Goodbye, Doc.

Doc and his lovely family. Source.

What a tragedy.

I had been away, and had missed the horrible news of Doc's passing.

No, no eulogy here - others knew him so much better.

We did meet a few times and did like each other, and have corresponded frequently, sometimes also for this blog. My recollection of him can be summarized in "larger than life": brilliantly intelligent; utterly fearless; eminently entertaining and charming, and ludicrously witty; opinionated, authoritative and passionate; zero tolerance for mediocrity, bullshit, posers and charlatans; lived life to the fullest. Mensch.

And he was such a brilliant scientist and mentor who has given us so much and above all, touched so many lives.

Please read Ila's brilliant biographies.

And then, there are Jeremy's book, and his synopsis. And of course, the eulogy by the Sharklab, and the many loving testimonials.

And this.

Such a lovely man - I will miss him greatly.

My heart goes out to Marie and the family.

 

Doc - the Book!

JSD and the book!

Very, very nice indeed!

I've just received the book.

The package comes with a letter about the Shark Lab's ambitious renovation plans, and an e-mail asks me to please share or review it. 

What can I say.

Doc is both a pal and somebody I revere enormously, and author Jeremy has long been a pen pal who often graces this blog with his inimitably witty and sometimes, brutally sarcastic comments.

So there.

Thing is, I do this gladly as I really do love the book.

Truth be told I've just started reading it - but I can already say that it is riveting and entertaining, and written with much love but also knowledge, much along the lines of this shorter interim eulogy, equally by Jeremy. My own synopsis: Seriously, you just can't make that shit up - epic stuff!

Absolutely and unequivocally, required reading!

Plus, there is the cause.

Doc's, and now Tristan's iconic Sharklab has been the epicenter of excellent Shark research for the past 25 years and is now in dire need of a major rejuvenation and upgrade, and the book is one of the vehicles intended for collecting the required funds.

Website here, purchase options here.

Enjoy!

 

North Carolina Shark Attacks- Interview with Neil!

Good stuff!

But first, and I cite,

"Scientists believe that most shark bites are a case of mistaken identity. From below, a surfer in a black rubber wetsuit looks a great deal like a seal, for example," explains David Shiffman, a PhD candidate at the University of Miami's Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. 

Really - and if so, who exactly?

Last time I checked, "mistaken identity" was an -incidentally untested and untestable- hypothesis proposed by John McCosker when it came to explaining why GWS attack surfers on surfboards - not some generic statement about any Shark in any situation!

And assuming that David meant "by mistake": is that even plausible considering the Sharks' preternatural senses that we're usually so proud to illustrate? What scientists do believe is that most Shark bites are not predatory in nature - which is only logical considering that the very vast majority of Sharks (like e.g. Caribbean Reefies) pursue prey that is orders of magnitude smaller than people! But there are heaps of other possible reasons, read that first link, for why Sharks could bite people - and genuine mistakes are probably the very last of them! And guess what: in most cases, we'll never know why, exactly, they did strike - which is one thing the majority of scientists will certainly agree upon!

Would this be yet again one of those stupid attempts at rehabilitating Sharks by asserting that they have no bad intentions, or the like?

Which brings me over to this.

It's part of this thread, already mentioned here.

Christopher Neff There is no scientific evidence to support this - Gruber (1987) notes that shark bites are not feeding events

Gruber (1987) huh.

Doc has sent me Gruber (1988), published in Naval Research Review and entitled Why do Sharks attack Humans. Therein I find this - the only possible explanation for it being that Doc did radically change his mind one measly year later! :)

Click for detail!

Anyway.

Whilst the young padawans need to urgently stop making public pronouncements about topics they obviously got no clue about, Neil (and, mostly, Lawrence) shows us how to do it right - especially when you're a scientist!

Enjoy - and well done!

Michael - telling it like it is!

Well done!

I must say that I'm impressed.

Following the tragic Shark strikes in North Carolina, Michael Domeier is warning Californians about the growing population of GWS on their coast. So far this is good news as it means that protection measures are having the desired effect. And so far, those are juveniles and small subadults, and thus rather harmless  - but one day those Sharks will reach an age where they will gradually switch to larger prey, meaning that the risk of predatory attacks on humans will undoubtedly increase.

This is of course totally in line with the recent statements by Burgess - and once again bravo to Michael for having the guts to tell it like it is!

And yes, I've, gasp, deliberately used the dreaded A word!

This is a Shark attack.

It is provoked and retaliatory.

And like I would do in the case of a Cat, or Lion, or Croc, I call it an attack because there is definitely no confusion and there is definitely intent - which in this specific situation is both totally understandable and perfectly fine!

The strikes in North Carolina?

Dunno and that's why I call them strikes - but by the same token, what makes Mr. Barrington state that the assumed Bull Sharks more than likely mistook those kids for Fish? Does he really believe that a Bull Shark is too dumb to discern the difference between snapping at a Fish and severing a human limb - or may this possibly be yet another misguided attempt at PR rehabilitation a la Neff and Hueter?

