the links!

Fiji?

We here really do spend an inordinate amount of time on always re-evaluating our protocols and obviously believe that we're doing it right - this always under the premise that we do want to attract the Bull Sharks which are extremely shy, and that so far, the scarce peer-reviewed science on the subject has failed to conclusively show any harm that provisioning is inflicting on the animals.
Should the latter change, we will change our procedures - and that's a promise.

And what about the enhanced risk of Shark strikes?
That obviously remains a distinct possibility, at least in theory - but if things are conducted responsibly, it is so low to be really negligible. The Fact is that there are NOT more Shark strikes in the vicinity of baited Shark dives. The overwhelming majority of Shark strikes occur completely elsewhere and are being triggered by completely different circumstances, two of the principal ones being people splish-splashing at the surface and spear fishing.

And the ultimate zero-risk strategy?
Do not bleed and Don’t swim in less than six feet of water!

Or, just stay put on your couch - how about that!

Angelo - nearly there now!

Who would have thought!
Welcome to the softer and actually, quite endearing side of Angelo!

From all of us here at BAD, we wish you and Eden all the very best!

The Cooks next?

Flag of the Cooks - the blue ocean with the 15 islands

Wow.
Looks like we're in for yet another Shark Sanctuary - and wanna bet Pew's got something to do with it? Anyway, read this announcement from the Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative. I've never dived the Cooks but after seeing the list of Sharks and especially, if they declare a sanctuary, I may really want to re-consider!
And, I hear that there's more cooking in that nick of the Pacific!

And Fiji?
As they say here, make haste, slowly!
As far as I can discern, it's looking good - but as always, all will happen in its own time!

Great Whites on Sea Mounts!

Click for detail!

A Great White on a coral reef?

Yes that would be a sea mount in New Caledonia!
The pic was taken in September, 2007 by one Luc Bourdil who if I understand it correctly (Note: I did not, see Luc's explanation in the comments section) was leading a group of divers. Everybody made it up safely, then three very much intrepid (and I would add, very much Gallic) plongeurs went back down to further admire the spectacle, very much proving that GWs are not at all what they are made out to be. And, that Gallic plongeurs are certainly very intrepid and possibly also quite stupid.
More pictures here.

I just got sent the pic by Clinton Duffy.
Clinton is the man who tagged Grim the Fiji tourist and he was also kind enough to send me these tracks of Grim's gallivanting about in Bligh Waters. The yellow ellipses denote the scope of possible position errors and no, he definitely did not traipse around on Vanua Levu like Dakuwaqa!


And there's more that Grim did not do.
It appears pretty clear that he did not visit Plantation Island after all, which must be a great relief to the tourism industry there. And having been given the chance to ask some questions, many of which undoubtedly stupid, Clinton informs me that in his opinion, the NZ GWs who migrate north in winter do not seem to be following the Humpback Whales like I assumed. There is of course temporal overlap but the spatial overlap seems to be, if at all, more or less entirely fortuitous.

In Clinton's words.

While whites definitely visit the same areas the humpbacks do the fit between the movements of these species is not particularly tight.
Some whites are definitely on the grounds at the same time the whales are but some arrive after the whales should have gone and stay on. So while I think there is some link there I don't think the whites are dependent on the humpbacks but I have no doubt they would check them out when they're in the neighbourhood.

I'm also pretty sure that whites from NZ visit Fiji every winter-early summer (July-January), I think its just an artefact of small sample size that only one of the sharks we've tagged so far has been tracked there.

Places you're most likely to encounter them would be on seamounts and in the entrances to deep passes. They've been seen by divers in both habitats in Tonga (2 yrs in a row on the same seamount - Happy Ha'apai Divers) and New Caledonia respectively.

Wow wow wow!
As far as I know, no diver has seen a GW in Fiji yet - or am I mistaken?
Anyway, just imagine if one would pop up on the Shark dive amid the gaggle of Bulls - would that be awesome, or what! :)

Vinaka Clinton - all very very interesting!
Much appreciated indeed!