California's GWS - the Rebuttal!

Source - now comprehensively discredited, this is the paper that spawned the whole expensive fiasco.

Remember?

The Burgess paper is finally out - read it!
Good to observe how the man is morphing from token couch farting Sharxpert to real researcher!

And I cite.

"The listing of a species as 'endangered' places substantial demands on governments," Burgess said. "Listing species that are not under the threat of biological extinction diverts resources away from species genuinely at risk. 
We want to use our resources for the neediest species."

Exactly.

And thus endeth the ignominious conservation sham that has been the listing of the NE Pacific GWS poulation under ESA and CESA.

Kudos again to Michael Domeier.

He was the first to raise his voice in alarm (scroll down) years ago, for which he was severely criticized by the usual dipshits with an opinion and a keyboard. 

Now, he finds himself fully vindicated.

And the dipshits?
Riiiight.

Californian GWS - no Listing!

Already sufficiently protected - Californian GWS. Source.

So this is it.

And I cite.

Renowned shark expert and Mill Valley resident John McCosker said the commission made the correction decision, saying new data will be out soon corroborating the higher population. 
"We are seeing more attacks on marine mammals indicating the numbers are up," he said. "It's important that you protect animals that need protection and not your favorites. There are too many of them to consider them for the list."

Indeed.

Shame on Oceana, Center for Biological Diversity and Sea Stewards for having squandered so many resources = theirs, those of the donors and those of the authorities, on a non issue instead of investing them in something really important and productive.

And the really bad news?

The frothy conservation BS is not likely to abate anytime soon!

To be continued no doubt!

Lazy swim in California!!

Interesting! :)
Story here -  background here.

Enjoy!



H/T: El Diego!
 

Californian GWS - no CESA listing?

The whole gamut of the US Shark conservation scene, from absolute scum all the way to Shark conservation royalty, with a sprinkle of con men, all in one picture!
Priceless - and no I'm not telling!

Source: this fabulous, revealing post by Jonathan Gonzales!

Have you seen this?

U.S. west coast numbers in the 100s?

Number of adult great whites swimming off our Pacific Coast alarmingly low?

If something doesn't change, they could disappear forever?

Absolutely not true.

The NE Pacific GWS population is already sufficiently protected, much larger than previously stated and on the increase. Far from being a crisis, this is actually one of the greatest Shark conservation success stories. Oceana knows that but was apparently trying to use the listing as a subterfuge for shutting down the Californian drift gill net fishery.

Looks like this may now be moot.

The ESA and CESA listing saga is inexorably drawing to an end, and it looks like my revised prediction is about to be confirmed. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is following the viewpoint of NOAA and is recommending to not list the NE Pacific population of GWS under CESA.

Here's to this finally putting and end to this ignominious chapter of Shark conservation BS and according waste of resources and donor money!

Not impressed - again!

And the Californian drift gillnet fishery?

There's a bill to shut it down, Oceana is still at it, and  Jonathan is still vehemently (a euphemism!) opposed to it. I lack the facts, and the time to properly ascertain them - but from the gut, I'm with Jonathan!

But I'm digressing.

The California Fish and Game Commission will make the final decision about the GWS listing shortly.

NE-Pacific GWS Population - NOAA Review!

Source.

Et voilà!

The status review by NOAA is now online.

I didn't make it past the Executive Summary and even there, I simply lack the knowledge for any authoritative analysis - but it sure looks like they have at least addressed the principal possible causes for concern. My take-away message: more than 200 adult females, leading to a total population estimate of males and females across size classes of approx 3,000 - which is even more than the Burgess paper!

The review has been peer-reviewed, making it the best available science.

Let the debate begin!

The question being, are we going to be treated to a rebuttal by the discredited researchers - and what is the California Department of Fish and Wildlife going to decide?

To be continued no doubt!

PS Notice by NOAA here!

NE-Pacific GWS - no Listing!

Source.

There you have it.

The science has caught up with the BS.

According to George Burgess, there are not 3-400, but at least 2,400 GWS off California.

Dunno if this even includes the Mexican GWS - but in any case, talk about the absolutely spectacular! vindication of Domeier who first pointed the finger at the flaws of the Chapple paper years ago (scroll down) and got shouted down by the sharktivists, and also of Chris Lowe's guest post on SFS!

Once published, this will be the best available science.

But NOAA is obviously already convinced and has declined the ESA listing, which is the correct decision.

As a reminder, this is not about GWS protection in general.
They are already a protected species, and may well warrant additional conservation/fisheries management measures to limit bycatch especially of the juveniles in the nursery area.
But the super stringent and wide reaching protection under ESA is clearly not warranted.

And the CESA listing?

I'm inclined to change my prediction.

The flaws have turned out to be so egregious that the petitions have been deprived of any credibility and should actually be retracted. Not gonna happen I fear - but I just cannot anymore see the California Department of Fish and Wildlife exposing themselves to ridicule by confirming their provisional protection.

But then again... :)

PS interesting info here, indicating that NOAA did not see the Burgess draft paper, and that they themselves have come to the conclusion that the NE-Pacific GWS population may number as high as 3,000.
As for this editorial - not impressed!

How many GWS in California?

Source.

And I cite.

George H. Burgess, curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File, is among nine scientists nearing completion on a separate census study that will show that there are more than 2,000 adult and sub-adult white sharks off Central California. 
That study is expected to be submitted for review by state and federal regulators. 

Chris Lowe, a professor of marine biology at Cal State Long Beach who has been conducting state and federally permitted white shark research since 2002, said, "The growth of the great white shark population is the most stunning recovery of a marine fish species we have."

Article here.

Bingo.

It's exactly like I said in the yearly re-cap: those numbers of only a few hundred GWS are bad science and will be reviewed, and listing them on ESA and CESA is unnecessary and a total waste of money!
Oceana - once again, not impressed!

To be continued no doubt!

Straight from the frothy Piranha Tank!

Bingo!

Remember the jugular-slicing ninjas?

Well, the first salvo in the scientific debate about the validity of those NE Pacific GWS petitions has just been fired - and I may add: just as expected!

This post is required reading.

It is by one of California's preeminent GWS researchers and basically echoes the reservations of the majority of the GWS research community and of the fisheries managers.

It is not anti-GWS, or whatever.

It just states that the Californian GWS are already sufficiently protected and actually very much on the rebound, meaning that the status of that population doesn't warrant investing additional resources into further reaching conservation measures. And did you notice: so far, no comments by any prominent representative of the pro-side - I wonder why! :)

To be continued no doubt.

And I re-iterate my prediction that in the end, there will be CESA but not ESA listing - the former not because it is necessary but because this is CALIFORNIA!

Nice!

Stay tuned!