Seriously, could we please stop with the stupid whitewashing?

Can we please let Sharks be Sharks, meaning that we got to accept that some species are large predators that will from time to time both target and unless disturbed, consume a human? And that many of them will intentionally bite when molested? This makes them neither bad nor good but simply describes what they are = large predators that have every bloody right to predate, and complex animals with a broad array of behaviors among which aggression!

We don't blink an eye about properly describing the equally rare predatory attacks by the Big Cats, Bears and Reptiles - so why this obsession of trying to exculpate Sharks by coming up with lame excuses and trying to introduce politically correct lingo?

Which brings me to this further comment by Michael.

Spot on! Read the testimony, and read this further account, and even the most rabid Shark hugging apologist should clearly discern that this was most definitely a predatory attack - curiosity and testing with their mouth because they got no hands, yada yada, my ass!

Same old same old - especially the pronouncements by the increasingly irritating Neff! This nonsense fatally reminds me of someone else - and we all know how that one ended!

Anyway, having asked, Doc replies

In an article I write way back in the eighties, for Naval Research Reviews entitled why do sharks bite humans, I made it perfectly clear that some sharks actually consider humans as legitimate prey. We all know which ones these are.

Bingo.

I say, the serial breathy couch farting and ultracrepidarianism are bad enough - but misrepresenting Doc is just simply unacceptable!

But enough of that.

Good to see that some within the research community are finally speaking up against the creeping Dolphinization of Sharks. They are certainly not monsters - but by the same token, some of them can be extremely dangerous and need to be treated with the utmost respect and circumspection.

Nothing to do with those recent tragic events mind you - when humans and Sharks share the same space, these things are unfortunately bound to happen. But if we ever want to succeed in mitigating the consequences of this increasingly uneasy cohabitation, we must address all sides of the issue: ever more people encroaching into Shark habitat but also, in some places, more Sharks - some of which will sometimes regard people as food!

Ila - titanic Achievement!

Bravo Ila.
This is stellar, and obviously a labor of love.

So here it is in its entirety.

Recounted with much insight, knowledge, love and respect, behold the complete biography of the irreducible and unequaled Doc: brilliant and iconic Shark researcher, mentor and Mensch - and certifiably nuts to boot! :)

Part one here, two here, three and final here!

Enjoy!

Ila about Doc!

Wow.

This is simply epic stuff.

But considering the subject matter, how could it be otherwise!

Doc is unmatched on so many fronts - not only as a scientist and mentor of many, many generations of stellar Shark researchers, but very much also because he's a real Mensch, razor sharp, incredibly witty and of course a total and utter nut case!

Thank you Ila for the simply herculean effort!

PS: Wolfgang here!

Lemon Shark Philopatry - Comments by Doc!

PIT tagging of juvenile Lemons, Bimini - source.

Wow.

I just found this in my inbox.

This is what it takes to produce real and like I said, simply epic research - not this amateur shit, and I cite,

We conducted the tests of potential approach preference of sharks with regard to human body orientation in the Northern Abaco Islands, Bahamas, on 8 days between July 7 and 24, 2009. Later on, several days were excluded due to the chosen criteria.

But I'm digressing as usual.

Without further ado, here are the remarks = two cents :) by Doc - needless to say that I am honored!

Reply to Da Shark’s blog on the recent publication of our lemon shark genetic research in the journal Molecular Ecology as reported in the New York Times: 

Like the EverReady bunny, we are still going….and in June 2014 it will be year 19. 

There is still a lot more to be learned from our continuing and longitudinal study of lemon shark genetics but here's the way this all played out according to my foggy recollection. 

In 1990 the Bimini Biological Field Station was established. 

That year we became interested in shark genetics and actually did our first "PIT project" collecting genetic samples and PIT (RFID) tagging the little lemons. We caught 90 lemon sharks that June but alas that was the last I ever heard of the samples which were sent for analysis to a black hole the UK. In addition we caught no lemon sharks in November 1990 so I figured that was that. 

In 1995, I was contacted by a young graduate student, Kevin Feldheim working in Mary Ashley's lab at University of Illinois-Chicago. 

He wanted to study our little lemon sharks but had no funds. I thought we could support Kevin at the station if Mary could deal with his laboratory work. So I went to Chicago and we got into a discussion about NSF funding. I had been relatively successful with NSF in the past but after recovering from cancer in 1989 I hated the idea of writing one of those damned proposal "books" again only to get it turned down. However working together in Chicago the three of us wrote a first-class proposal and MIRACLE! The combination of Mary's expertise and my reputation as some sort of shark maverick did the trick and NSF granted us funds to bring Kev to Bimini for a few years to do the field research. So starting in 1995 and continuing even until today we tagged sharks and collected genetic material; and for three years, funded by our NSF grant we sampled over 700 young lemon sharks at Bimini. 

Of course shark genetics did not start with our project but these earlier studies were mainly set up to determine the relationship between species---molecular taxonomy. 

In contrast, we were interested in the genetics of breeding biology which was entirely unknown for sharks as well as most other aquatic vertebrates. 

I think there were three reasons for the fantastic (to me) success of this project: 

First was Kevin Feldheim who carried out hundreds of experiments until he found the key to DNA finger printing lemon sharks....microsatellite alleles with high variability conferred by high repeat numbers (this laid the background for the research of Joey DiBattista and Demian Chapman); second, the amazing lemon shark, an animal that repeatedly lent itself to manipulation as a model species (think white rat!) allowing us to study the biology of large sharks; and three, the islands of Bimini for which the vagaries of sea level rise and fall created a small lagoon that was the perfect breeding ground for lemon sharks. Importantly unlike Florida only 42 NM to the west, our Bimini lemon sharks hung around the islands for up to 8 years and could be captured time and time again. 

Once Kevin laid the groundwork to open up questions that were previously unanswerable, we undertook a concerted effort to mine this treasure of marine biology. 

Enter Dr. Ellen Pikitch and the Pew Foundation: Already the lead author Dr. Damian Chapman had been to the Sharklab years ago and so had Ellen but now things got serious. I was nearing retirement and thinking about the future funding of the Sharklab. Ellen got the idea to fund the station with a generous 5-year PEW grant and in exchange we would share all the data with her then doctoral student Damien Chapman. This was a dream come true for all of us. Now we had another grant that would see us through the lemon shark's estimated time-to-maturity...shown by my student Craig Brown way back in the 80s to be 12-14 years after birth. 

Simultaneously we began to develop techniques to search out and wrangle the potentially dangerous adult lemon sharks that come into the lagoon for mating and parturition every April and May. 

We were eventually able to predict when they would show up, how to capture them and even learned to do a kind of mid-midwifery to assist in the birth process. This technique provided DNA from both the Mom and all her pups. It then became a matter of continuing the collections until a dozen years went by in hopes that a youngster born in Bimini in 1995 or later survived to adulthood and could be identified in Kevin and Joey's lemon shark pedigree. 

Well....incredibly our gamble our came true. 

After about a dozen years a few survivors began to appear in the lagoon and we thought this was just amazing. Talk about tenacity and collaboration! We predicted based on two decades of prior study that the lemon shark would return---and we toughed out the years and effort to do the labor-intensive but hugely enjoyable task of collecting lemon shark pups for a dozen years and beyond, braving shark bites, tropical thunder storms, dangerous lightening, swarms of mosquitoes, no real sleep for weeks on end and a myriad of other political and biological barriers including serious damage to the nursery from a ridiculously huge resort development on tiny little Bimini. 

Together in collaboration between three research institutions, the Bimini Biological Field Station Foundation, University of Illinois-Chicago and Stonybrook University the study that Da Shark so eloquently referred to was accomplished. 

If you actually have time to read this missive you will see that the influence of one group or the other to the success of this remarkable research is total....no progress could have been made without the three institution's cooperation. And even today, 19 years after the project began we are continuing the annual collection of genetic data from not one but three sites in hopes that one day the lemon shark and its vulnerable nursery habitats will receive the protection that they truly need. 

Just my two cents. doc 

Dr. Samuel H. Gruber (Emeritus) 

Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries 

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences 

University of Miami 

and 

Bimini Biological Field Station Foundation 

9300 SW 99 St 

Miami FL 

http://www.miami.edu/sharklab 

Natal Philopatry in Lemon Sharks - Paper!

Time for some Hi-Fives! Source.

Now THIS is real science!

No wonder as starting with the Grand Mufti himself, the list of authors reads like the who's who of Shark research - and with the data spanning a whopping 17 years, this is nothing short of epic!

All I can say is, I'm deeply impressed!

Looks like Lemon Sharks not only go back and give birth in the same nurseries (= reproductive philatropy) like the Moorea Blacktips, but that those nurseries are the very where they themselves were born (= natal philopatry or natal homing), like e.g. Salmon or Turtles! This has immediate implications for conservation insofar as it mandates special efforts to protect those nurseries.

Nice synopses here, here and here - and here's a video.

And the Bull Sharks?
Mark has already published evidence for reproductive philopatry of Bull Sharks in Australia, and one of the aims of our new research projects with Projects Abroad will be to check whether this is equally the case for our Fiji Bull Sharks.
So keep watching this space!

Anyway, great job!

Enjoy!

Bimini Hammers - the Best of the Best!

Source - click for detail!

Remember?

And the next season?

From what I hear, the barbarians may be in for a surprise - but worry not, you can still go and witness those fantastic Great Hammerheads! Reputable resorts like the Sands and the Club host local operations that will be happy to take you diving with them - but above all, there is the awesome program by the Sharklab, see at the top! And, go and check out the Sardines!

Way to go!

And since we're at it!
I sure hope you know whom to stay away from - and if not, educate yourself here!

Tagging Great Hammerheads!

Apologies.

Right now, I'm way too busy for lengthy posts.

In the meantime, check out these awesome pics.

It's the good people from Doc's Shark Lab tagging GHH on the fly, without hooking & hauling them to the boat which is particularly harmful to this specific species.

Kudos!

Learning in Sharks - new Paper!

 Beautiful pic of juvenile Lemon Shark. Source: Battling for Bimini. Click for detail!

Cool stuff!

From the paper.

Abstract

Social learning is taxonomically widespread and can provide distinct behavioural advantages, such as in finding food or avoiding predators more efficiently.

Although extensively studied in bony fishes, no such empirical evidence exists for cartilaginous fishes.

Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the social learning capabilities of juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris. We designed a novel food task, where sharks were required to enter a start zone and subsequently make physical contact with a target in order to receive a food reward.

Fig. 1 Set-up of social learning experiment: a positions and measurements of zones, target and reward; b schematic of the target mechanism showing covered and exposed position as well as side and front views; and c steps of the food task or trial - click for detail!

Naive sharks were then able to interact with and observe (a) pre-trained sharks, that is, 'demonstrators', or (b) sharks with no previous experience, that is, 'sham demonstrators'.

On completion, observer sharks were then isolated and tested individually in a similar task.

During the exposure phase observers paired with 'demonstrator' sharks performed a greater number of task-related behaviours and made significantly more transitions from the start zone to the target, than observers paired with 'sham demonstrators'. When tested in isolation, observers previously paired with 'demonstrator' sharks completed a greater number of trials and made contact with the target significantly more often than observers previously paired with 'sham demonstrators'.

Such experience also tended to result in faster overall task performance.

Fig. 5 Testing phase: median (±interquartile range) number of physical contacts made with the target and the target cover by individual observer sharks previously paired with demonstrators (D) or sham demonstrators (SD). P\0.05 in both cases, Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, n = 5 - click for detail!

These results indicate that juvenile lemon sharks, like numerous other animals, are capable of using socially derived information to learn about novel features in their environment.

The results likely have important implications for behavioural processes, ecotourism and fisheries.

From the Discussion

It has previously been hypothesised that sharks can form groups for increased foraging opportunities (Jacoby et al. 2011) and that sharks exhibiting feeding behaviour attract nearby conspecifics or heterospecifics (Myrberg et al. 1969; Bres 1993; Klimley et al. 2001). Although we did not determine specific social learning processes, our findings empirically demonstrate the sensitivity to, and likely importance of, social cues in sharks.

These and other recent findings that stress the importance of social behaviour to the efficacy of shark deterrents (O’Connell et al. 2011; Robbins et al. 2011) emphasise the need for further experimentation on how changes in sharks social environment (presence of competing or informed conspecifics) might affect their foraging strategies or performance and exploitation of a novel food source.

As I said, great job - which is of course no wonder!

After all, Tristan is one of Doc's disciples and the whole thing did happen in Bimini as part of a wider endeavor and very much under the supervision and leadership, but undoubtedly also scathing criticism by the great man himself! This is your classical behavioral experiment aimed as testing a previously formulated hypothesis, and this thankfully (and very much unsurprisingly!) involving a control group - as it should be!

Of course we in the Industry knew that already.

There are plenty of examples of Sharks appearing to learn from their conspecifics (and who knows, maybe other species as well?) during baited dives, this from species as vastly different as the Whale Sharks in Oslob or Cendrawasih Bay to, it appears, the Sicklefin Lemons in Moorea.

Here are some examples by Doc himself.

We know from simple observations that throwing a piece of bait to a naïve lemon shark will take about three pieces for that shark to get the idea that the sound of a splash means that food has landed in the water near it. Then you see other lemon sharks watch the smart one and pick it up right away...splash=food.

This is especially so with the larger reef sharks.
It is easy to tell a new, inexperienced (new comer) reef shark from the experienced group. tThe newcomer has no clue when a piece of food is thrown a foot in front of its nose. It just swims on by. A trained shark however will have already associated food=splash and will immediately turn, orient to the sound and gobble up the piece. When the new comer watches the trained group orienting to the sound of bait hitting the water it picks it up immediately and gets it from there on. Additionally the other trained reef shark appear to the sound of the boat when we anchor up at the feeding site with no bait.
They are smart animals but you already know that.

Indeed we do!

We have observed learning in our social Reef Blacktips but above all, in our Bulls where we are convinced that the fact that the newbies follow the correct feeding protocols from the get-go is due to the fact that they have learned to behave correctly by observing the experienced old-timers!

So, what do the findings of the paper mean?

Do they prove that Sharks are intelligent?

No they do not!
They show that juvenile (= an adjective) Lemon Sharks (= a species) are able to learn a task by observing other juvenile Lemons and, as Doc tells me, that they could learn faster than rabbits or cats (= other species) on a conditioned response and could recall the response up to a year.

And what about the other Sharks? No idea!
Hell we don't even know whether those findings extend to adult Lemon Sharks, see the various hypotheses about slower and/or different learning that are being put forth for humans! Maybe Sharks, too, get more set in their ways and are less prone to experimenting as they grow up? I'm asking this as some of our old ladies do things in always the exact same way, likely because they have learned that it works!

My hunch is that if tested, different species will show different results.
And I'm also quite confident that there will be differences at an individual level - and possibly even at the level of gender or life stages, who knows!
I'm also expecting that the results will correlate with the extent to which those species are social (remember this is about social learning - which of course begs the question whether our Bulls are social!), but possibly, also with the extent to which learning is a useful strategy considering the specific Shark's life history - and yes I'm still of the opinion that Whale Sharks come across as being particularly thick!

But one thing is clear, at least to me.
Despite of all those caveats, I too am convinced that far from being the ever lurking instinctive killing machines some quarters would have them be, Sharks are way smarter, and their life history and behavior, way more nuanced and sophisticated - and this paper is yet another step in revealing that fascinating and beautiful tapestry.

Thank you Tristan and thank you Doc!

Interview with Doc!

Doc - definitely not just another Shark hugger!

Remember?

Doc is this week's featured Nat Geo Explorer.
Interview here - enjoy!

Baited Shark Dives and Shark Attacks?

Outright Shark feeding - even worse than chumming?

Oh well.
So much for being too busy to blog.

There has been a Shark strike in Western Australia.
From what I can discern, it very much appears to have been a predatory attack (Christopher???) and it comes right on the heels of Mr. Moore's decision to preemptively ban cage diving there. The apparent reason for that politically motivated stupidity was that South Australia had restricted cage diving there because Barry Bruce et al had discerned that berleying (= chumming) had caused a minimal change in GW distribution.
Nothing whatsoever to do with Shark attacks - but who gives a shit provided that one can engage in populist grandstanding, right? And this? Indeed: Neanderthal reactions!

Which brings me straight to the following.
I rather despise those couch farting Shark lists - but people do keep me in the loop about the rare noteworthy discussions; and so I got sent this remarkable, and provided that you got a sense of humor, incredibly witty post by the Grand Mufti of Shark behavior, non other than the forever unequaled Doc.
I hope he doesn't mind me re-posting it verbatim in all of its glory.

A key criticism of the ruling in Western Australia is that researchers were not able to show a causal link between shark attack and chumming at shark dives. Lets see how they might prove such a link using the scientific method. How about setting up two dive sites within say 5 km of each other. At one you use chum and feed the sharks from a feeding tube or box. At the other you attract sharks by low frequency sound attraction and again feed shark from some device that precludes odorant from getting to the test-beach 5 km distant.

Now if there are sharks around I wager they will very quickly be attracted to the baiting station due to currents which rapidly brings the olfactants to their nostrils---so you might get them trained up in just a few days. For the acoustic attractions the sharks have to be within about 500 m of the hydrophone and be fairly motivated at the time. This might take several months but eventually the sharks at both sites will be feeding regularly, and reliably but probably seasonally.

To be further certain about your experimental study population you would have to tag the sharks and possibly take genetic samples to be sure you are working with different animals at the two sites...ok it could be done. Thus you have established two relatively equal feeding sites with a control and a treatment trial....good!

So after about two years of preparations you can now set up an hypothesis: H0, the null hypothesis is that there is no statistical difference between the control and treatment groups with respect to shark attacks; H1 is the proof of the pudding---There is a statistical difference between the two.

Ahhh, but here's the rub: You would of course have to continue your trials until you collect and adequate sample size for your appropriate statistical tests that you would used to either accept or reject H1 or H0. Based only on the annual rate of shark attacks world wide, this will take on the order of 1,000 years depending on the seasonality of the sharks. Considering the paucity of attacks and the time required for a human generation, you should put in your will that for the next 50 generations your offspring must continue the experiment on a daily basis until each season ends, then start again next year when the season begins. Get my drift? So it goes for all such shark-attack research.

OK...I put it up there now you shoot it down. I personally would love to understand the motivation of why sharks bite naked apes. (see Gruber, S.H. 1988. Why do sharks attack humans? Naval Research Review 40(1):2-19.)

Bingo! :)
As I've said all along, those musings about Shark attacks amount to nothing more than conjecture, i.e. sometimes plausible but ultimately untestable hypotheses.

But is the whole story?
Is there really no evidence whatsoever to point us one way or the other?

I believe that in fact, there is.
Yes George the great doyen of Sesselfurzing should indeed finally creep out from behind his desk and have a reality check by doing a couple of Shark dives; but in this specific specific case, he may even be useful by staying right where he is, smack in the middle of his Sammelsurium of Shark attack data - and ditto for Collier!

What I'm suggesting is this.
Get a Masters student to mine those data and to analyze whether globally, there is any statistically relevant correlation between the location of Shark strikes and that of baited Shark dives!
Of course correlation, even if it were found, is not causation. And, this would not be testing the hypothesis that baiting leads to more Shark attacks. For that, one would have to proceed like Doc suggests and wait for several centuries. But it would at least give us an indication about whether the hypothesis is at least plausible and thus, worth testing!

Betcha the result it is a big fat zero!
And if so, wouldn't that be all the more surprising as common wisdom would suggest the exact contrary! Here's the long version of why this should be the case - but if you can't be bothered, here's the synopsis.

For there to be a Shark strike, a person and a Shark need to be in the same place at the same time (dooh...) and consequently, anything increasing the rate of such encounters increases the probability for such a strike.
When it comes to baited Shark dives, it thus follows that, equally trivially

• the more Sharks are present, the higher the risk of a Shark bite
• the more divers are present, the higher the risk of a Shark bite
• the more dives are being conducted, the higher the risk of a Shark bite
• the closer the divers and the Sharks interact, and the more frequently those interactions occur, the higher the risk of a Shark bite - meaning that protocols are incredibly important!

And then there's also the element of location, i.e. where those baited Shark dives are being conducted.
They are obviously being conducted where there are Sharks (dooh...) - but often, they are even located where Sharks aggregate naturally to mate and feed, e.g. around Dyer and Seal Islands in South Africa, the Neptunes in Southern Australia, Guadalupe, etc., meaning that those places are more dangerous to start with, something one may want to consider when analyzing the data.

But then again, maybe the above is a fallacy.
Maybe Shark dives habituate the Sharks to the presence of people, meaning that they become more relaxed or "tame" and thus refrain from biting. Let's not forget that agonistic (= essentially, defensive) behavior may well be one of the principal causes of Shark bites on divers! And if we put too many divers in the water, the Sharks may well decide to simply go away.
Yes as always it's complicated!

So how about it.
Will those guys finally let somebody analyze those data, and will those stupid assertions be finally outed for what they really are, nothing but rubbish and completely unsupported and probably even falsified by the very data collected by the people proffering them!

PS Patric here (thanks!) and Jillian here!
PS great comment on the attacks here!

2011: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Part One!

Shark pic of the Year!

So there.
2011 is slowly petering out, the shop is closed so that the staff can enjoy a well deserved rest and I’ve got some spare time on my hand – so brace yourselves for a lengthy recap of 2011!
You have been warned!

This time, it’s not gonna be about BAD.
Thanks to our clients that have once again visited us in record numbers, we did very well indeed – and so did Shark Reef where biodiversity continues to increase and where once again, we recorded a record number of Bulls - and it ain’t over yet: from what we can already see now, we will very likely witness a further increase in 2012!
As of September 1st, we are also completely carbon neutral after having sponsored the planting of 330,000 mangroves, very likely a world first – and again, this is just an intermediate step as we’re currently planting more in order to offset the carbon footprint of our clients!
Finally, we’ve again met some wonderful new people, many of which researchers, and are involved in several ground-breaking projects that will hopefully come to fruition next year.
Keep watching this space!

But as I said, this post is not about us.
2011 has been an exceptional year for global Shark conservation and outreach. It has also seen the continuation of the usual shenanigans.

And without further ado – 2011 as seen by DaShark!

The Good

This is the easy part.

But lemme first tell you where I’m coming from here.
The way I see it, the only metrics for effective Shark conservation is that less Sharks are being killed, full stop. The rest is just fluff and we shall talk about it later.

Having now been involved in Shark conservation for close to a decade and having seen the varying success of various approaches, I remain firmly of the opinion that regardless of the anger at seeing the all-pervasive global slaughter of Sharks, the only winning strategy when advocating Shark conservation is to remain strictly fact-based, pragmatic and willing to compromise.
Successful conservation is always the result of negotiations where we are asking others to enact pro-Shark legislation - and whereas sometimes popular support (and thus petitions) may help, the arguments must never the less be rock solid. Never forget that legislation can as easily be repealed – and it will if the arguments supporting it are proven to have been fraudulent!

By the same token and very much like the science it is based upon, Shark conservation remains always in flux and is evolving rapidly based on the latest science but also on the success (and the failings) of the latest conservation initiatives.
As an example, legislation has evolved massively in 2011 as the forces of evil have shown considerable cunning in exploiting loopholes and otherwise circumventing the law, and as it has become painfully evident that the best legislation will always remain completely toothless unless it gets adequately enforced. The latter requires considerable resources for capacity building, monitoring and prosecution that must be an integral component of any such initiative in developing countries.

And one last thought.
As the global recession is far from over, 2011 has seen a further shrinking of the resources available to research and conservation. With that in mind and because the Shark fin industry is supply limited, we need to prioritize our resources and invest them where the Sharks are being killed - and yes, like an old broken record, I'm repeating myself - and will continue to do so, over and over again!

Anyway, here is the list.

• Most impressive Shark Conservation Org: The Pew Environment Group's Global Shark Campaign.
  
  I must confess that for once, I’m quite at a loss of positive attributes here. I was going to painstakingly try and enumerate the many achievements but thankfully, they have done so themselves. Far from the huge bureaucratic overhead of the established NGOs, this is but a tiny group: but its members are smart, dedicated and extremely hard working individuals who know how get the job done and who like in the real world, operate under a strict regime of deliverables, deadlines and accountability. And no, they don't achieve their success by throwing money at the problems as some of their pathetic detractors claim, but by being solution-oriented, strictly science-based, pragmatic and diplomatic - and thus widely accepted as valuable expert interlocutors by the powers that be.
  The strategy has been to concentrate on the supply side by successfully advocating changes in fisheries policies at national, regional and global levels.
  This is how you do it – which of course begs the question, what have all the other, bigger, more established and more vocal orgs been doing all these years!
  


• Most improved Shark Conservation Org: Shark Savers
  
  Shark Savers continues to evolve and I like where it is going, the more as I’m good friends with several of the people involved, some of which for a very long time indeed. 2011 has seen a long overdue consolidation at the top where the org is now being steered by intelligent, pragmatic and solution-oriented individuals, resulting in solid Shark conservation successes. Case in point: this year's Florida Shark protection measures where they have played a preeminent role, the stellar project Manta Ray of Hope, see below, and much along the lines of think global act local, this recent victory in the Midwest (bravo Penny!).
  


• Most promising new marine Conservation Org: One World One Ocean
  
  This is a brand new undertaking and there is thus no track record except for a stellar PSA.
  But I like the people, the pragmatic message and the mission and look forward to many successes in the years to come. The principal difference to other media-based initiatives: no personal self promotion but above all, a long term track record of getting the message across – meaning distribution distribution distribution!


• Most impressive individual Shark Advocate: Stefanie Brendl
  
  The victim of an appalling and by no means resolved witch hunt in Hawaii (check on the oldest posts), Stefanie has not given up but instead, completely re-invented herself and become one of the most respected global Shark advocates in the process. Following their ground breaking Shark fin ban in Hawaii, she and Senator Clayton Hee have successfully expanded the concept to several US territories and states. Their approach has been quiet, rational, pragmatic and science-based diplomacy instead of activist clamoring. Passionate, goal-oriented and doggedly determined, Stefanie gets the job done whilst operating in the background and leaving the limelight to others – deservedly and alas, very much not so, see Part Two.
  So here’s to Stefanie, heroine of Sharks!


• Most impressive Shark Conservation Achievement: Bahamas Shark Sanctuary
  
  Who would have thought!
  Having previously talked to literally scores of insiders about the need to protect the Sharks there, everybody was telling me that getting meaningful conservation enacted in the Bahamas was strictly mission impossible – and then Pew and the BNT (and yes: many others did help) managed to pull it off without any notable hiccups in a matter of mere months! This is a massive achievement and a testament to the quality and effectiveness of the approach by Pew and it cannot be applauded enough!


• Best new Elasmobranch Conservation Initiative: Manta Ray of Hope
  
  Although not directly an initiative by Shark Savers (or is it?), it is very much associated with them. Once again, kudos for a brilliant, important and timely project!


• Best Shark Conservation Resources: Reports by Pew
  
  Once the clear niche of Oceana of which I used to be a fan but where I am increasingly becoming critical, the reports authored by Pew are a meticulously researched treasure trove of hard facts, always up-to date science and pragmatic solutions – the latter very much setting them apart from the widespread whining and lamenting! A must-read for anybody wanting to stay abreast of modern, solution-oriented Shark conservation!


• Best Outreach in Shark Research: Neil Hammerschlag and the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program
  
  This is how you do it.
  This is simply brilliant outreach via blog, Facebook, video and undoubtedly many more outlets, showing that Shark research can be fascinating, fun, hip and young. I remain concerned by those SPOT tags and only time will tell whether the data will somehow justify the invasive methods – but all-in-all, I really do like the people and the energy and am impressed by the passion and also by the willingness to tackle some of the more controversial aspects of Shark research.
  Well done!


• Best Shark Conservation print Media: Juliet Eilperin
  
  Juliet’s contribution to catapulting Shark conservation into the mainstream media has been invaluable. Extremely well informed and (frustratingly) balanced, she continues to crank out stellar pro-Shark pieces that directly counteract the appalling hype by the tabloids.
  


• Best Shark Conservation television programs: CNN
  
  Bravo and thank you CNN for having embraced the cause of Shark conservation with frequent, balanced and always interesting programming!


• Best Nature Programming: BBC
  
  Who else – the measure of all documentary work, the one and only, the best of the best, forever emulated and forever unrivaled and unmatched!
  Need I elaborate? I sure hope not!


• Best Shark Conservation Movie: Sanctuary: The Last Stand for Sharks
  
  So far, it appears that it has only been shown to select audiences in the Bahamas. Funded by Pew and (I believe) produced by Shawn, it combines great visuals with strict scientific data. I’ve seen it at DEMA and it is my hope that there will be a less Bahamas-centric director’s cut for viewing by a larger audience.
  Great job Shawn, I'm actually quite impressed!


• Best Shark Picture: this one, featured at the top!
  


• Best Shark Dance: David Shiffman
  
  Nobody and i mean Nobody! comes even close to David’s beautifully choreographed species-specific routines combining his dazzling footwork with exquisite artistic expression, period! Here’s to the Fred Astaire of Shark conservation - and frugal fashionista to boot!
  


• Most promising Shark Conservation Newcomers, ex aequo: Madi Pip Stewart, Christine Shepard, David Diley
  
  The common denominator: passion and a lot of talent.
  But as always, this is only the beginning. Having witnessed how other promising talents have quickly succumbed to the temptations of fame and money, or just simply lost interest, only time will tell whether these are mere blips or whether we are witnessing the start of careers that could be remarkable indeed.
  So far so great!
  


• Best Shark News Website: Shark Year Magazine
  
  It may well be an old hat but having only discovered it recently, it's new to me. Shark Year Magazine impresses by being exhaustive in covering all aspects of Shark news from fishing to strikes to the latest science.


• Best Shark Info Website: Elasmodiver
  
  Andy Murch’s Shark website is truly a treasure trove of information, often interspersed with personal and intelligent observations by the author who proves to be a true Shark expert – and this for once in a positive sense!


• Best Shark Blog: Underwater Thrills
  
  How could it be any different!
  His is the other watchdog blog and like this scribe, Patric does not shun to dabble in controversy of which there is plenty – especially if you got no patience for bullshit! The difference being, where I regularly get outraged and start firing broadsides, he retains his composure and dissects sarcastically, something which is both way more effective and also, way nastier! Whereas we sometimes disagree vehemently, we are united by the fact that we get called names by very much the same people, something I carry as a badge of honor – as I suspect does he!
  


• Best Marine Science Blog: Southern Fried Science
  
  In all honesty, this is likely the last year where I would assign the honors to them. I sense that the boyz are growing up and being kept increasingly busy pursuing their professional careers. Blogging is excruciatingly time consuming and requires staying on the ball, something very few can afford once they enter the daily treadmill. But for 2011, SFS has continued to be my very favorite marine blog, this largely to the epic posts mentioned below.


• Best Blog Posts on Shark-related Issue: WhySharksMatter on the Junior Controversy.
  
  I must say, David’s two posts here and here, and especially, the ensuing epic threads and moderation by both David and Andrew have been nothing short of stellar. This is a brilliant exercise in investigative journalism shining a cold spotlight on the Californian GW research scene - more in Part Two.


• Best Shark Facebook Pages, ex aequo: Shark Defenders and Shark Savers
  
  There is now a legion of Shark conservation Facebook pages and making a choice has been difficult. My personal criterion: whether or not they allow the Shark whacks to post their ramblings – and both these pages do thankfully not but instead, they are regularly updated and feature interesting news and causes worth pursuing.


• Most deserved Accolades: Doc becoming a featured Nat Geo Explorer
  
  Whereas it is quite impossible to overstate Doc’s contribution to Shark research and Shark conservation, I believe that his true legacy will be that he has found the time to educate and mentor a whole new generation of brilliant and equally passionate Shark researchers who are truly among the crème de la crème in their field.
  

So, have I already managed to piss somebody off like usual?
Wait til you see Part Two! :)

Our National Geographic Explorer!

The hard life!

Well it was about bloody time!

One of our very own is a National Geographic Explorer!
From the interview with the great man.

The lemon shark has provided me with a career, a loving wife of 42 years, a family, a home, cars, travel, educated my children, and, yes, even today my grandchildren enjoy this wonderful great fish.

Have you guessed?
Yes that would be none other than Doc Gruber, Grand Mufti of Sharks, bon vivant extraordinaire, beloved by his friends and rightfully feared by his enemies!
Here's a nice video listing some of his academic credentials but above all, where he gives invaluable advice (!) to prospective Shark researchers, as in Study Hard!



We have now met a couple of times and I can attest to the fact that apart from knowing everything! that is currently known about Sharks (=heaps but actually, not much), the man is brilliantly intelligent, eminently entertaining and charming, and ludicrously witty - and absolutely and certifiably nuts to boot!

No I'm not alluding to stuff like this - that's just Work!

What I'm alluding to is what he does in his spare time - or does a septuagenarian hammering Porsches over race tracks and flying WW2 planes sound normal to you!


Anyway, I'm certainly digressing - as usual!
What I really wanted to say is that it's great to see his name among all those other illustrious personalities - which of course begs the question, does a veritable revered Nat Geo Explorer have the clout to influence that godawful Shark programming on Nat Geo Wild?
I wish!

Nat Geo interview here.

PS - and here's one more pic! :)